Coaching from the bleachers…. September 23, 2012

Or you could say there are those that do and then there are those that tell others to do, but yet they themselves can’t.

I had the opportunity today to go to a West Virginia Mountaineers game and was quite frankly amused with the number of people telling the quarterback how to play or the coach how to coach. They were yelling and throwing fits as to what they perceived as inept play calling and execution. But the question lingers in my mind, could they do half of what these players are asked to do? You have one man that five others are trying to maul, and while this is occurring, he has to be mindful of every player on the field while trying to locate and open man to throw the ball to. I would just like to say here is the ball… show them how it’s done. One man even said “they had no clue what they were doing”. This made me chuckle, because that would literally mean these guys are standing on the field wondering why they are there and wearing those uniforms.

So why am I telling you this? I find it interesting how we do this to one another daily. We are constantly looking at others and wondering why they do things the way they do and saying how we would do it differently. We even say they have no clue what they are doing. And in some circumstances there may be truth to that. But, I wonder if we take time to consider what they are going through in their lives? How do you know what that young person is struggling with daily? What fears they may be keeping from others? What their day is like when no one is around? How they are treated when no teachers are looking? We are inclined to sit in the bleachers and criticize others, but yet we have no clue what game they are even playing.

Instead of coaching from the bleachers, why not get in the game and find out what they are dealing with. Get some perspective, and then encourage one another on how to deal with the daily issues that we face. I had a Cross Country coach in high school that always said ” I will never ask of you to do something I myself am not willing to do.” He would get out there and run with us daily, and he wasn’t a young guy either. He knew everyday what we were struggling to accomplish and he did it with us. He taught us and he showed us how to be better. We need to realize that we go through the struggles we do to be able to help guide others through the same minefields. But with the intent of helping them to avoid some of the things that kept us from achieving success in our issues so that they can have that freedom quicker than we did. So stop coaching from the bleachers and get in the game!

LIVE the TRUTH ~brendan@projectchat.org