Discussion:

1. Who has shown you loyalty during your career in sport?  Tell us about it.
2. How do people express loyalty at various levels of sport?
3. Let’s read about a remarkable expression of loyalty in Ruth 1:15-18.
4. How did Ruth demonstrate loyalty to her mother-in-law, Naomi?
5. From what you read, what are the limits of Ruth’s loyalty?
6. Do you find such loyalty among your teammates and coaches?  What factors contribute to that situation?
7. What have we learned today that could build loyalty on our team?

Summary:

Chapel – Ambitious

1 – Introduction – Think about the goals toward which you are ambitious.
• Team goals – post-season play / playoffs
• A conference championship
• All-conference awards (Academic also)
• All-American awards (Academic also)
• Simply another win, today.
• This is good ambition. It’s not selfish and it benefits everyone associated with the team.
• I see similar altruistic ambition in a man named Caleb in the Bible.

Discussion:

• Let’s take a look back at our season so far.
• We’ve competed at …(tough opponent)
• We’ve endured a… (hard situation)
• We’ve won a hard fought battle with ….

Wisdom for a Young Head Coach
Week 25

II Timothy 4:1-8

Discussion Questions:

1 – This is the sort of situation a competitor dreams about.

• We’re playing for a championship.
• All the events of this season and our combined character have lead us to this day.

2 – Suffering and success – they go together.

Chapel – Adversity

1 – The events of these last days are those which try men’s souls.
• Disappointment
• Failure
• Loss
• Illness
• Injury

2 – How we deal with adversity is a strong indicator of our character.
• Will we bounce back or will we wilt?
• Will we encourage or will we criticize?
• Will we accept responsibility or will we shift blame?

Chapel – Heart for Teammates

1 – To have the Heart of a Champion one must have:
• A heart for competition
• A heart for training
• A heart for teammates

2 – Today we will talk about having a heart for teammates.

3 – John 15:12-13 (read the text)
• Jesus’ command was for these men to love each other. They did it.
• Jesus defined the greatest kind of love – to give one’s life for his friends.
o He did that literally. He died for them and for us.

Success in Football
• Name the two most important things in order to succeed in football as a player or team. (Impossible to answer, use as icebreaker with team….
• What are do you as a team want to succeed in this year? I will use this time for captains to cover major goals –
o (7 shutouts, no region losses, region champions, state playoffs etc.. Should be specific for your team..)
• As team I remind them of the quote “if you don’t know where you are going you will likely end up somewhere else – (John Maxwell)

Vince Lombardi – The only place success comes before hard work is in the dictionary

1 – Today’s contest will require strength and courage for us to finish the day with a victory.

2 – Strength and courage are character qualities required for all of life and especially for competition.

• Joshua 1:9 (read the text aloud).

3 – Be strong

• Strong of mind (focus well and tune out crowd noise)
• Strong of body (prepare to finish the contest strongly)
• Strong of soul (to deal well with momentum swings)

4 – Be courageous

Chapel – Comparisons

1 – Do you watch web sites for the weekly team power rankings?
• Do you pay attention to the state or national rankings of teams in our sport?
• Do you read the paper to see who beat whom?
• Do you make comparisons between teams and players?
• Sometimes, such comparisons could be misleading and lead you to a poor performance and with it a disappointing loss.

Discussion:

1. How important is your work ethic to your performance as a competitor?
2. Who is to you an example of a strong work ethic?  How is it seen in his/her approach to sport?
3. Let’s read a couple of simple Proverbs that speak of work ethic.  Proverbs 10:4, 12:24, 14:23, 22:29.
4. Which one of these best illustrates your thoughts about hard work?
5. Why would this be such an important factor for success in competition?
6. How do we lead others to build a stronger work ethic for their sport?

Summary: