Honor the Practice

What happens in practice shapes what happens when it counts.

Theme: Even in Practice
Verse: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters." (Colossians 3:23)

My high school football coach, Mr. Dick Cook, passed away the other day.

Mr. Cook was a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame primarily as a track and field coach, best known for leading his girls' teams to six consecutive state championships. But to those of us from Crystal City, he was much more than a Hall of Fame coach. He was part of the fabric of our community.

His passing has had me reminiscing about growing up in Crystal City, home of the Hornets.

Hornet sports have a well-documented tradition of success. Parents of many of my friends played on teams that would go north to St. Louis to take on the bigger schools, quite often give them a whoopin', and then head back down the rural roads of Jefferson County to our little glass factory town on the Mississippi River.

Several Hornet athletes went on to success in college sports, and a couple even made it to "The Show" in their respective sports.

The most successful Hornet athlete of all has to be basketball player Bill Bradley.

For several decades, Bradley held the Missouri high school record for most career points. He went to Princeton, where he led the Tigers to the Final Four, yes, the Princeton Tigers in the Division I Final Four. He won an Olympic gold medal and eventually won two NBA championships with the New York Knicks. Until this summer, his 1973 Knicks team was the most recent Knicks team to win an NBA championship.

Bradley, a basketball Hall of Famer who also served as a U.S. Senator and ran for President, had a philosophy about practice that was a little different from Allen Iverson's infamous take on the subject.

Bradley understood that practice was where the difference between two roughly equal athletes was made. He lived by this simple idea:

"When you're not practicing, someone somewhere is. And when the two of you meet, assuming roughly equal ability, the other person will win."

Pretty simple.

But profound.

And when you put that philosophy into the context of everything we do in life, it can take you a long way.

In school: Study hard. Listen to the instructor. Be prepared for the exams.

At work: Show up on time. Give your best effort while you're there.

In exercise: Give the best effort you can on any given day. You may not always feel your best, but consistent effort pays off.

In worship: Stay engaged in the Word. Be Jesus' hands and feet.

That is the lesson I take from both Senator Bradley and Coach Cook.

Success rarely happens by accident. It is built in the preparation, in the ordinary days when nobody is watching, and in the decision to give our best even when we don't feel like it.

As the people of Crystal City mourn the loss of a Hall of Famer, both in sports and in life, let's remember Bradley's mantra and make a commitment to always be preparing, to be available, and to give maximum effort in all that we do.

Coach Cook helped teach generations of Hornets how to compete.

Perhaps the best way we can honor his memory is to give our best effort, even in practice.

And when the final whistle blows, may we all be able to say:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." - 2 Timothy 4:7

And may we hear:

"Well done, good and faithful servant." - Matthew 25:21

Mahalo! Dave