“The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.” – 21-time National Champion women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance
Who are you when no one is watching? When no one is there to hold you accountable or celebrate your accomplishments, how do you behave? These are really two of the most important questions anyone can ask and answer.
As recorded in the January 28, 2023 edition of the wonderful website The Daily Coach, the story is told of Dorrance taking a scenic route to the UNC campus rather than the regular course normally taken. It was then he saw one of his players, Mia Hamm, arguably the greatest female soccer player in United States’s history.
Hamm was covered in sweat, bent over and exhausted as she went through her morning workout. No one was watching. The press wan’t present. YouTube was not documenting her every step. No crowd was present to cheer her on. This moment was not captured on Instagram.
Dorrance knew he was looking at what greatness is all about. When your most talented player is your hardest worker, your team has a chance to achieve many of its goals. Upon arriving at his office he wrote the words shown above, “The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.”
This is why the 2019 story of Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll’s final words to his his team before their summer break resonates so much with me. In this Pro Football Talk article, we read an example of the importance of how private behavior affects public performance and what Coach Carroll and the Seahawks were doing about it.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about Coach Carroll’s book Win Forever: Live, Work, And Play Like A Champion. It is one of the Top 10 sports leadership books I have read. I cannot recommend it enough. Click HERE or on the image above to order. Now onto Coach Carroll’s comments.
- Personal Downtime Is Competitive Time – Carroll called the six weeks off before summer camps “an extraordinarily competitive time.”
- Many Things Can Happen With Private Behavior – “So many things can happen.”
- Leaders Can Have Poor Private Behavior – “Guys can go south on you.”
- Leaders Can Have Also Excellent Private Behavior – “They can get better. They really can make it.”
- Leaders Can Make Changes In Their Private Behavior Right Now – “Changes can occur right now.”
- Smart Leaders Help Their Teams Focus On Private Behavior – “And we’re really trying to (be) focused about it.”
- Leaders Need A Plan For Their Private Behavior – “We have helped them create a plan for their offseason, to make sure that they are coordinated and they are organized.”
- Successful Leaders Must Execute Their Private Behavior Plan – “and that they will max this out.”
- Leaders Are More Successful When They Are Not Alone And Do Life With Other Leaders – “We have a lot of guys working out in different areas, and they know where everybody is. I’m hoping that we feed off one another and put forth a great six weeks.”
- There Is No Reason You Can’t Be Successful In Your Private Life – “There is no reason, there is no reason, every one of these guys shouldn’t come back in the best condition of their life.
- We Must Challenge Each Other To Have Quality, Productive Private Lives – “So they’ve been challenged, to make the most of this.”
- Having A Productive, Quality Life Is Crucial To Your Success – “I don’t know what other teams are doing. But this is crucial to us.”
- The Stakes Of How We Manage Our Private Lives Is High – “We have to do a great job here.”
- Our Private Lives Determine Our Level Of Success – “We will win games here, in these next six weeks. So, counting on them.”
Boxing legend Joe Frazier famously said, “Champions aren’t made in the ring, they are merely recognized there. What you cheat on in the early light of morning will show up in the ring under the bright lights.” Anson Dorrance, Mia Hamm, and Pete Carroll would agree. The question is, do you?
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