CHAMPIONS NEVER QUIT
(You can apply this to sooooooo many things…I found this a couple years ago and always seem to go back to it when I need a swift kick in the keester!)
At times during the game your body is going to tell you you ve had enough. You will be short of breath, sore, looking at the clock. This is the time when good players stop and quit but Champions pull themselves together and regain their drive. Your mind controls your body.
A TOUGH MIND CONTROLS A TOUGH BODY
Remember, the guy in the other team is just as scared, just as nervous as you are. People talk about courage and toughness. What is courage?
Courage means to be afraid to do something and still going ahead and doing it.
Always do what you are afraid to do and win, lose or draw. You will walk off the field a better person.
Once you learn to quit it becomes a habit. If you quit at training you ll quit in the game. Fight the little voice in your head telling you to stop conquer that voice and you conquer fear. A champion player is a player who gets up when he can t the player who makes one more tackle is never beaten.
The final score isn t the one on the scoreboard it s the score you give yourself for determination and will to succeed. Keep telling yourself you haven t come this far to chuck it all in.
At times you will face fear if this ever happens never try to hide the fact. The only people who have no fear are in mental asylums. To be afraid is to be alive. To act against fear is to be a man.
Champion’s Manifesto
True CHAMPIONS are made, not born. CHAMPIONS are made in adversity. Bad days, problems, heartaches, and losses are all necessary elements in molding CHAMPIONS.
Character is built in the storm. It is not built in prosperity; it is built in adversity. You develop strength when you are in trouble. Learning to handle opposition rightly will make you a CHAMPION.
CHAMPIONS don’t let their circumstances affect their character. Bad games, bad plays, bad breaks do not change their will to prepare, their will to strive and fight for excellence every chance they get … everyday … all day long.
CHAMPIONS will inspire their teammates to play harder, more intensely, by their example. They walk their talk.
CHAMPIONS are interested in learning all they can, mastering skills and responsibilities, acquiring every characteristic that helps them gain the edge.
A CHAMPION is not an individual star necessarily - but a team player who knows how to function with others.
A CHAMPION lives above pressure, but thrives on it.
A CHAMPION is willing to pay the price - whatever it takes!
A CHAMPION is single-minded in purpose.
A CHAMPION is not sidetracked by distractions or by things that do not help them reach their goals.
A CHAMPION knows that winning is a by-product of being committed to excellence - winning takes care of itself.
A CHAMPION lets nothing interfere with their priority - becoming the best they possibly can become.
CHAMPIONS hang around other CHAMPIONS because they want to be influenced by each other’s character. Nothing hinders them from their goal.
CHAMPIONS love competition - the challenge of becoming more disciplined, more intense, more prepared. They realize the harder the battle is, the greater the adversity - the stronger they’ll become and the quicker they’ll achieve their goals.
CHAMPIONS relish the battle. They are driven to excel.
CHAMPIONS are never satisfied with their performance, but are always content with the fact that they are continually striving to get better.
CHAMPIONS are uncomfortable with imperfection - always pursuing perfection, while knowing it can never fully be reached, but loving the battle of trying to reach it. They Fight For Excellence!
CHAMPIONS are committed to Excellence … always … only.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHAMPIONS AND EVERYONE ELSE IS VERY SIMPLE.
CHAMPIONS ARE ALWAYS WILLING TO DO THE "LITTLE THINGS. THAT’S THE SIMPLE DIFFERENCE.
Being a CHAMPION has nothing to do with being #1, or the amount of playing time a person gets. In fact, being a CHAMPION is not exclusively a characteristic of athletes - there are CHAMPIONS in all facets of life: students can become CHAMPIONS, parents also…anyone can! We’re talking about character, not winning and losing - CHAMPIONSHIP CHARACTER!
CHAMPIONS don’t care whether there are 5 or 50,000 people at the game…or even it’s a game or practice. They only know that each and every situation is a chance, a chance to improve.
CHAMPIONS are not affected by scoreboards or team records. Whether the score is 50-0 or 0-50, whether they are 0-10 or 10-0, they place the same and practice the same - All Out!
CHAMPIONS never worry about things they can’t control, they realize they can only control themselves and their attitude.
CHAMPIONS never quit. They don’t even know what the word “quit” means. They only know to keep working, to keep striving…regardless of circumstances.
CHAMPIONS know that to be a CHAMPION they must be committed to excellence in everything they do, in every situation - whether at home, at school, at work, or at play. They realize that it is impossible to be committed to excellence in one thing and not another, because being a CHAMPION is not what you do but WHO YOU ARE…IT’S CHARACTER!
CHAMPIONS never make excuses, grumble, complain, point fingers, or talk about other people. They only talk about how they can get better.
CHAMPIONS thrill to the joy of the struggle!
CHAMPIONS know they have to learn to serve - before they will ever know how to lead.
CHAMPIONS never desire their opponents fail or get injured. In fact, they actually want them to play well, because the better the opposition plays the greater the CHAMPION is challenged to perform! It is a double win!
The Champion’s theme is “Competition Breeds Excellence”
The mark of a CHAMPION is hard - they work when no one is watching.
CHAMPIONS realize that sometimes they fail…maybe often and over and over. But they know that what makes them.
The “Mark” of a CHAMPION is how they respond each time they fail. The CHAMPION chooses to forget their failures and fight on again. Their motto is “knocked down seven times, get up eight!”
Being a CHAMPION has nothing to do with success and failure on the scoreboard, it has to do with choosing to have a CHAMPIONSHIP CHARACTER every moment of every day.
CHAMPIONS realize that some days, even most days - they don’t “feel” like working, striving, paying the price to becoming a CHAMPION. But then they remember, or another CHAMPION reminds them, that being a CHAMPION is a choice they make over and over and over each day…and so they make that choice again.
Above all, Being…BECOMING A CHAMPION is a CHOICE YOU MAKE EACH DAY
What Will You Choose?
Written By: Scotty Kessler