{"id":964,"date":"2010-08-12T10:35:48","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T16:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nsr-inc.com\/\/?p=964"},"modified":"2010-08-12T10:35:48","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T16:35:48","slug":"character-goals-are-needed-for-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/character-goals-are-needed-for-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Character Goals Are Needed for Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prep Squads Can Rediscover the Missing Link in Sports\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a common practice for teams to set performance goals heading into their season.\u00a0 Total wins, conference wins, conference\u00a0championship, rivalry and key game outcomes,\u00a0advancing to\u00a0state playoffs \u2013 these are all objectives teams might aspire to reach in pre-season preparations.\u00a0 But, something is missing from that formula.\u00a0 Moreover, it\u2019s time that this missing link is acknowledged and permanently included in the way teams view themselves and operate through a season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a serious call for high school teams in all sports to create tough, clear character guidelines \u2013 that is, establish rules and expectations for how teams, and their individual members, will conduct themselves on campus, during\u00a0practice\u00a0as well as\u00a0competition,\u00a0and in the community, along with tough penalties and real consequences.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a dearth of news each year revolving around behavioral problems by student-athletes, and\u00a0high school teams are not exempt.\u00a0 Too often we hear about jprep players who test and then break the rules.\u00a0 Alcohol, drugs, fighting, bullying, disrespecting authority \u2013 these are all problems which have at one time or another plagued athletic programs.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to set tougher limits and it\u2019s time the kids themselves took responsibility for setting those limits and committing to living by them.<\/p>\n

Newspapers, Internet sites and blogs are filled ad nausea with announcements and complaints about abuses perpetrated by professional and college star players and their lackies.\u00a0 The boorish behavior by professional athletes in particular is disturbingly influential on how high school student-athletes look at themselves and choose to act.\u00a0 But, the way parents and our communities allow athletes to skate by as if entitled to a separate, less strict set of standards, is also to blame.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0NSR, we encourage\u00a0communities, parents and fans to be less lenient and more tough-minded with top-tier athletes regardless of their ages.\u00a0\u00a0Developing clones\u00a0of Terrell Owens, Jeremy Shockey, Ron Artest\u00a0or Rasheed Wallace is nothing to be proud of.\u00a0 Aspire to mold youngsters after community leaders and\u00a0legitimate national heroes, not attention-dependent ne’er-do-wells.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s challenge teams, coaches and players to be proactive.\u00a0 Let\u2019s press them to lay it on the line.\u00a0 Say to these teams, Tell us how we can expect you to act in at school, in public and around other kids as well as adults; tell us your character objectives; give us something to measure you by; provide us with something to be proud of as parents, teachers, administrators and fans; and, show us that you are serious by making\u00a0self-imposed penalties\u00a0meaningful and consistent for everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We know you play hard each week.\u00a0 We know that you put in long hours at practice each day.\u00a0 You deserve to be honored for your commitment to the sport.\u00a0 But, what we don\u2019t know is how you will behave as people and citizens\u00a0in\u00a0our communities.\u00a0 We want you to put yourselves out there on\u00a0a limb.\u00a0\u00a0 Earn your place.\u00a0 Don’t merely assume that it is yours for the taking.\u00a0 We want you to strive for greatness beyond the field, the court or the track.\u00a0 We want you to become the best of us and to\u00a0demonstrate it day after day, week after week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadly, athletes have lost their luster in recent years.\u00a0 Fewer of us are optimistic about their character and their future.\u00a0 More of us are cynical, expecting them fail, to fall short of our hopes.\u00a0 But, it doesn\u2019t have to be that way.\u00a0 There is a right way to do things.\u00a0 We want you to choose well and to reflect a brighter future for yourselves and for the kids which emulate you.<\/p>\n

Intestinal fortitude is what it takes \u2013 courage under fire.\u00a0 Sit down together, eye to eye.\u00a0 Commit to the things which will make every one of you think before you act and then do the right thing.\u00a0 Create tough consequences for those who fail to accept and reach those goals.\u00a0 Hold one another fully accountable, regardless of how many tackles they’ve made, races won, bases stolen or points scored.\u00a0 Require high standards of one another every day.\u00a0 Do this.\u00a0 Do it for us, but more than anything, do it for yourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prep Squads Can Rediscover the Missing Link in Sports\u00a0 It\u2019s a common practice for teams to set performance goals heading into their season.\u00a0 Total wins, conference wins, conference\u00a0championship, rivalry and key game outcomes,\u00a0advancing to\u00a0state playoffs \u2013 these are all objectives teams might aspire to reach in pre-season preparations.\u00a0 But, something is missing from that formula.\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}