Avoid The Negative Messagethe Spirit Of Defeat

Listening to the Negative Message

THE SPIRIT OF DEFEAT

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

This is a two part lesson.

YOU CAN NEVER OVERCOME THE NEGATIVE, YOU MUST OVERWHELM

IT!

I. INTRODUCTION:

A. A BIG PART OF WINNING IN ANY GAME IS ATTITUDE.

I am told when a professional sports team is considering a player for their draft, many ideas

come into consideration. There is much more to consider than talent and ability to play.

The potential new player may have great naturalabilities but if he is lacking in some important areas the coach will pass.

I am told attitude is one of the greatest areas for the criteria considered. Does this potential player have a winning attitude? What will the players attitude be when the team loses?

Many are good players when they are winning but they come unglued when the team is loosing.

Will the new player be a team player? Will he blend in with the already existing team? Is this new player teachable? What are his work ethics? Will he learn and fit into our program?

B. I REFUSE TO GO ALONG WITH THE PROGRAM, I WILL TAKE MY BALL AND GO HOME.

Several years ago there came a great basketball player out of the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Todd May was one of the greatest high school players in the history of the state.

Todd was Mr. Kentucky Basketball his senior year. He was a great player.

He signed with the University of Kentucky and there was unlimited potential.

Todd May moved to Lexington. Todd and his mother had conflicts with the coaching staff almost immediately. Todd would criticize the coaching staff, he did not get to play as much as he had expected his freshman year. There were reports the May’s were not happy.

Soon Todd left UK and ended up at a little community college in eastern Kentucky that nobody heard of, Pikeville College? Todd played super, he would get 50 points a game playing against little nobodies.

Todd could have been a star for a national power house team, but he did not want to submit to the UK coaching staff and wait his turn. So the many sidebar issues caused the potential great player to move down. He was still a great player, but he never made the NBA’s as many had expected. A BIG PART OF WINNING IN ANY GAME IS ATTITUDE.

C. LET’S FORGET THIS FOOTBALL STUFF AND GO HOME?

My oldest son’s first football game as a starter as an eighth grader was very important.

The football games in the seventh and eighth grades are very hands on by the coach.

The Coach stayed on the field and gave detailed instructions to the players. Right before the first game my little eighth grade son came over to talk to me. He said to me, see that huge player, he is 6’2’’ and 270 pounds, and my son was 5’6’’and 130 pounds, he said Dad that is my man, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

Later he came back and said Dad I saw him up close and he has a beard.

Fear started to root in my sons heart. YOU CAN’T PLAY THE GAME IN FEAR.

I stepped over to the side line, and I wanted to say to my son, let’s go home and forget this football stuff, but I did not say that.

I said, SON, ON THE KICKOFF FIND THAT BIG DUDE AND BLOCK HIM AS HARD AS YOU CAN. Let him think he was hit by a freight train.

The first set play knock him down as hard as you can. The second play, forget about the game, just throw the best block you can at him.

The whistle blew, the ball was kicked, and my son penned the big player on the field, the second play, my son hit that opponent like a freight train, that train hit him the next play.

On the fourth play the huge player stayed on the sideline. And when he returned to the game,he lined up straight across from my son, and he would move out of the way to avoid being blocked.

My son played football five years. He was smaller than most players. He had many learning experiences playing the game.

I remember the first night my son ran the football across the goal line for a touch down, and as I sat way up in the stands, I remembered that big dude and how my son stood firm and faced his giant.

My son won several football awards, but it all went back to that first game facing a player twice his size.

We need to establish the attitude for the team, WE ARE GOING TO PLAY A GOOD GAME!

II. MANY PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE LOST THE BATTLE BEFORE THEIR FEET TOUCHED THE BATTLE GROUND.