“Mentoring is your true legacy,” John Wooden told SUCCESS in August 2008.
“It is the greatest inheritance you can give to others. And it should never end. It is why you should get up every day-to teach and be taught.” The UCLA coach, who passed away this weekend at age 99, kept a handwritten calendar of appointments with people with whom he had agreed to meet and talk.

It was this daily mentoring, Wooden insisted, that gave him such a long, fulfilled life. He made his living as a coach, but lived his life to be a mentor. But whether he met you face to face or not, the coach was proud to
be called your mentor. That’s because it wasn’t about sitting down for a formal talk on life lessons. It was the simple act of living a life worth following, Wooden believed.

“It’s something all of us can do-recognizing our responsibility to those around us to model the actions, decisions and behaviors we know to be right,” Wooden said. “It doesn’t have to be anything more formal than that.”

After reading these great quotes and information about Wooden’s life to you, what makes a good mentor? Can you think of the best mentor you ever had in sports, school or life in general? What did they do to have such a great impact in your life?

 Do you have any other information, memories or quotes about John Wooden that you would like to share?

Paraphrased from Vince Lombardi

A person can be as great as he or she wants to be.

If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication and the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.

Once a person has made a commitment to a way of life, he or she puts the greatest strength in the world behind them. It’s something called “heart power”.

Once a person has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it. Thomas Jefferson

Winning graciously is easy. Being dignified in the face of defeat is difficult.

Sometimes the greatest respect you can earn is by the way you respond when your opponents outplay you.

Respect isn’t a right; it is something that is earned.

Respect means never overestimating your abilities. It means never underestimating the abilities of your opponents.

For success in sports and life we must respect others.

Plenty of talented athletes fail because without commitment success is impossible.  Making a commitment requires being accountable. 

Take your commitment to the next level by letting others in on your goals. 

Goals determine what you’re going to be.  Julius Erving

Think big, think positive, think success.

Food for thought:

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest asset or heaviest burden.
I will push you up to success or down to disappointment.
I am at your command.
Those who are great, I have made.
Those who are failures, I have made failures
I am your servant.
Who am I?

I am a habit

Paraphrased form Mac Anderson

What do you say to yourself?  Does your self  talk help you to achieve your goals or inhibit you from being all you can be?

The thought for this week is “I can do it”.  Make an effort to eliminate all negative thoughts and see what you can accomplish.

Jessie Owens.

Savage’s take on it:

Each time you train remember this could be that one chance when you reach your goal. You expect things to get better every time you train but some days nothing works. You feel you are getting worse. This is common and even necessary when you are trying to improve or learn a new or highly technical skill. Your body and mind are adjusting to the new demands being placed on them. This is a time when we are learning and a time when we may make a breakthrough. Think of how many times a baby, who is learning to walk, falls. If they didn’t keep trying they would never learn to walk.

Joe Namath

Comments:

It is easy to feel down when things aren’t going the way you want them to. But think about how many teams go further than expected because of the will not to give up. If we are going to get involved then we need to decide that no matter how hard, no matter how long, we will give our all until we reach our goal.

Arthur Ashe grew up in segregated Richmond, Virginia. His physical stature did little to indicate his future career as a professional athlete. “Skinny as a straw,” Arthur derived countless hours of pleasure reading and listening to music with his mother, Mattie. He also showed a surprising flair for tennis from the first time he picked up a racquet. At the age of six, Mattie passed away suddenly. Though heartbroken, Arthur’s memory of his beloved mother was a source of inspiration throughout his life.

Upon graduation from high school, Arthur earned a tennis scholarship to UCLA where he earned recognition for his tennis abilities on a national level, culminating with an individual and team NCAA championship in 1965. In1966 he graduated with a BA in Business Administration.

In 1963 Asne was selected to represent the United States in Davis Cup play, an honor in which he took great pride. In doing so, he also became the first African-American to be selected to play for the United States team. In actuality, Arthur Ashe was a trailblazer for African-American males in tennis every time he succeeded on the court. The relevancy of these accomplishments was not lost on Ashe. His determination to succeed despite being an outcast in a historically white sport was put to an even greater test in 1969.

In 1969 while he was basking in the international fame he had gained the previous year after winning the US Open and playing a key role on the United States winning Davis Cup team, two separate issues came to the forefront and helped shape Arthur the activist, a role he never ran from throughout his life if he believed in the cause. At a time when tennis’ popularity was growing by leaps and bounds, the amount of prize money being offered to the players, the “drawing cards,” was lagging disproportionately behind. Ashe and several other players formed what later became known as the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals). It is from this small and visionary beginning that today’s top players enjoy the large sums of prize money for which they compete. Later that year, as the #1-ranked American and one of the best players in the world, Arthur applied for a visa to play in the South African Open, a prestigious event. His visa was denied because of the color of his skin. Arthur’s call for expulsion from South Africa from the tennis tour and Davis Cup play was quickly supported by numerous prominent individuals and organizations, both in and out of the tennis world. In effect, he raised the world’s awareness to the oppressive form of government (apartheid) of South Africa. Buoyed by Arthur Ashe’s initial efforts, blacks in South Africa slowly but surely began to see change come about in their country.

As a tennis player, Arthur Ashe was one of the most prominent players of his time; an all-out competitor who rarely beat himself. His legacy, however, will be the positive changes he helped bring about and the causes he championed, both within tennis and in society as a whole.

Comments:

Remember all those who are successful and will be successful in the future encounter difficulties along the way.  They just keep moving on believing that they can accomplish what they set out to achieve.