Wooden

Wooden

John Wooden is a sports legend, mentor and extraordinary teacher and his book, Wooden, embodies all of these characteristics with insights, vignettes, and life lessons. Four concepts that were especially interesting and thought provoking were that sports is more than winning, learning should be a continual active process, bringing out the best in people is a great quality to exemplify, and having the right mindset about winning, losing, and competition is crucial for leaders and individuals alike.
In “Part I: Families, Values, and Virtues,” John Wooden discusses how mentors have such an important role in children’s lives. They assist parents in giving children insight, advice, and a good role model to look to. Wooden finishes this section with a poem called, “A Parent Talks to a Child Before the First Game”. Within this poem there were many great lines and realizations that children at play come to find such as, “Because winning is nice. It’s a good feeling. Like the whole world is yours. But, it passes, this feeling,” and “That’s what sports is all about. Life. The whole thing is played out in an afternoon”. As a former child athlete myself, I was able to realize how well Wooden described winning in the poem. One feels as though they have accomplished a lifetime worth of glory and happiness, but just as soon as it is felt and celebrated it is gone with the next day, the next practice, and ultimately, the start of the next competition. The poem identifies these emotions. Sports are a mirror of life, and life is more than winning or being on top. It is more about trying, putting effort into something, learning about yourself during the process, and finally coming out knowing more about yourself. Winning is one of the greatest feelings one can experience, but it is not a continued feeling. Just as sports have ups and downs, so does life.
It is important for sport managers and other professionals in the sports world alike to know this feeling,...

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