Core Beliefs

I'm starting out the week a bit behind on my new study: The Man God Uses. But the study has already helped me to identify some of what I call my 'core beliefs'.

For many years now I have used Matthew 22:37 as my life's mission statement.

Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your mind, mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

I determined back in May of 2003 what that verse looked like when acted out and applied to my life and decided that I must submit every thought, word, and deed to the glory of God and lift him up in all my ways in order to Love Him with all my heart, soul, and strength.

• Another key scripture which runs along that same sentiment is in Colossians.
  
  Colossians 3:23 says... What ever you do work at it with your whole heart as if working for God, not man because you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Indeed, It is the Lord Christ whom you are serving...'
  
  Think about that. We should do EVERYTHING we do as if we are doing it for the LORD. Do you want to give God anything less than your personal best? Would you try to short change or cheat your creator...? The maker of the universe...? No, of course not. That's absurd.
  
  Now, while applying those verses to my life, I found that they have greatly influenced my coaching style.
  
  Before I really knew the Lord I could only draw upon my own personal tennis experience as a basis for my coaching. My self esteem back them was very closely related to my win-loss record, and my coaching style followed that mind set. -I placed the highest priority on winning. Thank God I've learned to move beyond that concept.
  
  Of course everyone probably prefers winning over losing. Yet there can be only one winner in every contest. That means that by the end of a tennis competition with sixty-four players that sixty-three will end up as 'losers'. The fact is, a vast majority of the participants of any contest are going to 'lose'.
  
  Now, while I don't condone being complacent with losing, the mindset I try develop in my students is:
  
  It is difficult, if not impossible to control winning and losing. We simply can't control how good our opponent is. But there are many things we can control. And if we control those things then we are probably going to be successful more times than not.
  
• We can control our own effort.
• We can control our own desire.
• We can control our practice habits and fitness.
• We can control our attitude toward points won and lost.
• We can control our nutrition and hydration.
• We can control our strategy and tactics.
• We can control our rest regimen.

There are probably more things we can control but this is a good list to start with...

When we control the things associated with our self, that's called PERSONAL DISCIPLINE.

As players, we can do that. We can control ourselves. As a coach, I can coach a player to that mindset. I can't give them the desire. But I can coach to motivate, foster, and encourage that attitude and rationalization.

I try to teach that what we can't control is a scenario where although we might hit our best approach shot deep to his backhand corner and follow it in for the put-away volley, someone like Roger Federer is still going to blast a passing shot by us and win the point. We can't control our opponents,

I can use my core beliefs about competition and coping with winning and losing to teach life skills that will cary over into business ethics and practice, spousal and family relationships, solving problems, and most importantly: developing a personal relationship with God.

My Coaching is a ministry that I use to glorify God and lead others to Christ.