Finding Honor As a Coach…

Wednesday Wisdom 🙂

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Inspiration this week comes from Luke 12: 34

“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

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This year, I divided the 8 week swim team season into 3 phases of training. We began the 3rd phase last week and it is entitled “Competing with Honor”. We spent the week as a team brainstorming ways to do this. 

As a young coach straight out of college, I lacked maturity and perspective. It took me a few years of motherhood to learn that good coaches love their athletes more than they love athletic victory. That doesn’t mean that victory is not important — it simply means that the coach’s focus is on developing the child/young adult not simply pushing hard to win the game.

I’m a constant “work in progress” and have found that my coaching abilities continue to improve as my faith deepens. On Saturday, God taught me a new lesson in how to coach with honor. One of my young athletes was disqualified in her butterfly race. There are a lot of things that you learn to take in stride as a coach, but this particular one hurt my heart. It was a big deal for a couple of reasons.

• This young athlete works hard everyday at practice. She cares about her performance and prides herself on doing things correctly.
• I encourage my swimmers to fill out goal sheets at the beginning of each season. I think that a goal without a plan is just a wish and like to teach my kids to care enough about their life journey to honor it with a plan. Here are the three season goals that she selected in May:

My mind wanted to contest the DQ, but my heart knew that the life lesson that it had the ability to teach was more important. It wasn’t my job to question the judgement of the official — it was my job to guide the swimmer through the experience packing her faith to compete with grace and honor.

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How many times do we (as coaches and parents) get so hung up on the athletic event/game that we forget the importance of the development of the child? I hope that my swimmers want to be a part of the Cozad Swim Team because they love the sport of swimming and want to share in the awesomeness of a supportive team. If this is my desire as a coach, then it is my duty to teach my swimmers to persevere and remain hopeful in times of challenge. Being an athlete is a journey — not a single moment in time.

After the meet ended, I took a walk with my young swimmer. I held her hand as we talked about a lot of things: resilience, forgiveness, learning from mistakes, and looking forward to future races with hope in our hearts. At the end of our talk, I gave her a hug and reminded her how awesome both God and I knew that she was. We made a plan for the future that started with a smile, and involved some more work at practice to prepare for the butterfly leg of the relay that she would swim at Championships. A couple of days later, after she had some time to heal, we sat down and made a new goal for the end of the season to take the place of the one that could no longer be attained this year.

During this experience, I kept coming back to the above bible verse. Asking myself: What is my treasure? And, How does that drive the desires of my heart? If my treasure is embracing Jesus’s mission, then my love for the athlete must inspire my actions. Twenty years from now, it is unlikely that my swimmer will remember the other 5 races that she swam on Saturday. However, it is likely that tucked somewhere in her heart will be the memory of our walk together after the meet was over. Perhaps she will draw on her first hand experience of how to compete with honor by relying on faith and grace to find resilience in times of challenge.

 

 

Good Idea! Poor Execution…

My favorite farmer and I played racquetball on Saturday morning. Temperatures were hovering around zero outside, so we headed for the indoor court after I got farm chores finished.  We both enjoy athletics as well as doing things together, so it’s a good fit on a cold day.

I’ve loved Matt since I was eighteen and we’ve been married more than half of my life. One of our strengths as a couple is our dedication to the concept of team. We both place a priority on the realization that together we are stronger, just as we also acknowledge that the key to this is using our blend of strengths and weaknesses to continuously work to make the team better.

Matt is, hands down, a better racquetball player than I am. He’s bigger – He’s stronger –He’s faster. In fact, he’s also ambidextrous so he doesn’t have a “weak side”. Playing the game could be frustrating for me with him acing the serve and never giving me the ability to participate; but that isn’t the case because of our unwritten rule of always working to build the team.

As we play racquetball, I have lots of good ideas with poor execution. I’d never played the sport before I met Matt, and our games are pretty infrequent with the responsibilities of family and farm chores. I know enough that I can envision what I need to do, but my body doesn’t always move with the precision needed to make the play. However, each time that we play, I get better. This happens for two reasons:

1. I bring a positive and passionate attitude to the games.
2. Matt holds strong to the goal of helping the team to get stronger.

There is a reason that there is no “I” in TEAM. The lack of “I” keeps the team going with universal hope for the future.

Life is full of times when we work to build different skills. It is also full of moments when a fresh set of eyes allows for the development of good ideas. I believe that the secret to success is in the team mentality.  It creates a culture which nurtures the teammates. New ideas are created and embraced, and a level of support exists to inspire the work needed to improve execution.

• It takes good ideas to inspire continuous improvement.
• It takes practice to develop good execution.

Common acceptance of the goal, good communication, an underlying level of respect, and a dedication to finding group success makes each individual teammate stronger just as it builds the team. The score board said that I lost all three racquetball games, but I had moments of success and lots of improvement over the two hour period. Matt broke a sweat and I only lost the last game by two points. We finished with smiles on our faces – looking forward to the next time.

Sometimes, that’s the biggest victory of all 🙂

How do you build the concept of “team” in your life?

Is God a Coach?

My cowboy knows how much I love to coach and what an important role it plays in my life. This Christmas he gave me a copy of John Cook’s new book  Dream Like a Champion. Over the last 17 years, Coach Cook has brought more than a love of volleyball to the Cornhusker State; he created a culture of greatness for women’s athletics. A short two weeks ago, Coach Cook led his Lady Huskers to their 4th National Championship title since becoming head coach in 2000. During his tenure, a state known for its unified love for football opened its heart to similarly embrace the Lady Husker volleyball team.

Dream Like a Champion is chalked full of wisdom not simply about the journey of coaching athletics but also how to inspire others to be successful on their journey of life. I found many, many ideas to ponder as I read the book, but my favorite chapter is entitled “Is God a Coach?”

Coach Cook points out that “God certainly has a lot of coach-like traits.”

God asks us:

• To be disciplined
• To treat others the way that we want to be treated
• To believe in something greater than ourselves
• To rebuild and improve our faith each year

And, He does this by “constantly teaching us new lessons and ways to remain humble.”

God helps us:

• To believe in ourselves
• To erase our doubts
• To provide a sense of hope not just during the good times, but more importantly during those times that we struggle.

He successfully “rebuilds us” as we travel the journey of life.

Coach Cook opens the chapter with the statement, “If I have learned anything from a lifetime of watching and coaching sports, it is that they are almost impossible to separate from spirituality.” As a volunteer coach, I have much fewer high level experiences mentoring athletes but I identified fully with every word written. God is present within me as I coach, and I see Him in the athletes that dedicate great effort to the sport that they love. There are times that I am blessed to work with kids who possess a strength that seems to come from a greater source — they believe, they work, and they execute at a level that confirms my faith in His presence.

Similarly, sometimes an athlete searching for an identity — a reason to believe that they have worth — crosses my path. The best moments of my coaching career come as the light comes on for those kids. When they find both a level of physical success as well as the mental ability to believe, it redefines their perspective and inspires them to want to make a difference — not just for themselves, but for others. In those moments, I see God’s hand and I am filled with joy that He chose me to play a role. It inspires me to keep looking for ways to disciple in my community and get through the inevitable hard times when I am personally challenged.

Coach Cook suggests creating and sharing a 25 word mantra that sums up your philosophy. This serves as guidance on the journey as well as creates accountability during daily coaching chores. As we quickly approach a New Year, I am taking his suggestion to heart.

Anne’s life philosophy:

Pack your Faith to compete with Grace. Make goals. Create plans. Be disciplined. Believe fully. Inspire others. Embrace the discomfort of the road to excellence.

I highly recommend Dream Like A Champion — regardless of whether or not you actively wear a coach’s hat. We all have moments in life where we can inspire, lead, and make a difference in someone else’s life. Take advantage of the gift of God’s love by sharing it with someone else.

#TogetherWeAreStronger

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you build “intentionality” and “perspective” in your life?

The FYF family traveled to the Grand Canyon over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the first time in twenty years that Matt and I did not spend Thanksgiving on the farm, and the trip taught me a lesson in intentionality and perspective. The dictionary defines the word “intentionality” as the fact of being deliberate or purposeful; and “perspective” as a particular attitude toward or a point of view.

The Grand Canyon left me awestruck. Hiking in and around the canyon provided a truly unique perspective as the landscape view adjusts with each step and change in light. After several days of “looking”, I decided that I never would see all of the intricacies of the Canyon. Honestly, perhaps that is its true beauty. Each different view or perspective inspired me to keep looking — to keep searching — so that I might better understand it.

I came home thinking, “Is that really any different from my faith journey?”

It is easy to fall into a routine in our daily lives, as routines bring comfort. But, challenging our own perspective allows us to grow and mature. While looking at the world simply through our own eyes is easy, seeking to understand it at a deeper level requires intentional study.

I wrote a blog post on the 5th year anniversary of this blog (almost two years ago) called, “Refilling The Cup”. In it, I talked about 5 things that I do in order to sustain as an advocate for agriculture. While this is a bit of recurring challenge, I find that staying true to these five practices helps me to keep going. Just as I struggle at times to refill my cup of agricultural advocacy, I also wrestle with refilling my cup in life.

In any given day, numerous people ask us to give time and energy to work on projects. Whether it is jobs, volunteer projects, or our families: the list of requests can get long and leave us feeling stressed and drained. While all of the things that we do hold meaning, they can quickly drain the cup if you have not developed a healthy culture that refills it and keeps you moving forward with a peaceful heart.

While a full cup leads to a true sense of joy as we reach out to help others and live with honor, a drained cup brings feelings of resentment and fatigue that create an unhealthy perspective. The healthy, peaceful heart slowly transforms to a sad one full of judgement. The body quickly follows with a bone deep tiredness that leaves us without inspiration.

For me, refilling the life cup stems from intentionally focusing on my faith. It involves valuing myself enough that I prioritize time to develop my soul. This not only allows for the cup to refill, but it actually allows it to grow so that ultimately I have more to give. I forgot this for a few years, but I have worked hard over the past 11 months to get it back.

Here is a short list of things that help me to create a healthy culture that refills my cup:

• Take time to recharge — everyday. For me that is a combination of prayer and exercise.
• Take time to commit to a perspective of hope — every hour. For me that is a periodic “gut check” to make sure that I value myself and believe that I bring meaning to the world.
• Take time to commit to a smile — every minute. For me that is remembering to count my blessings and express gratitude for the gifts in my life.
• Take time to commit to God — every second. His love and support inspires me to greatness.

Discipline and commitment to the above things allows me to retain my optimism and open my perspective. It is an intentional journey and one that never ends; but the road is lined with joy, hope, peace, and honor.

 

 

 

Packing my FAITH to race with GRACE…

On May 25th I published The Good Life Halfsy as a promise to myself of great things to come. I wrote it just a few days after signing up to run my first half marathon – an important component to my journey to regain my spiritual health.

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Sunday morning, with 550 miles of running training — a smile on my face and peace in my heart — I packed my FAITH to race with GRACE.

Fortitude                                     Gratitude

Attitude                                        Resilience

Integrity                                       Acceptance

Trust                                             Compassion

Hope                                             Eloquence

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My favorite farmer filmed the finish of the race so that I could share it with you 🙂

God had my back and I learned in a very tangible way that my faith could be stronger than my fear. 

My high school Cross Country coach would likely tell you that my running form still needs some work 😉 but, I overcame that with grit and determination to finish the race in a time of 1:42.49. I negative split the race (ran the second half faster than the first) with an average pace of about 7:50 per mile.

It’s amazing what happens when you open your heart and mind and let God’s presence fill your soul. I trained and then completed the race with no stop watch — a decision that I made before beginning the journey in order to help myself to learn to let go of control and just BE.

Somewhere along the journey, I learned to lean on God. To find joy and peace in the times that we spend together each day, as well as strength to overcome the physical and mental barriers that had plagued me since my battle with Graves Disease more than ten years ago.

As I crossed the finish line, I was proud of me.

Proud of the person that I found deep inside of myself during the training journey. 

Life is about much more than any one race or moment in time. The lessons learned along the way carry you forward on the road to excellence. I found that I needed to build the muscle of hope in my heart just as much as I needed to build the muscles in my legs.

When you build the muscle of hope, then faith supports you on the journey!

 

 

 

How do you work to expand your limits?

I am a creature of habit.

I like routine and I am all about self-discipline.

If you need someone to count on, I’m likely your girl.

However, when it comes to working to expand my limits, I have to admit that it takes an intentional effort to move me into “uncharted waters”. I thrive on habits but the art of establishing new ones can throw me into a bit of a tailspin…

I struggled for several months after closing down my feed yard to establish new habits. When you have done the same thing – everyday – for 20 years, it’s just plain hard to change. It took me a while to find my mojo, and probably more importantly, to accept my new life path with joy and pride. Like many good things in life, sometimes you have to go outside of your comfort zone in order to have meaningful personal growth.

I put a lot of miles (specifically 550) on my new running shoes (actually, I’ve now worn out two pairs) on my journey to find balance. As I look back on the last eight months, I can easily recognize the series of goals and resulting plans that led me down the path.

Signing up to run the Good Life Halfsy (half marathon) –> Rediscovering my love for running –> Finding peace

Taking a new job at the Beef Marketing Group –> Benefiting from a new innovative team –> Finding challenge

Dedicating time to coaching/mentoring –> Acknowledging my deep spiritual need to give back –>Finding love

Learning to take more time to enjoy my family –> Embracing my greatest blessings –> Finding joy

It’s interesting the places that life takes you when you intentionally take the time to look for the best path. If you are like me, just slowing down enough to see the options is a huge step in the right direction!

Good habits are awesome:

• They inspire us to be dedicated.
• They enable us to make good daily choices.
• They allow us to create meaningful patterns in our daily lives.

However, to intentionally find personal growth, we cannot let habits keep us from looking for the next step — the next goal — the next chapter in the journey toward excellence.

Many of you that follow Feed Yard Foodie are food advocates — either as farmers or as foodies (or a combination of both!). The journey of advocacy never ends and the road is often uncomfortable; but we learn from each other and we expand our knowledge as we interact and create a team. Recently, I decided that I needed to expand my limits in social media in order to continue to be relevant – that statement could well have been a direct quote from one of the beautiful teenagers that calls me “Mom” 😉

I plan to continue to blog weekly on this site, but I am making an effort to be more active in other places as well.

• Additional pictures and “micro-blogs” are being posted both on the Feed Yard Foodie Facebook page as well as Instagram. If you are active on either of those platforms and enjoy my farm tales, please give me a follow!
• I am planning a second Facebook Live video this Saturday morning at 8:30am. Grab a cup of coffee and join Megan and I as we visit our yearling steers at Roberts Cattle Company. We will be focusing on the symbiotic relationship that occurs between farmers and their animals — hoping to answer the often asked question, “How can farmers care for animals for months or years and then send them to their death?” This is a difficult topic that many people grapple with, and I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts as a “city girl — turned farmer”.

In the meantime, Happy Fall to each of you!

What Fuels You On the Journey?

25 years ago…

Sunday morning, just as the sun popped over the horizon, I logged in my 500th mile running since deciding to compete in the Good Life Halfsy October 29th in Lincoln, NE.

500 miles is a long way…
Farther than the width of the state of Nebraska – Similar to traveling from NYC to Cleveland…

I decided to keep a journal of my training as a bit of a whim. I figured that looking back on my swimming and running cross training for the race would be meaningful. More than four months into the journey, I am very glad that I did. Not because I plan to do it exactly the same way the next time, but because it gives me insight into the journey of peace that I embarked upon last June.

For the first time in my life, I trained not for time but as a means to regain my mental and spiritual health.

I’ve logged in more than 500 miles never wearing a watch. I never missed it because my pace was superfluous — I set out not to regain the athletic status of my youth, rather, to regain balance in my life. In less than two weeks, I will cross the starting line packing my faith to compete with grace. I know that what I accomplish on that day pales in comparison to what I have found running the gravel roads — watching the sun rise — and finding a deep sense of rightness in my life.

Somewhere along the way, I learned that my faith could be stronger than my fear. I found joy, peace, and inspiration as I opened my heart and refocused on what is most important in my life. I will cross the finish line with the knowledge that life is a journey.

That I am stronger than I ever imagined and that hope is the muscle that fuels faith.

I remember when I moved to the farm in June of 1997, I laughed to Matt that I traded flip flops for cowboy boots. Over the last four months, I have learned that my perspective on life is healthier if I also add in a pair of running shoes in order to fuel myself with some quiet time in the presence of God.

The blessings are numerous — we only have to look to see them.

Where did you see God today?

Hope is a Muscle…

I graduated with a degree in psychology from Dartmouth College in 1997. I remember clearly the phone conversation with my parents a couple of years prior when I told them of my chosen major. My dad struggled to find enthusiasm as he finally managed to say “Psychology’s not a very practical major. Don’t you think you should study something else?”

Two days after graduation, I moved to rural Nebraska where I used my psychology degree to learn to care for farm animals and coach young athletes. Over the almost 25 years that have passed since that phone conversation, I have routinely pondered why the science of the brain and the emotions that play critical roles in our lives fall into the “not practical” category of focus.

Mental health touches all of us. The mass shootings that all too often ravage our country were not even on my radar screen in the mid-90’s when I formally studied psychology; but the denial and feeling of shame that go along with smaller daily emotional  and mental challenges did permeate our mainstream American culture. Still today, we harbor embarrassment toward and quietly shun people who suffer from mental turmoil instead of reaching out in love and support. We chose to judge others, blame inanimate objects, and participate in rabid political debates after tragedy strikes rather than acknowledge the real problem and preemptively come together to focus on a cure.

Hope is a muscle.

When it is strengthened daily by love and faith, hope wards off the self-doubt, loneliness and fear that challenge and erode our mental health. The battle is real. No one holds immunity from it. Hope provides the inspiration that allows each of us to find value in life. It motivates us to reach out to others in love and support, instead of focusing inward with judgement and disdain.

A grass-roots effort is needed to create the cure. It starts with you and me – how we view ourselves — how we relate to others, as well as what we teach our children.

• Do we focus on love of others and honoring the gift of life?
• Do we respect individual differences while also working to find common ground so that we can move forward together as a team?
• Do we accept that mental and emotional struggles are part of life and focus on creating the tools needed to find happiness amidst the challenge?
• Do we have honest discussions with our children about faith that inspire them to love themselves while also recognizing that “we” is stronger than “I”?

Everyone matters.

We all have worth.

We are all children of God.

I believe that we begin to effectively improve the mental health of our country one person at a time – one relationship at a time – one loving action at a time. We waste precious lives when we judge instead of love. Repetitious acts of kindness build the muscle of hope. They not only help others, but they help us. We feel self-worth rather than self-doubt, focus on community instead of loneliness, and replace fear with faith as we look toward the future.

I spend a lot of time coaching and working with youth on the athletic field. While it may appear that my primary job is to build physical muscle and athletic prowess; I know that what I truly need to do is teach my athletes to believe in themselves – to truly believe that each one of them matters. Not just on the day of competition, but in the journey of life.

You see, hope is a muscle. When it is strong, it refills our cup and provides a beacon of light as we travel the journey. It keeps us honed in on the joy of giving. It tells us that we have something worth sharing and inspires us to reach out in empathy toward others. When we all work to build the muscle of hope, we rediscover the value of life. We are at peace and whole within ourselves through our faith in God which allows us to show love and compassion to others.

It isn’t complicated; but it requires dedication and tenacity both at the individual and community level.

Are you ready to build the habit of love and fuel it with faith in order to find hope for the future?