Coach 360

Every person you meet is in one of three places:

-Having a bad time -About to have a bad time -Recovering from a bad time

It is guaranteed that you will have bad days and rough times. There may even be days when you struggle to get out of bed. Those rough times and the struggles you face can either anchor you down or be the catalyst that propels you forward.

The choice is yours. Will you choose to let your struggles make you stronger?

Key Takeaways: Choose to view adversity as an opportunity Own your mistakes so they don't own you The best thing to do is your job

To learn more about our e-learning resources, please visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3 or email Colton at [email protected].

If you would like to schedule a time for Mackey to virtually encourage your athletes, please email Alyssa at [email protected]

Adversity is something we're teaching our athletes to deal with every day on the field. The goal is to prepare them for when unexpected adversity strikes outside of athletics. We are all dealing with an adverse season right now. We can either rail against it, or put into practice what we've been trying to teach our athletes all this time: Adversity is just an opportunity for growth. In this episode, Mackey encourages us to use this time of adversity to become better, to invest in ourselves, and to connect with our athletes and other coaches (from a distance).

Key Takeaways: -Show athletes that you care about them as people. -Use this time to grow in your leadership. -Don't forget to take care of yourself.

To learn more about our 2Words Character Develop Curriculum and our e-learning resources, email Colton at [email protected] or visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3

If you'd like Mackey to virtually encourage your athletes, please email Alyssa at [email protected] to schedule a date and time that works best for your team! COWI!

Love is not weakness. Love is strength. Love makes you willing to die to self for your teammates. It makes you willing to serve them. Without love, there's no service, no selflessness, and no sacrifice As we've said many times before, sacrifice is required to find success. When you love your team and your teammates, you will sacrifice for them, and together, you will succeed. In this episode, Coach Kirk Sundberg explains that real love is sacrifice. And, he reminds us that love brings strength and success to our team.

Key Takeaways: -Do not be timid or fearful. -Coaches must be both loving and tenacious. -Love is not weakness. Love is strength.

To learn more about our 2Words Character Development Curriculum and our e-learning resources, email Colton at [email protected] or visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3

"Because I said so" isn't just a statement of authority. It's also a statement of dependability: Because I said so, it will be done. Dependability is all about doing what you say you are going to do. Dependability will always beat ability because no matter how much talent you have, it's worthless if you can't be depended upon to do what you said you would do.

In this sample from the 2Words Character Development curriculum, Mackey lays out the difference between ability and dependability, and why dependability will win every time.

Key Takeaways:

-Talent does not exempt you from the getting the little things right. -When you are dependable in the little things, you'll be dependable in the big things. -The most important ability you can ever have is dependability.

To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum email Colton at [email protected] or go to www.2words.tv/gameplan

Bring Mackey to your school: www.mackeyspeaks.com/contact

Celebration is contagious. When we see someone smile or laugh, we want to smile and laugh with them. Complaining is also contagious, though. When we hear someone complain about the weather, it makes us realize it's too hot, too muggy, or too something when moments before we were enjoying a beautiful day. When we hear someone complain about a situation we're coping with well, we suddenly find it harder to cope.

The words that we use and the things that we do are contagious to others. In this episode, Mackey and Colton challenge us to think about this contagiousness and what we are infecting the people around us with. Are we infecting them with celebration or complaints?

Key Takeaways: -What we say and do is contagious. -The work you do matters. -When you celebrate others, you find even more things to celebrate.

To learn more about our e-learning resources, please email Colton at [email protected] or visit our website, www.2words.tv/gameplan3

Team values that aren't put into practice are just words. That said, having an easy-to-remember acronym to consistently remind athletes of our team values can help athletes to turn those words into action.

In this episode, Coach Sam Harrell breaks down the acronym FAST, which they use at Ennis High School to talk about their team values. FAST stands for: Faith, All in, Selfless, and Toughness. They put this acronym on t-shirts, encourage each other to be a FAST team, and talk about the values everyday. FAST reminds athletes to have faith in each other and something greater than themselves, to be all in with their effort, to be selfless and giving, and to be both mentally and physically tough.

Key Takeaways: -It's amazing how much you can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit. -Instill the values in athletes today so they will keep that mentality when they leave. -FAST: Faith, All in, Selfless, Toughness

To learn more about our 2Words Character Development Curriculum and our current e-learning resources, please email Colton at [email protected] or visit www.2words.tv/gamplan3

Our work adds up a little at a time until we reap big results. But if we don't put in our little bit of work today, that little bit rolls to tomorrow, which pushes tomorrow's work to the next day, just like a snowball begins to gather mass as it rolls down the hill, until the work has piled up into an overwhelming heap.

It's easy to put things off until tomorrow. It's easy to schedule and plan for what you will do tomorrow instead of just doing it today. It's much harder to execute today on what you said you would do today. In this episode, Mackey and Colton discuss the whys and hows of doing today's work today, rather than putting it off for tomorrow.

Key Takeaways: -Don't let your worry outpace your work. -Do today's work today, or it will have an effect on tomorrow. -Focus on the work that is right in front of you.

To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum and our e-learning resources, please email Colton at [email protected] or visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3

In this episode with Coach Mike Fecci of Mckinney North High School, Coach Fecci stresses that winning games is a byproduct of a great team culture. The young man or woman must be built first; then the winning part will take care of itself.

It all starts with our athletes' character. The more opportunities we give them to get character reps, the better their character will be, and the more wins and success that will come as a result. As Coach Fecci tells us, "Do right, act right, and everything will be right."

Key Takeaways: -Give your athletes opportunities to get character reps. -Think of ways outside the box to serve those who serve you. -Do right, act right, and everything will be right.

To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum and our e-learning resources, please email Colton at [email protected] or visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3

Our athletes have the capacity to become tough, gritty individuals. As coaches, we have the capacity to help them get there. We want to teach our athletes to be mentally tough, to do the right thing in everything that they do, and to succeed at challenges they think are beyond them. During this interview, Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Zac Harrell of Athens ISD discusses the importance of putting our athletes in tough situations so we can help them become mentally tough. Coach Harrell also stresses that we should never ask our athletes to do something that we haven't done because the example we set for our athletes is that important.

Key Takeaways: -Never ask athletes to do something you haven't already done. -Sacrifice for the team. -Teach athletes to be mentally tough.

To learn more about the 2Words Character Development curriculum, visit www.2words.tv/gameplan

For access to 3 weeks of curriculum, please visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3

For any questions regarding interest in the curriculum or scheduling Mackey for a virtual locker room talk, please email Colton at [email protected]

Inside every struggle there is tremendous opportunity. We live in interesting times, and interesting is often a euphemism for difficult. But even in these interesting, difficult times, there are opportunities everywhere. Opportunities to affect others. Opportunities to get up and do something. Opportunities to step beyond our comfort zone so that we can grow.

In this episode, our guest Damon West poses the question: where is your opportunity right now? We are all deep in the struggle of our times, but there is an opportunity. We just have to seek it.

Key Takeaways: -Not one person can reach everybody, but everybody can reach somebody. -Inside every struggle there is tremendous opportunity. -Vulnerability is a strength.

Connect with Damon West:

[email protected]

damonwest.org

Purchase his 2 books:

The Coffee Bean

The Change Agent

To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum and our current e-learning resources, please email Colton at [email protected] or visit www.2words.tv/gameplan3