Mamba Mondays | I Always Aimed to Kill the Competition

NBA legend Kobe Bryant was known for having a killer mentality, and he took that killer mentality onto the Redeem Team when he teamed up with Lebron James and the rest of the 2012 USA Basketball team.

Here is what Kobe Bryant said about teaming up with Lebron and teaching him how to have a killer mentality:

“The main thing LeBron and I discussed was what constitutes a killer mentality. He watched how I approached every single practice, and I constantly challenged him and the rest of the guys.

I remember there was one half when we were messing around. I came into the locker room at half-time and asked the guys—in a less PG manner—what in the hell we were doing. In the second half, LeBron responded in a big way—he came out with a truly dominant mindset. And I’ve seen him lead that way ever since.”

Every great team has at least one person with a killer mentality. Kobe Bryant was that person on his Lakers teams, and for Team  USA. In his own words, “I always aimed to killed the opposition.”

Week 47 | Be A Great Teammate By Serving

I was talking with a coach about creating an excellent bench environment for his team. He has 12 athletes on his varsity basketball team, and as they get deeper into the season, athletes at the end of the bench are starting to realize that their place is at the end of the bench, and they are starting to react negatively to their role.

Their body language is getting worse and worse, their attitudes are starting to turn negative, and the once positive environment that they had in the pre-season is now eroding because of a lack of equity in playing time.

On every team, there are starters and there are bench players. It's just part of team sports. But so often, we talk to the bench players about how they can be great teammates and supportive of their teammates on the court or field, but we don't as often talk to the starters about how to also be great and supportive teammates to the ones who don't play as much.

It’s easier to cheer for and support a teammate who is a good person and who is cheerful and supportive of us.

This conversation reminds me of the story of The Mother's Request in Matthew 20.

While Jesus and His disciples were traveling to Jerusalem on a trip that would ultimately lead to Jesus’s death, the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and kneeled down to ask Him for a favor.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This mother wanted her sons to sit in a very special place next to Jesus; she wanted them to be starters, and like many parents, she asked the coach, Jesus, if they could start. I would imagine that would be a sign of greatness for this mother. But Jesus’s message was that it is not where you sit that makes you great, but how you serve. Jesus told them that He came to serve others, and His ultimate act of service would eventually be to die on the cross for them.

Every parent wants their kid to start. They want their kids to be successful. But the Christian goal is not starting, but to serve. So, how can you best serve others on your team? How can you be a great teammate? If you can have a team full of athletes who want to start and who want to be great, but who understand that their ultimate mission is to serve each other, and if you can recognize and celebrate service, then you have created a team that can have the best bench in the country.

Everyone can't play all game. Everyone can't start every game. But everyone can be a great teammate by finding meaningful ways to serve others.

THIS WEEK

1 – What are 1-3 ways in which you can serve your teammates?

2 – When is it hardest to serve your teammates?

3 – What can you do to overcome that barrier and find ways to serve your teammates when it isn’t easy?

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
- Matthew 20:27-28

For a Google doc version of this devo, click here: Be a Great Teammate by Serving

Week 46 | Run Your Own Race

Run your own race, and run it the best you can.

Everybody is running their own race, and comparison is the thief of all joy.

I once heard a low-major, D1 basketball coach tell the story of a kid on his team who was one of the top ranked 8^th graders in the country when he was 14 years old. This was the kids 3^rd or 4^th college team, and according to the coach, the kid had so much success so early that he never really learned how to manage adversity.

On the other hand, there are 100s of college athletes who were late bloomers and were never close to being ranked in middle school who find a lot of success at the college level.

Everybody is running their own race.

Athletes start their sports journeys at different times, for different reasons, and with different abilities. Some athletes hit the ground running and find success early, and some don’t find success until they have put years of work in. Some athletes are stars when they are younger and fizzle out when puberty hits, and some don’t find their way in the sports world until they hit high school or even later.

Basketball star Azzi Fudd became the first sophomore to win the Gatorade Player of the Year and was the number one recruit in her class, but according to her mom, when she first started playing basketball, she was terrible. But she worked hard, had a plan, stuck to the plan, and went on to start at the University of Connecticut, passing up all of the prodigies around her who had an earlier and faster start.

All we can do is control what we can control, do the best we can, and maximize and take advantage of the opportunities as they come, while enjoying the process. We reap what we sow over time, and the harder the work and the more we invest, the more we will get out of our experience.

As I am reading through the book of Matthew, I see comparisons between the journey of an athlete and the Parable of the Workers.

In the Parable, a landowner hires men to work on his vineyard. They come in at different hours of the day, the first workers coming in at 9 in the morning, and the last group coming in at 5 in the afternoon.

When it was time for them to get paid, the landowner paid the latest workers first, and he paid them all equally. When he paid the first workers hired last, and when the first workers realized that they worked the longest but got paid last and an equal amount as everyone else, they got upset and grumbled with the landowner.

When they said to the landowner, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat,’ the landowner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

This parable shows that even the people who come to Christianity later in life will earn the same rewards that people who came early earn, as long as they are willing to do and put in the work.

This also teaches us to not be boastful or prideful because we got an early start on someone else. God gives different opportunities to different people and at different times. All we can do is show up ready to work and believe when our time is called, accept the rewards that He gives us, and be happy for others on the same journey as us.

Stay humble. Work hard. Be thankful for the rewards you earn.

THIS WEEK

1 – What race are you running? What do you hope to get out of playing sports?

2 – What is one thing you need to keep doing on your race?

3 – What is one thing you need to stop doing or that is holding you back?

4 – Who is one person that you can encourage to keep running their race this week, and how can you encourage them?

For a Google doc version of this devo, click here: Run Your Own Race

Mamba Mondays | Prepare Consistently

One of the most important things you can do as an athlete is consistent in how you prepare. So many games are won or lost in preparation, and how well and consistently you get and stay prepared can make or break your career.

Getting and staying prepared isn't always fun. It is hard work that requires discipline. Boxing champion Muhammad Ali once said, "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'"

NBA legend Kobe Bryant was known for being one of the hardest workers and most prepared athletes ever. Preparation was so important to him that Kobe would read the referee's rule books so that he knew everything he could about how the game was officiated. But there are distractions everywhere, and we have to learn how to manage them if we want to find and maintain consistency in our preparation.

Here is what Kobe said about his ability to prepare consistently while playing for the US National Team:

“My routine with Team USA, compared to my NBA routine, was inconsistent. I tried to stick to my regular road workouts, but the big unknown was always the environment. During the NBA season, I knew how every city and stadium operated, which made it easier for me to visualize everything from the bus ride to the final buzzer.

When you go to China, Spain, the UK, or Turkey, you don’t know what the bus to the game is going to look like, you don’t know what the training room is going to look like, and you don’t know the layout of the arenas. Those details tend to vary, so I had to adjust accordingly.

Mentally, though, I approached national team games with the utmost intensity. I knew I was playing against guys I had never faced before, and I knew I was going to defend the other country’s best player, so I locked in. I studied a lot of film and tried to figure out who my opponents were. The last thing I wanted to do was risk stepping out blindly against an unknown-but-great player. Preparation was critical.”

If you want to be the best you can be, be consistent in how you prepare. The work that you put in, every day, makes a big difference - especially over time.

Do something today, tomorrow, and every day after that your future self will thank you for.

Mamba Mondays | Image

So much of today’s world is driven by social media and the images that we see and create on it. With social media, you can be whatever you what to be, and what you see is the crafted, best version of everyone.

This creates a level of comparison and scrutiny that we have never seen in the history of our world.

Social media has changed everyone's lives, and it has brought difficulties that the modern athlete has to deal with that we didn't when we were growing up. Part of an athlete's journey, and part of growing up and maturing, is learning how to manage your image and how to manage how you handle how other people see you, talk about you, and perceive you.

John Wooden once said, "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

Kobe Bryant once said:

"When I was young, my mindset was image, image, image. I took that approach with the media. As I became more experienced, I realized: No matter what, people are going to like you or not like you. So be authentic, and let them like you or not for who you actually are. At that point, I started keeping all of my answers blunt and straight forward. I would mix in some humor and sarcasm, too. I think fans and reporters came to appreciate that; came to appreciate the real me."

One of the biggest lessons to learn in life is how to be yourself and how to be comfortable being yourself. Social media conditions us to compare ourselves to others, but we don't have to. Know who you are, know what makes you happy, and be a good person to others by helping them be happy being themselves.

WEEK 45 | THE RICH YOUNG MAN

According to NCAA data, there are about 7,400,000 high school athletes across the country and about 460,000 NCAA athletes. That means that only 6% of high school athletes will play sports in college.

Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way.

There are other opportunities to play sports in college for schools that don't participate in the NCAA. The NAIA is a league through which smaller athletic programs that are dedicated to character-driven intercollegiate athletics are able to offer around 77,000 student-athletes each year the opportunity to play college sports and compete for $800,000,000 in scholarship opportunities, and for 28 national championships.

Junior college is also an opportunity to play college sports. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is home to over 22,200 2-year student-athletes, and to over 1,500 2-year junior college programs that follow a similar scholarship structure to the NCAA, with D1, D2, and D3 colleges.

Leagues like the NAIA and NJCAA aren't nearly as popular as the NCAA, but they are definitely competitive. Being a college athlete is extremely difficult, but for dedicated, committed athletes, it is an opportunity of a lifetime.

Playing in college is an opportunity to play at a high level in the sport you love and are good at. It is a dream for so many athletes and parents. But the amount of hard work, focus, and dedication that it takes to play at the college level can't be said enough.

The journey of becoming a college athelte, especially one on scholarship, reminds me of the story of the rich young man who approached Jesus and asked him in Matthew 19, "What good deed must I do to have eternal life?"

Jesus told him to keep the commandments, to love and honor his father and mother, and not to kill anyone. The rich young man said he had always obeyed the commandments, and then Jesus told the young man that he needed to do one more thing. He needed to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor; then the young man should follow Him.

The young man did not want to give away everything he had because he loved the things he owned, and he left feeling sad. His possessions meant more to him than following Jesus.

Jesus told His disciples that it is hard for those who are rich and who love all of their things to go to heaven. He said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciple heard this, they were astonished and confused. They asked Him, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus said, "With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." People who trust God and love Him more than anything else can live with Him in heaven.

Life is all about choices; choices and sacrifices. When you choose one thing, you are sacrificing another. If you want to play sports in college, especially on a scholarship, you will have some difficult choices to make. You will have to make some serious sacrifices. Not a lot of people are willing to make those sacrifices, but if you choose to work hard and choose the right college, it can be one of the best choices you can make in your life.

The same goes for choosing Jesus. It is easy to choose Jesus when life is hard and you feel like you really need Him. As He shows in this parable, it is hard to make that choice when you are rich and have everything that you need. But every day, make the choice to choose Jesus, choose His teaching, and choose to live life like He taught and lived.

That is the key to living a life full of love, joy, and peace.

Every day, choose Jesus.

THIS WEEK

1 - What choices are you making that get you closer to your goals and dreams?

2 - What choices are you not making to get you closer to your goals and dreams?

3 - What choices are you making to bring you closer to Jesus?

4 - What choices are you not making to bring you closer to Jesus?

Look at everything you do, everything you say, and every thought you have under the lens of, "Will this bring me closer to my dreams, and will this bring me closer to Jesus?"

For more read Matthew 19:16-28.

For a Google doc version of this devotional, click here: The Rich Young Man

Mamba Mondays | Sacrifices

In December 2009, Kobe had a serious injury to his right index finger; he had broken his index finger on his shooting hand. When his trainer, Gary Viti, told him about the fracture, Kobe said, "Alright, cool, now get me back out there.

Kobe said that Gary looked at him like he was crazy, but Kobe asked him, "Is it going to get better? When Gary said no, Kobe said, "Exactly. There is nothing we can do about it now, and it can't get words, so tape it up and let's go."

Every time he got on the court, every shootaround, practice, and game, he would apply a splint on his finger. Then they would wrap it over and over again. The ball would still hurt every time it hit his finger, but mentally he knew he had the protection to absorb just enough of the pain, and he would play through the rest.

Kobe Bryant once said, "A lot of people say they want to be great, but they're not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness."

This injury caused Kobe to change how he shot the basketball. He went from guiding the ball with his index and middle finger to just using his middle finger. Making that shift took some time. He had to mentally download the software that was the new form, and then he had to drill it over and over again. 

He would make 1,000s of shots during that time, trying to relearn this new shooting style.

Not a lot of people are willing to play through an injury where every time you catch the ball, it hurts.

Not a lot of people are willing to completely change their shot either. It takes time and sacrifice. But Kobe, and the other great athletes, are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness.

WEEK 40 | GRACEFULLY ACCOUNTABLE

Have you ever had a teammate who always messed up and made the same mistakes over and over again? That can be frustrating, especially when you are in an environment where you have high expectations.

When I was a young athlete, I would hate it when we would have to run for our teammate's mistakes. We always had one teammate who never touched the line, who always messed up the drill, and who could never remember the directions or plays.

While leadership requires holding the people around you accountable to the standards that are communicated, how we hold them accountable tells a lot about who we are as people.

Actress Viola Davis once said, "I don't know what the definition of grace is; only that it meets you where you are and it doesn't leave you how it found you. You want some grace in your life because you are never going to arrive perfectly at any place."

In Matthew 18, Jesus gives us an example of how we should hold the people around us accountable, even if they mess up over and over again, with grace.

In verse 21, Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." He then said:

 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had sold to repay the debt.

The servant then fell on his knees before him and begged, "Be patient with me and I will pay back everything." The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go.

But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him and said, "Pay back what you owe me!"

The servant fell to his knees and begged, saying, "Be patient with me, and I will pay it back," but he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that happened. Then the master called the servant in and said, "You wicked servant, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had on you?" In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he was able to pay back all of his debt. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

Debt could be your teammates making routine mistakes, causing you to run or even lose games, or debt could be somebody truly hurting you. But Jesus says we have to find forgiveness in our hearts because none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes.

THIS WEEK

1 - When people around you make mistakes, how do you react? Do you hold them accountable with or without grace? Do you hold them accountable at all?

For a Google doc version of this devo, click here: Gracefully Accountable

Mamba Mondays | T'D Up

I have always had a love/hate relationship. I need them to call fouls and control the game, but I don't need them calling too many fouls on me or my team.

I tell my athletes and parents to never forget that referees are people with human feelings and human emotions. My strategy is to never work for the last call but to always work for the next call. When a referee makes a call that goes against our team and we yell at them or argue with them, will that help or hurt our team get a call when it really matters?

That is something to think about any time you engage a referee.

Also, it is important to know that every referee sees the game and calls the game differently. Some will let you be more physical, and some call games much tighter. Some don't mind talking to players and coaches, and some are more ready to give talkative players and coaches technicals quicker than others.

But learning how to manage and work with referees effectively is an important skill to learn and master.

The great Kobe Bryant said that he used to get his fair share of technical fouls. Still, he had a great relationship with a majority of referees. That's due in large part to the mutual respect they had for one another. He made sure to talk with them and build a dialogue and rapport with them. That way, if he talked back or pointed something out, it often held weight with them.

Kobe also said that referees have a difficult job. They are not just responsible for observing and moderating the action in from of them at a fast pace, but they are also responsible for controlling the emotions of the gym.

To gain an edge, Kobe made a point of reading the referee's handbook. One of the rules he gleaned from it was that each referee has a designated slot where he is supposed to be on the floor, creating dead zones, or areas on the floor where they can't see certain things. He learned where they were and took advantage of them.