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April 30, 2010

“If you guys have any hope of winning, you’re going to have to go out there and score more points than the other team.” 

Statements of the obvious are sometimes very funny.  Coaches seem to be masters at declaring indubitable axioms.  Their answers to media questions and their pre-game speeches are rife with self-evident pronouncements.

 

Some of the more entertaining declarations come from little league and recreation coaches.  Having done a fair amount of coaching myself, I’m sure that my quotes from years gone by would be quite laughable.  During one season of many, I was an assistant coach on a basketball team.  We were set to play one of the tougher teams in the league.  The head coach called us all together.  All eyes of the 11 and 12 year old boys we coached were fixated on the coach as he prepped them for the game.

 

His speech was fiery.  Whatever he may have lacked in his knowledge of the game, this coach more than made up for with his passion.  He concluded by asserting, “If you guys have any hope of winning, you’re going to have to go out there and score more points than the other team.”  The boys’ faces scrunched in a bit of disbelief.  That was our strategy? 

Never losing a beat, the head coach turned to me and asked, “Coach Craig, anything to add?”

“No, coach,” I replied.  “Go get ‘em, boys.”

Many times, the best strategy is as obvious as outscoring your opponent.  Unfortunately, however, oftentimes there is more effort in developing the strategy than there is in the execution of it.  We won the game.  Implementing the coach’s strategy made him look like a genius.

“Go get ‘em.”

Craig Halsey

They Said It

April 30, 2010