You Cannot Fix a Real Faith

When I learned that members of my team, boys whom I had trusted and to whom I had devoted intense training and guidance---when I learned that these boys had been fixed by professional gamblers, my faith and belief in the basic integrity of youth received a severe blow. Any weaker confidence in the principles upon which I have tried to base my life might well have folded under its force. Yet I can honestly say that my belief in the real decency of the great majority of our young men and the value of athletics is as strong as ever. The indiscretions of a few youngsters cannot destroy a faith built up by thirty-four years of experience with other boys who have justified that faith.
　　
Throughout the years I’ve seen thousands of boys getting important training on the athletic field. I have seen them learn honestly and fair play, and I’ ve seen them learn to subordinate themselves for the benefit of their team. What is more important, I’ve seen them take the lessons they have learned here into the situations they’ve had to face in later life. Many of the boys I’ve helped to teach have become outstanding members of their communities.
　　
I realized that the responsibilities of any teacher are great and that those of a coach who spends more time with his pupils than any other teachers are even greater. Not only do I spend more time, but I feel emotionally closer to them, seeing and sustaining my students when they lose as well as when they win.
　　
Because of this peculiarly intimate relationship with the members of my team in their most impressionable and formative years, I know that I can exercise great influence for good or bad on them. I try by the example of my own character and actions to set them a standard of moral behavior. For this reason, I have always tried to be very clear in my own mind about the principles in which I believe.
　　
Take the desire to win, fundamental with every competitor. Naturally, it’s important to me, both as a player and coach and as a human being. I believe the competitive urge is a fine, wholesome direction of energy. But I also realize that the desire to win must be wedded to an ideal, an ethical way of life. It must never become so strong that it dwarfs every other aspect of the game or of life.
　　
As a coach I have always tried to emphasize that winning is not enough. The game must be played right. I have often said that I would rather see my teams lose a game in which they played well than win with a sloppy performance that reflected no credit, except that it was sufficient to win. So I’ve tried to develop a way of thinking that sees life, and the things I do, as a whole, with every act relating to anther set. This puts things in true perspective.
　　
I believe in the resilience, in the bounce, of youth. I get rich satisfaction from working with young people, providing leadership and friendship during the tortuous but exciting years that shape them toward maturity. I honestly think no more worthwhile activity could occupy my time.Edwin Markham has summed it up better than I could. He wrote:
　　
"There is a destiny that makes us brothers,
　　
None goes his way alone,
　　
All that we send into the lives of others,
　　
Comes back into our own."

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