Make The Minutes Count

As my friend Kim Potter would always say, “Nobody likes a counter.”  And, she’s right.  

Player (and parents), if you are counting minutes played, please stop.  Be more concerned with what happens in those minutes than with how many minutes were played.  If you can tell me how many minutes you played in a game, but can’t tell me what you did in those minutes, you wasted your time.

Show me a counter, and I will show you a player who is putting themselves before, and above, the team.  If you can’t tell me what your TEAM did in those minutes, you are focusing on yourself and not the team.  

Life is short, and your time spent as an athlete is even shorter.  You’ll look back one day, and in the blink of an eye, it will all be gone.  I know where I’m going, and when my time here on Earth is done, I won’t be asked, “How many minutes did you play?”   But I know I will be asked, “What did you do with the minutes you had?”  Sports and life aren’t much different.  We are taught life through sports, and life is not about counting the minutes of your life, but making those minutes count.  

At the end of the day, will you be counting minutes, or will you be absorbing and soaking in every last minute you have left?  In sports, much like in life, we are told to “play until you hear the whistle.”  Don’t watch the clock. Don’t count the minutes.  Just play.  Soak it all in.  Be a part of something bigger than yourself.

Play until you hear the whistle.