College should not be the goal

I am sometimes asked about the proof of sixman football being a “successful” way for their son to "play at the next level". The question comes in several forms, “Do sixman player get college scholarships?” or “What type of colleges will even look at a sixman player?"

My answer has been I am more concerned with the content of your son's character then I am with their accomplishments. The world is full of accomplished tyrants and self-centered millionaires. When defining success, I look to Jesus’ definition of success:

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.”

Matthew 20:25-28

Learner driven coaching is about creating servant leaders. I am not interested in an athlete getting an athletic scholarship (or even going to a university) because we know the character of our athletes will make them more desirable than their acumen.

Jesus tells us the way to be first is to be a slave to others. We are not the sum of our accomplishments. Instead, we are created in God’s image to serve others and to bring Glory to God.

In our own family we use Cat n Dog Theology. The purpose of Cat n Dog Theology is to call us away from its self-centeredness and to focus on the glory of God. “A dog may look at you and think, ‘You feed me, you pet me, you shelter me, you love me — You must be god!”

But a cat looks at you and thinks, “You feed me, pet me, you shelter me, you love me — I must be god!“

As a coach, I am looking to encourage leadership where athletes share a disinterest in being in the spotlight, and instead they like to lift up others. In other words, while our players might go along with having a spotlight on them, it would be extremely uncomfortable and out of character.

In the end, colleges need learner driven athletes more than learner driven athletes need colleges. The content of an athlete's character is the standard by which we should determine the success of a player or team and not the number of state titles and personal accomplishments on the field.