Thinking Inside The Box
October 5, 2012
Praise is often heaped upon the innovative person who thinks “outside the box.” But thinking “inside the box” is equally praiseworthy.
By this I mean doing the essentials better. I mean remembering our first and fundamental reasons for being, and delivering the very finest services that support those purposes.
It is possible that by thinking outside the box, some organizations forget about their reasons for being; and in interscholastic athletics, we would be well served to think inside the box.
In sports we learn we must compete within the confines of end lines and sidelines. Go beyond the boundary lines and you’re out of play, where you can’t score and can’t win.
If school sports will secure a victory for its future – meaning, school sports continue to be a tool for schools to reach and motivate young people in an educational setting – it will not occur from out of bounds. It will occur because we stayed within prescribed boundaries: local, amateur, educational, non-commercial, sportsmanlike and physically beneficial.
Small Steps
November 3, 2015
“You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” I believe it was former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George who said this when advocating for a big leap forward for his country during the early 20th century.
Indeed, taking two small jumps when one giant leap is necessary is an ill-fated strategy.
However, I have found that a series of smaller steps to solve large problems is very often the most practical and politically-expedient approach.
For example, as we have enhanced coaching requirements, especially related to health and safety, we didn’t insist that all of the changes occur simultaneously, or immediately. One thing at a time, phased in over several years, made these changes possible.
My MHSAA colleague Rob Kaminski, our webmaster and publications coordinator who is also an MHSAA registered football and basketball official, once remarked, “Not all football plays are designed to score touchdowns; some are just intended to move the ball forward or to set up a bigger play later.”