Close Calls
November 22, 2011
The little slip of paper I removed from the fortune cookie read: “Every important call is a close one.” That notion may be more critically important in some aspects of life than others, but nowhere in the fun part of life is it any truer than competitive athletics.
Where the winning margin can be a fraction of a second or inch, observed by hundreds or even thousands of spectators, athletes, coaches and contest officials, we know this to be true: the toughest decisions are the most critical, most defining of all.
School and school sports administrators learn that it is the closest calls – where evidence is least conclusive, opinions most divided or precedent lacking – that have the greatest effect on their school communities and their own careers.
It is at these times – close calls – that leaders show up. That they speak up. That they stand up.
Not Good Enough
January 1, 2016
Good is never good enough.
When Frank Lloyd Wright was asked to choose his best project, he replied – in his 80s – “My next one.”
As we turn the page from 2015 to 2016, we are content that 2015 was a good year when several large, even transformative projects were initiated and some completed.
But 2016 must be better. The challenges to educational athletics will be tougher, and the needs for serving and supporting school sports will be greater.
Good will not be good enough in 2016. Our next year must be our best year.