What can you ask of anyone other than making the most of their abilities and their situation? Here's a role model.
McPhee enters the Hall of Fame
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Wow RJM, that's quite a story. Thank you so much for providing the link. The only sport I ever participated in and was coached in was wrestling in the eighth grade. I didn't like it and didn't continue past that season, but I came away with a lot of respect for the sport, the wrestlers, and the coaches.
Because of this respect I am not at all surprised that it was the 'National Wrestling Hall of Fame' whose directors decided to honor Bob McPhee.
Wrestling is a special sport. Wrestlers are special. Because of my very limited participation I never considered myself a wrestler, but in a very short time I learned about respect and what it takes to earn it.
After reading this article my respect for wrestling grows even more. That's good for wrestling and good for Bob McPhee. He earned some very worthy respect from a very respectful organization.
One of the most moving sentences in the article was this...
That sentence captures much about Western Maine and the current generation of youngsters growing up there. It says alot about their parents too. Thank goodness for a good man like Bob McPhee to bring out the best we have to offer. God blessed him by giving him such a strong sense of purpose. He's making the most of it!
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Wow RJM, that's quite a story. Thank you so much for providing the link. The only sport I ever participated in and was coached in was wrestling in the eighth grade. I didn't like it and didn't continue past that season, but I came away with a lot of respect for the sport, the wrestlers, and the coaches.
Because of this respect I am not at all surprised that it was the 'National Wrestling Hall of Fame' whose directors decided to honor Bob McPhee.
Wrestling is a special sport. Wrestlers are special. Because of my very limited participation I never considered myself a wrestler, but in a very short time I learned about respect and what it takes to earn it.
After reading this article my respect for wrestling grows even more. That's good for wrestling and good for Bob McPhee. He earned some very worthy respect from a very respectful organization.
One of the most moving sentences in the article was this...
- The kids in Western Maine all know him, and know to go up to him after games and give him a quote or help him into his van.
That sentence captures much about Western Maine and the current generation of youngsters growing up there. It says alot about their parents too. Thank goodness for a good man like Bob McPhee to bring out the best we have to offer. God blessed him by giving him such a strong sense of purpose. He's making the most of it!
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Inspiring and humbling in so many ways. Thanks, RJM.
I particularly liked this sentiment from McPhee:
"A common belief is that the athletes with the greatest physical abilities will come out on top," he would write years later. "That's simply not the case. Granted, being physically gifted is a great advantage, but that alone isn’t enough."
We see the truth of this in baseball all the time when highly touted natural athletes finally reach a level--whether high school, college or pro--where everyone has comparable physical ability. Many are surprised to find themselves unprepared to battle when success is reserved only for those who have the same stuff inside that McPhee does.
If you got to college because you were bigger, stronger, faster, and threw harder, you need something else when suddenly everyone is as big, as strong, as fast, and throws just as hard.
And Woody is certainly right that wrestling develops that something else. There's no preparation for competing on the diamond quite like lining up across from someone who is determined to kick your butt one-on-one in front of a gymnasium full of people who have nothing to look at but your personal battle.
One year when I was coaching a Little League minors team, I knew I wasn't any good at judging baseball talent, so I just drafted all the kids who were involved in the youth wrestling program. I knew they wouldn't cry, wouldn't complain and had some concept of getting low and moving their feet. They were also all willing to try playing catcher. We were the smallest team and everyone thought I had the worst draft, but we had a drama-free season and finished respectably, slightly ahead of the middle of the pack.
I particularly liked this sentiment from McPhee:
"A common belief is that the athletes with the greatest physical abilities will come out on top," he would write years later. "That's simply not the case. Granted, being physically gifted is a great advantage, but that alone isn’t enough."
We see the truth of this in baseball all the time when highly touted natural athletes finally reach a level--whether high school, college or pro--where everyone has comparable physical ability. Many are surprised to find themselves unprepared to battle when success is reserved only for those who have the same stuff inside that McPhee does.
If you got to college because you were bigger, stronger, faster, and threw harder, you need something else when suddenly everyone is as big, as strong, as fast, and throws just as hard.
And Woody is certainly right that wrestling develops that something else. There's no preparation for competing on the diamond quite like lining up across from someone who is determined to kick your butt one-on-one in front of a gymnasium full of people who have nothing to look at but your personal battle.
One year when I was coaching a Little League minors team, I knew I wasn't any good at judging baseball talent, so I just drafted all the kids who were involved in the youth wrestling program. I knew they wouldn't cry, wouldn't complain and had some concept of getting low and moving their feet. They were also all willing to try playing catcher. We were the smallest team and everyone thought I had the worst draft, but we had a drama-free season and finished respectably, slightly ahead of the middle of the pack.
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Atta' boy Swamp!
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- "We were the smallest team and everyone thought I had the worst draft, but we had a drama-free season and finished respectably, slightly ahead of the middle of the pack."
Atta' boy Swamp!
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