A note from Pinnacle Sports, in light of recent events

We first would like to offer our thoughts and prayers to the families and community of Newtown, CT and Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Paramount in the minds of Pinnacle Sports is the safety and well being of each child and family that enters our facility. Our concern is not only the physical safety of our children but the emotional safety as well. Here are two resources for you to use with your children in talking with them about the incident in Newtown:

https://www.akronchildrens.org/cms/kidshealth/0ac447a3a1b3b78e/

http://www.acacamps.org/hottopics/disaster

We count our blessings that in ten years of operation, we have never had to deal with an ordeal like that in Newtown. That being said, we are more committed than ever in providing a safe community to all at Pinnacle Sports. Please know that as part of the Pinnacle family we want to assure you that we are reviewing and affirming our policies regarding building and customer/staff safety.

Reaffirming the roles of our managers, staff, coaches, partners and you as families and customers are key in doing all we can to protect our young people. While none of us can offer 100% full-proof guarantees, please know that we will make sure there is a heightened awareness of safety.

 

Thank you for continued commitment to your child, your family and Pinnacle Sports.

www.pinnaclesports.org

More Thoughts From Rich

Here are some of my favorite random quotes – in no particular order and for no particular reason. Enjoy - RICH

“There comes a time in your life when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don’t. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of life, getting back up is living.” Jose N. Harris

An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy and truth.”

The boy thought about it and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”

The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

“Working harder on what you are doing right now just gives you more of what you have now.”

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Dale Carnegie

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius

Loyalty

Loyalty

As I work through the Complete Player acronym, we come to Loyalty.  Loyalty is using difficult times to demonstrate your commitment to others or what is right. 

If you have ever been a part of a team, you know it is hard sometimes to stay 100% committed to each other.  Things happen; you may go on a losing streak or have issues with another teammate or even the coach.  As a leader, Loyalty is the CQ that will help you over come these rocky situations when it seems impossible to keep a team together.  

Here are a few questions to think about to see if you demonstrate loyalty.  Do you show up when it is crunch time (do you want the ball or the last shot)?  Can you bring your team together or do you divide them when chaos hits?  If you have a teammate that is loyal, do you feel that they are there with you no matter what?  Are you like that to your teammates?

Below you will see some words that describe loyalty and words that define the total opposite.  One of my personal favorites is the word allegiance because it reminds me of my favorite movie (Gladiator), those slaves/gladiators only survived the fight if they were loyal to each other and by coming together they formed an allegiance that could not be broke. Would they have been divided or at odds, they would have lost every battle.  The word faithful is another word for Loyal and there are hundreds of examples that can be given: Marriage, Team, Religion, etc. 

Positive                     vs                    Opposite

Devotion                                            Divided

Allegiance                                           At Odds

Faithfulness                                       Unfaithful

Friend                                                 Enemy

Dedicated                                           Uncommitted

Loyalty is important in all facets of life, in order for you to build strong relationships with others you need to be loyal to them, as you would prefer them be loyal to you.

Have a great week,

Coach Todd

Purpose

PURPOSE

Purpose is knowing and understanding your end goals, which ultimately will let you accomplish your mission.  If you go through life without a purpose you are essentially spinning your wheels and not gaining any ground.  Having a purpose helps you direct all your energy and focus on the task at hand to accomplish goals. 

Here at Pinnacle our mission is to develop athletes for life, so it is our duty as employees and coaches to focus all of our energy on making that a reality for our customers.

As a coach the first thing you should do with your team is “think backwards”, meaning establish your vision and mission or purpose.  What does the end of season party/banquet look like?  Are you celebrating a good season?  A championship? Or just glad you made it through ok?  Once this is set in stone then you work backwards until present day, strategically setting a plan of attack.  Having a purpose just doesn’t happen by itself.  Do you think that the military just took out Osama on a whim?  Absolutely not. They knew their goal and spent month’s planning out exactly how to accomplish their mission and directed all their energy to accomplishing that mission until completed.  This can be used in sports, business and family.

Purpose: “How do you measure up?”

Positive                     vs                    Opposite

Reason                       vs                    Directionless

Intention                    vs                    Coast

Goal oriented             vs                    Wonder

“Want to”                   vs                    “Have to”

Coach Todd

 

Baseball Coach Bill Goddard

BILL GODDARD

Coach Goddard is the former head baseball coach at Wadsworth HS where he holds the school record for most wins in history during his 17 year tenure.  Played at Wadsworth HS before going to the University of Akron where he patrolled center field and was the 1980 captain and Outstanding Defensive Player.  He at one time held the Zips record for most hits in a season.  Coach Goddard is in the Wadsworth HS Hall of Fame, Medina County Sports Hall of Fame and Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thoughts from Rich

Thoughts from Rich

A friend of mine shared these “life lessons” with me that came from her grandmother. Let’s remember that simplicity is good and advice from those older and wiser than ourselves is invaluable.

1. Be polite. Say “thank you,” “please,” and “I am sorry.”
2. Lower your voice if you want me to hear you.
3. Stop whining or begging — it is unattractive.
4. If you don’t like her, she probably doesn’t like you. (Ouch, I remember that stinging.)
5. Be fair. No manipulating to get your way — again, it is unattractive.
6. Don’t sweat the small stuff or fight over petty issues.
7. No one will change until you change.
8. A smile wins more than a frown.
9. You are not as important as you might think.
10. Don’t become your own problem.

Although there is no direct tie to athletics and sports, these “life lessons” are what we try to teach daily at Pinnacle Sports. Take these to heart and live them daily.