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COACHES
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CAPTAINS ATHLETES FAMILY

Demonstrate how Remain consistent Persevere through Assess what role

much players can in your reactions. the tough spots. your child needs
accomplish. you to take on.

SECOND WIND
Whether it’s running, swimming, weight lifting, or any other exercise that requires
persistence and endurance to keep going, somewhere during the exercise we feel like
we just can’t go another step further. Our legs and arms are shaking, our breathing is
labored, and our muscles are screaming at us to please just stop already. We can either
accept that we’ve hit our limit and give up, or we can push that little bit further, dig that little bit deeper,
and find additional strength we never knew we had.

When we refuse to give up at the end of our first wind, a second wind rises up and we discover that
we are capable of more than we ever believed. Most people never experience that realization because
they are too quick to throw in the towel. But, if we put in the work long enough and hard enough, our
perseverance is rewarded.

We live in a world that is quick to quit. A lot of people are willing to quit as soon as whatever they are
doing becomes inconvenient. Those people are unsuccessful because they aren’t willing to persevere
through their first wind to get to their second wind.

There will always be more temptations to quit than temptations to keep going. Things like peer pressure,
personal relationships, and society as a whole will tell us that there’s no reason to keep going. But, if we
ignore all of that useless chatter and focus on what our own hearts are telling us, we can persevere. If we
do, we’ll be absolutely shocked by just how wrong those negative voices were.

We just have to remember that it’s not always easy to tell when we’ve hit the end of our first wind. The
only way to really know, is to keep going.

2Words Character Development • Season 2 • Week 4

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WIND FOR COACHES

SECOND WIND: FOR COACHES

Our bodies are capable of 20 times more than we think they are. The mind is quick to decide that something is
impossible and doesn’t want to let the body attempt it, but our bodies can do amazing things when we move
past the concept of “impossible.”

We know our athletes are capable of amazing things, but it can be tough to get them to see it themselves
because their minds can have trouble wrapping around all of their bodies’ capabilities. We want to help our players see
that they can achieve so much more than they believe.

To do that, we need to help our players capture the mentality of going beyond what they think is possible to reach the
limits of their first wind and move onto the second. Once they hit that mark, there’s no telling what they can actually do.

We need to reframe things so they get beyond the stage of letting their mind decide what is possible. The human body
is much more powerful and resilient than our minds give us credit for. We just have to find a way to work around the
tendency to underestimate our own capabilities.

Of course, there’s a difference between an athlete who believes “I can’t” and an athlete who thinks “I don’t want to.”
Both need to learn more about perseverance, and both are limited by certain thought processes. But, the first player can
be shown how much he can actually do, and the second player needs a different type of assistance.

THIS WEEK, BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR: QUOTES OF THE DAY:

1. Opportunities to HOLD one-on-ones. MONDAY:
Coaching the team as a whole is integral to any “No one ever drowned in sweat.” Lou Holtz
sport, but one-on-one time is invaluable to the
individual athletes. When we have a chance to TUESDAY:
work with a player alone so that we can focus “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short
solely on their current level and what they need races one after the other.” Walter Elliot
to progress, it gives them individualized guidance
they can’t get anywhere else.
WEDNESDAY:
2. An opportunity to DEMONSTRATE how much “We are capable of exponentially more than
an athlete can do. Pick an exercise, whether that’s we believe we are, if we are not quick to
weight lifting, running, or a simple drill. Then quit.” Coach Mackey
assign a high number of reps. Say, 100. Maybe
they say they can only do 5. That means they need THURSDAY:
to do 20 sets of 5 reps. This demonstrates how “Most people don’t go far enough on their
much more can be done, if we just recalibrate how first wind to find out they have a second
the mind thinks about the task at hand. wind.” William James
3. Opportunities to PRESENT examples of FRIDAY:
people going above and beyond what would
be considered possible. It helps to have a human “You will never regret fighting longer, harder,
name to go with a human body that’s actually for the right thing.” Coach Mackey
accomplished incredible things. Not just “world’s
strongest man” type of accomplishments, but
also normal people doing incredible things. Have
each athlete research and present an example of a
person who accomplished something phenomenal
and explain just what made it so great.

2Words Character Development • Season 2 • Week 4

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SECOND WIND: FOR CAPTAINS
Perseverance when faced with obstacles will never be easy. If it was, we’d use a different
word for it. That said, there are things that you can do to make perseverance easier. It’s
all about mindset. You need to have the mindset that you can do this and that you can
keep going.

Establishing the right mindset is even more important for leaders than for other members of the
team. Your teammates look to you for guidance on how to react to a situation. If you have the
mindset that whatever is happening is just a temporary setback or a small hurdle to get over,
they’ll pick up on that, and it will color their own reactions. Likewise if you have the mindset that
the world is ending and that molehill is definitely a mountain, they’ll pick up on that, too.

There is always another game. How you and your teammates will perform in the next game
largely depends on how you react to the present situation. If you’re riding too high on a recent
success, your focus isn’t on what you need to do to succeed again. If you’re fretting over what
went wrong last time, your focus isn’t on working to ensure a repeat loss doesn’t occur.

How you respond to negative situations

affects how your teammates will respond
because they are looking to you for
guidance. If you’re excitable and happy
when winning, but instantly apathetic or
downcast when losing, your reactions lack
the consistency that your teammates need
to feel that everything is stable.
Consistency is key to good leadership. If
your team can rely on you to remain calm
and collected during both the good times
and the bad, that ability to calmly persevere
will help them to do the same.
/// CAPTAIN’S LOG ///
“LEADERS ALWAYS LEAD”
How do you react to a win? How do you
react to a loss?
How do your reactions affect your
performance in the next game? How do
you think it affects your teammates?
How is your mindset important to your
ability to persevere?

What can you do to be more consistent

in your reactions to events?

Things are rarely as good or as bad as

they seem. How can you remind your
teammates that the truth of a situation is
somewhere in the middle?

2Words Character Development • Season 2 • Week 4

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SECOND WIND: FOR ATHLETES

Quitting takes a mere second, but the regret from that decision can last a lifetime. That’s
because quitting is really easy, but the consequence of giving up is not achieving your
dreams. It’s always easy to come up with excuses for why you should quit, too: “I’m just
not good at this.” “I don’t have the drive anymore.” “It’s too hard.”

Chances are good that when you’re coming up with those excuses, you forget that it’s just as easy to come
up with reasons to keep going: “I haven’t given enough effort to this yet.” “This is something I’ve wanted to
achieve for years.” “I will feel better about completing this goal than I would about abandoning it.”

Perseverance may not feel good in the short term, but it will feel immeasurably better in the long term, after
you’ve made it through. No matter where your dreams and goals could take you, you’ll just stay in the same
place if you don’t find the toughness and the grit required to hold in there and keep pushing.

Most people have to work hard at being great at something, and you’re probably tempted to see that as
a bad thing. But achieving something through hard work is far more impressive than having fountains of
natural ability with no drive to improve further. You don’t want to invest your life in something that you don’t
have to work hard to obtain because hard work is how you build opportunities that allow you to make a
greater impact on the world.

Whether it’s on the field, in the classroom, or somewhere else entirely, you are capable of so much more than
you think. Even if you’re extremely confident in your abilities already, it’s amazing how much more you can
achieve if you put in the hard work and effort required to keep pushing your limits.

ATHLETE’S CHALLENGE:
1. What is the one large overriding goal or dream that you most want to achieve?

2. What would happen if you didn’t achieve your goal?

3. What is the core reason that you want to achieve this goal? What can you not stop thinking about
that makes you need to achieve it?

4. How does stating that reason in concrete terms help you to persevere when it’s hard?

5. What excuses do you come up with for why you should quit? How can you turn those into
reasons why you should keep going?

2Words Character Development • Season 2 • Week 4

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WIND F O R F A M I LY

SECOND WIND: FOR FAMILY

We have multiple roles that we fulfill through our child’s life. They are the 4 Cs of parenting:
Caregiver, Cop, Coach, and Consultant.

At different stages of their lives, we need to fill more or less of each role. For toddlers, we’ll be caregivers
and cops, taking care of their needs and teaching them the rules they need to follow. As they move into
adolescence, we become coaches, directing them towards growth and learning. As they continue to grow
up, we move into the consultant role, giving them advice without making all of their decisions for them.

Even though the various roles will be

featured more or less depending on
the age and maturity of our children, /// BEST 5 ///
sometimes we have to step back into THE BEST FIVE MINUTES OF THE WEEK
one of the other roles depending on their
needs in the moment. When your kids are struggling, what role do you
tend to gravitate towards?
For example, when our daughter is going
through a rough patch, feeling self-
conscious about her skills on the court or
What role does your child actually want you to fill
her appearance, we may want to step into
the caregiver role to comfort her and lift during those times?
her spirits, but she may actually need a
consultant to give her advice on how to
deal with this period of her life. Sometimes when they’re in the midst of a
struggle, they won’t know exactly what they need
Or, when our son is struggling in a from you. How can you plan ahead together to
particular class, we may want to fall into
prepare?
the cop role to make him “work harder or
else”, but he may actually need a coach to
help him figure out how exactly to do that
and encourage him to keep at it. Think of a recent struggle that your child faced,
what role did you assume? Was that the best one
When our kids are in the midst of trials, we for the situation or could it have been improved
need to assess what they actually need, by another role?
rather than what role we would prefer
to fill. That means opening up a line of
communication when things are going
well, so that we can prepare together to
Why is it important to assess both what your child
face the struggles when they come. thinks they need and what you think they need
when determining which role to assume?

2Words Character Development • Season 2 • Week 4

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WIND MORE RESOURCES

MORE RESOURCES
Video: “The Second Wind is Coming (Never Give Up Speech)” Team Fearless (YouTube)
Podcast: “The Power and Problem of Grit” Hidden Brain podcast, from NPR
Book: Hard Work: A Life on and off the Court by Roy Williams (Amazon)
Article: “Finding Your Second Wind” by Kevin Eikenberry, from Leadership & Learning

2Words Character Development • Season 2 • Week 4