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Sharing messages of hope & encouragement
One is a former Mountain Home Tiger that went on to play college-level basketball before going on to coach professional women's basketball teams. The other has dedicated most of his life leading football teams ranging from youth squads to national teams.
On Sept. 19, both of them met with hundreds of student athletes at Mountain Home High School during an athletic symposium in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.
Angela Taylor and Dan "Coach Hawk" Hawkins shared with the students their perspectives on what these students need to not only become exceptional athletes but to also succeed in life.
In her opening comments, Taylor paused to recognize two teachers at the high school who had a "profound impact" on her life. She called former ninth grade girls basketball coach Sandy Jett "one of her biggest champions."
She added that Tilli Abbott "believed in what I could do on the volleyball court." It was Abbott that moved Taylor from the high school's junior varsity to varsity squad, where she learned how to perfect her game from the varsity seniors.
Success starts with practice, said Taylor, who left Mountain Home to play women's basketball at Stanford University. Practice not only involves training and learning the fundamentals of the sport but also working with other players on the team so each of them become the best they can.
The challenge successful players face is learning to continue practicing and improving when no one else is watching, said Taylor, a four-year varsity letter winner at Stanford. The team went on to earn NCAA championships in 1990 and 1992 in addition to appearances in the final four during all three years.
"Practice is what teaches you to be successful," and no one can be successful without it said Taylor, who graduated from Stanford in 1993.
While practice challenges everyone on a team to improve, the rewards from all this hard work don't necessarily happen overnight, she emphasized. At Mountain Home High School, for example, she might have been the team's top player.
But when she started playing on the university's team, she quickly learn she was just one of 50 top players.
Taylor, who spent two years as the president and general manager of the Women's National Basketball Association's Atlanta Dream before creating NetWorks Sports Consulting in 2009, compared her journey in life to different times in a basketball team.
The "first quarter" of her journey capitalized on what she learned from her countless hours of practice. She told the students this is the part of life when things can start off fast both on and off the court.
However, the rewards associated with hard work don't necessarily happen overnight, she emphasized. During her first year at Stanford, for example, she was on the court just 41 minutes or an average of just one minute per game.
"Things may not go your way, but don't let it stand in your way," she told the students.
At the time she graduated, Taylor wanted to work as an executive with the Chicago Bulls to work with athletes like Michael Jordan. But at the time, those opportunities didn't exist.
Undeterred, other opportunities presented themselves. In time, they led her to the halftime moment in her life to date -- becoming a women's basketball coach that eventually took her to a career leading the Atlanta Dream with the WNBA.
None of this would've happened if she hadn't believed in herself, Taylor told the students.
Offering the students some words of advice, she said the letters in the phrase "Tiger Pride" actually represent the traits that separate successful athletes from the rest of the pack.
For example, the letter "T" represents a team player -- a person who uplifts and helps others get better, she said. They are the ones who lead study groups for those struggling with their grades in addition to helping those on the basketball court get better.
She then focused on other traits like integrity, which not only requires people to not only stand for something they believe in but sticking with that conviction. People with integrity are also humble because they are willing to own up to their mistakes, Taylor added.
At the same time, people who succeed in life also have resilience. Athletes accept that they can fail, but resilience teaches them how to get back on their feet and keep trying.
Taylor then urged the students to also promote a spirit of excellence -- to do things "with a purpose and on purpose." She had a similar messages for the coaches at the school and urged each of them to challenge their players to make them better.
"Being a coach is more than just blowing a whistle," Taylor said.
In his opening comments to the students, Hawkins stepped off the stage and offered them one piece of advice. He guaranteed it would make each of them successful on and off the court or field.
"Quit trying to win and just be a winner," Hawkins said.
Winners set goals to find the path they want to take in life. Those who don't end up losing direction on what they want out of life.
"If you don't know where you want to go, the path you take doesn't matter," Hawkins said. "Without goals, nothing in life matters. But if you have goals, everything in life matters."
Winners have one thing in common: They have goals that translate into action, he said.
Not wanting to pull any punches, Hawkins said people who don't succeed in life tend to make excuses instead of owing up for their lack of effort. When someone fails to meet their expectations, the one they need to blame first is themselves.
For example, when someone gets a "D" on a test, it's because they earned that grade. The same is true for those who put forth the effort to earn an "A" on that same test.
But when someone fails a test, the question becomes whether they learned from it or if they simply walked away, Hawkins said. Winners take these failures and other adversities and learn from them to move forward.
"You are in charge of your life; not your teachers, not your coaches and not your parents. It's you," Hawkins said.
While people don't have control over 95 percent of what happens in their lives, they do have control over the remaining 5 percent, the coach emphasized to the students.
"Quit blaming everyone else and fix what you can fix," he said.
At the same time, people should never wait for circumstances to determine where life will take them.
"You'll get in life what you're willing to settle for," Hawkins said.
Having grit and resilience when dealing with all the challenges in life is awesome although they find that a lot of garbage tends to get thrown in their way that puts both traits to the test.
"It happens. It's life," Hawkins said.