#winning

"Success has been and continues to be defined as getting up one more time than you've been knocked down. If experience has taught me anything, it's that nothing is free and living ain't easy. Life is hard, real hard, incredibly hard. You fail more often than you win, nobody is handing you anything. If you want to be the very best out there that is, get out there and earn it! Once you decide that, you'll know where it is you want to be. Then you won't stop pushing forward until you get there! That's how winners are made. #MSU #ProudCoach"

This was a friend's Facebook status I wrote down a few weeks back. A particular friend who knows and embraces the importance of passion, hard work, focus, and persistence...that true daily "grind" so to speak.

It has been a solid three years since I have been in a collegiate weight room (which was at Oklahoma State when I was working for the athletic department). But I recently walked into Midwestern State University's facilities, and those memories came back to me. The action inside the weight room at MSU's DL Ligon Coliseum unfolds against a deafening soundtrack of clanging metal and shouting. Sure it's loud, but the athletes listen. They know that winning comes from pushing not just physically, but mentally...every single day.

Signs of progress are being unveiled. The Mustangs have proved themselves in numerous sports with football going 10-1 and advancing to the NCAA Division II second round, men's soccer making it to the Division II first round, women's soccer ending their season in the Division II second round, and women's cross country claiming the highest national ranking in school history at #10... and judging by the way things are going, it seems as though men's and women's basketball will be adding to the accolades board as well.

The success all comes back to what these athletes did OFF the field. In some of the players' cases, that path to victory likely began somewhere in that loud, busy workspace of dumbbells, bars, and weights. In most, it started within. Of course they had to buy in to what they were being told to do physically, but it started with a foundation they could build on mentally.

Have you ever heard someone say, "Get your mind right!"? As many times as I may roll my eyes after hearing that phrase, I can't help but reflect on what it truly means. To me, those four simple words mean, "Change your mind before you change your body." You must constantly think about being a winner. It's tough to do when you haven't been victorious for a while, but its crucial. There are no excuses. There is no sugarcoating. It's about having a mind set to go to the next level and win.

The coach I took my initial quote from knows what it's like to win. He's no stranger to the feeling of success, hailing from a university that won back to back NAIA National Football Championships in '08 and '09, and were runners up in 2010. This coach is striving to take that "winner's mindset" and make sure it hits home with his athletes. The most important result of any program is changing each team member's mindset to that of a winner. I doubt anyone would argue with that.

Just remember, "Winners win, because that's what winners do."

*post inspired by Coach Cronin