The old coach

Tom Jenkins walked out onto his old high school football field. Twenty-five years ago, he had played ball at this stadium.

He looked up at the giant lights burning through the fog.  Trash from the night’s game littered the track. He paused, took a deep breath and inhaled the smell of the cut Bermuda grass.  Silence covered him like a blanket and the years began to melt away.  He thought of his old coach’s voice yelling at him after he puked while running sprints up the bleachers.

“Potential is a little French word that means you’re not worth a damn yet.”

He remembered the words like he had heard them yesterday.  They spit out of the old coach’s mouth like a wad of used chewing tobacco, hitting him right between the eyes.  They permeated his mind and stuck in his memory.

Potential.

The author H.G. Wells said it even better, “The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and what we might have been on the one hand, and the thing we have made and the things we have made of ourselves on the other.”

What was inside him? Only he could truly find out.  Yes, he could be pushed by others. But self-motivation — self-discipline — was his only true path to success.  A coach is great, but what happens the moment the coach leaves?  Do you fall back into dormancy? Do you bury your talent?

These were tough times for Tom Jenkins. Like many Americans, he had been downsized. He had walked out of the building with a box full of plaques and accolades. In the end, it all meant nothing. One keystroke from a bean counter and his whole career had been swept away. He now struggled with self-doubt and pain.  So he decided to come back to the first place he had ever been tested.

“Son, I still think you got it in you.”

A voice came out of nowhere.

An old man put his hands on Tom’s shoulder. It was his old coach.  “I’ve been following your career, Tommy.  You’ve done some amazing things. But you did those things when times were good.  When it was easy.  Now it’s time to step up and be great.  I saw something in you all those years ago.  Use that potential make a difference. To inspire people. It’s time for you to be worth a damn..”

Tom looked into the eyes of his old coach. “Yes sir. But it’s hard.”

“You’re damn right it’s hard.  But hard times shape you like the rushing stream smooths the stone.  Set spectacular goals and achieve them.  People need the best you got so give it to them.  Suck it up, son — It’s the fourth quarter. It’s time for action. Now go run 25 bleachers.”

Tom looked at the old man in shock.

“Just kidding son. I’m yankin’ your chain. You always were too damn gullible”

The lights’ timer shut them off, leaving Tom to ponder his old coach’s words. He turned and said,  “Thank you, Coach.”

But there was no one there.

Tom Jenkins left his self-doubt on that field that night and started the second phase of his career. He became a great leader and lived up to every ounce of his potential.

And if you ever visited his office, you’d see a picture of an old football coach with the words. “Potential is a little French word that means you’re not worth a damn yet. But action is word that means you are.”