Monday, February 16, 2009

What can Self-Government teach us about Sports?


"Quite simply, the best government, the simplest, the least expensive, the most local and accountable, the least intrusive, the most efficient, the least threatening, is self-government." -Mike Huckabee--from his book "Do the Right Thing"

I am currently reading Mike Huckabee's book "Do the Right Thing" and Mr. Huckabee seems to have a lot of things figured out. Self-government, in life and in sports, is by far the best government of all. If everyone would govern their own lives then we could save the money that is used on those that have to enforce government. Mike Huckabee uses this example in his book:

"As sophisticated and enlightened as it may sound to say, 'Government shouldn't tell people what they can do,' government is forced into that position when people fail to govern themselves. And we demand it, too. Why do we summon government with a call to 911? Because someone thought he had the liberty to break a window in our home and help himself to the things we had purchased with money we worked hard to obtain. Does anyone think "government" is wrong to "intrude" on the liberties of the burglar by pursuing, arresting, prosecuting, and jailing him? In fact, we insist on it. We want government. But had the burglar governed himself, he wouldn't have been a burglar and the entire expensive process of adjudicating him would have been unnecessary. We all recognize this in the case of burglars, but we fail to see its wider implication."

Now I know you may be asking yourself, how does self-government, or government at all for that matter, apply to sports. Athletes should constantly be applying self-government to their own lives. Unfortunately, a lot of the time players are so worried about making sure that their team is "governed" that they forget to examine themselves. Now I never said that a little constructive criticism from another teammate was a bad thing. It is something that is defiantly needed. But why don't we first check ourselves. Are we constantly working to do things the right way? And while we may not be perfect, are we trying and making the adjustments to do things right? The last person anyone wants advice from is the guy who is so arrogant and prideful that he can't see and fix his own mistakes. On the other hand, if your the guy that is working hard, taking the extra swings, ground balls, shots, passes, etc. then someone is much more likely to listen to your advice. It's only when you are making sure you self-govern your own game that you can be worried about helping others do the same. Often times when someone sees you working hard to keep your game sharp then that will get them to thinking about how sharp their game is. Actions and examples speak much louder then any words ever could. So "govern" yourself first, and odds are, when your teammates see your drive and desire... they will follow suit.




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