The 25 Sports Commandments: A Guide to Help Develop a Mindset for the Young Athlete on and off the Playing Fields

By Guy McBride

Commitment, dedication, camaraderie, sportsmanship, confidence, encouragement! Do children realize the importance of these words, both in sports and in daily life? I have put together a collection of thoughts and ideas that I have gathered throughout my many years of coaching youth sports, trying to instill in our children a mind-set and a foundation of thoughts to assist them in not only achieving what they want athletically but also in helping them to become better people. This will help our youths to understand the connection between what they learn through sports and what they experience in everyday life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524540197

Guy McBride

Guy McBride is presently residing in Levittown, New York. He is married and has three children. He grew up in Queens, New York, and always had a love for sports. He started playing sports at a very young age and went on to play basketball at Flushing High School. He played college basketball at Queens College. As an adult, he has coached tee-ball, CYO, and travel teams in baseball, basketball, and softball. He also coached basketball at St. Mary’s High School and Briarcliffe College. He is currently a certified basketball referee for boys and girls high schools and has been a member of the IABBO Basketball Association for over 30 years.

Book preview

The 25 Sports Commandments

A Guide to Help Develop a Mindset for the Young Athlete on and off the Playing Fields

Guy McBride

Copyright © 2016 by Guy McBride.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016914444

ISBN:      Softcover       978-1-5245-4020-3

                  eBook           978-1-5245-4019-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/15/2016

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Contents

Foreword

Commandment 1

Commandment 2

Commandment 3

Commandment 4

Commandment 5

Commandment 6

Commandment 7

Commandment 8

Commandment 9

Commandment 10

Commandment 11

Commandment 12

Commandment 13

Commandment 14

Commandment 15

Commandment 16

Commandment 17

Commandment 18

Commandment 19

Commandment 20

Commandment 21

Commandment 22

Commandment 23

Commandment 24

Commandment 25

To those who have the desire, the fire, who have that non-stop motor. To those who have a passion to excel and become that special player. I am driven by your child’s desire.

This book is dedicated to my three children: Tara, Brittany and Brett, and to the hundreds and hundreds of kids I have coached over the years. Trying to instill in each of them a mindset, a foundation of thoughts, to assist them in not only achieving what they want athletically, but also in helping them to become better people. Helping our youth to understand the connection between what they learn through sports and what they experience in everyday life.

A special, and I mean a very special thanks, to my better half, my wife, Lori, who was the spark behind the writing of this book.

FOREWORD

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Participation in sports means so much more to the child than winning or losing. It is infinitely more important than some crazy rankings of young players. It is not about the championships, trophies or reputations that are gained while playing. It is about the lessons learned in how to deal with winning or losing, how to depend on a teammate, how to learn from a role model, and most of all, how to take those lessons and apply them to becoming a better person in life, using the lessons learned by participating in sports.

Guy McBride has captured the most basic lessons that can be learned from playing sports and has put them in a very direct and easy to read few pages. In fact, I intend to keep The 25 Sports Commandments on my desk so that I can refer to them often. It will remind me of what should be important to us adults when we assume the role of leaders to the children who are entrusted to us. We, as coaches and youth sports administrators, have the tremendous responsibility of teaching children what is truly important about sports participation and what it offers them, not only now, but for many years to come.

The Commandments, as explained by the author, are dead on accurate. They refer to the core elements of not only what is important but also how to deal with such critical issues as confidence, respect for opponents, preparation, sports intelligence and the absolute necessity that athletes of all ages must always work hard. These are all life lessons that go well beyond the baseball or football fields or basketball courts. They are values that must be taught each and every day by the coach.

The 25 Sports Commandments is a critical tool for the youth coach. Those of us