More on Jim Reid's 'uncommon' philosophy - Washington Post |
| More on Jim Reid's 'uncommon' philosophy - Washington Post Posted: 25 Aug 2010 04:52 AM PDT As you may have read, Virginia Defensive Coordinator Jim Reid prefers that his players be "uncommon." He tells them that frequently. And he also understands that many of them will not fully understand what he means by that until long after they're done wearing helmets and shoulder pads. "I think that it may take a while to really understand the true meaning of it," sophomore linebacker LaRoy Reynolds said. "I think it's, like, one of those moments you have and it kind of just hits you, like, okay, you're being uncommon right now and it's a good thing ... Being uncommon, with Coach Reid, it's just the way he wants his defenses to be. Not common. Not regular. The first example he gave of being uncommon was when we went down to Norfolk (for a team scrimmage) during the spring, he was telling the guys about how he just got up and decided to take a jog. There's certain things you do or how you react to certain things that is being uncommon." The story on Reid published in today's paper was not alotted enough space to include Reid's full explanation of his philosophy on being "uncommon." It began with a reflection on how the veteran coach is able to so adeptly relate to his players, a trait for which Virginia Coach Mike London praised Reid. "I remember everything that ever happened to me as a high school football player," said Reid, 59. "Everything. And as a college football player, not only do I remember everything about college football that happened to me, I remember everything I did in college. I've never forgotten that. So what I tell the players is that the insights of a saint come from his experiences as a sinner. I remember two-a-days. I remember the second one. I remember having to condition. I remember just how I felt. I remember everything. I loved it. "So I remembered everything about it. And when a player can't finish practice the way he wants to, I understand totally. I know exactly how he feels. I remember how he feels. And then I remember how I wished that I had done and what I wanted to do and didn't. So you can talk to guys a little bit like that. There is no dog house with me. Or if there is a dog house, it's a huge door that's ready for somebody to be able to come out of it. And it doesn't take long, because we're all here for one purpose, and that's to grow as men. And we've chosen to grow as men through the game of football, which is a great way to go. And it will teach you great lessons if you learn them properly to be a great man for the rest of your life. "There's not many environments that impose and test you in the skills of life than what football does. Mental preparation. Doing what you don't feel like doing. Being accountable to teammates. Being respectful to people when they criticize you. Being in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are ready to cheer you or boo you, depending on what you do. To me, if you take all those lessons that you have to learn to be successful in football -- no, no, no, to play the game of football -- and then you apply them every day, you're going to be a great success. "These guys are starting to feel like, okay, you need to be uncommon. Well, what does that mean? You'll find out. I've had players write me and say, 'Oh, now we realize what you mean about being uncommon.' Come to work every day before you're supposed to. You stay late if you haven't finished a task. Things of that nature. The game teaches you all of that. "And I know that this isn't high school football, and I know what's at stake here. But in my mind, humbly, if your players know that you're very interested in them, other than how many tackles they had and how many interceptions they had and do they fit correctly in the run game, then they're going to be better football players, and you're going to be able to build a closeness and a bond that's going to help you win, as well as develop the qualities of life that I was just talking about. That's my humble view of it. Many people say I'm wrong. Some people say I'm right. I don't care. That's the way that we do things." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Philosophy - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment