The Importance of Conditioning

I received a motivational snippet by Billy Shepherd that was sent out by the IHSAA for our student athletes the other day…

Most coaches stress the importance of conditioning and being in shape for the sport of your choice.  Are you in good physical shape for your fall sport?  If  your sport doesn’t start until winter or spring, are you currently working out to stay in shape?

Brad Stevens, head basketball coach at Butler University and the NCAA runner-up the past two seasons, expects his players to never be more than five days away from top
condition, whether in season or out of season.

Classroom teachers will tell you that you should never be more than a day or two away from completing homework assignments.  Are you doing your part in both?

You have to choose

It is easy for anyone to see how being in top condition fosters success in an athletic endeavor and how “staying in shape” academically corresponds with success in the classroom. We have seen hundreds of examples of this played out in day to day life. But being in top condition requires a choice. And that is probably why the author asked the pointed question, “Are you doing your part in both?”

Being in condition in one area of life does not mean you are in condition in another. It’s sad, but not uncommon, to see a successful athlete who has made the choice to be on top of their “game” athletically, fall apart in their life morally; or for a successful person in business who has made the choice to be at the top of their profession corporately, to collapse ethically. Sometimes we don’t connect the dots, but the reality is Christ spoke of this type of fallout in Matthew 7 when he said…. 

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and  the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been  founded on the rock. 26And everyone who hears these words of mine  and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the  sand. 27And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew  and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Success in life comes from learning what needs to be done,  and then choosing to do it. If you look closely, you’ll see the difference in the two end results came from the choice of doing or not doing what Christ said.

I’m sure there are many people who know that training hard  physically would help them succeed in their sport or skill, but for whatever  reason, they choose not to do so, just as there are many people who know that training hard mentally will help them succeed in their class or job, but  likewise choose not to do so. The results are easy to forecast.

Fallout or Success?

Ultimate success in life comes through choosing to be in a  healthy condition with Christ spiritually. That’s the hearing and doing part when it comes to God’s Word. Hearing but not doing results in fallout; hearing and doing results in success.

Lynn Heusinger
Lynn Heusinger is the Athletic Director and Assistant to the Administrator. He has been in Christian education and athletics for over 30 years. He and his wife Kathy teach and coach at Faith Christian School.