Go
Saints!

Friday
March 29th, 2024

earl watt color mugWATTBy EARL WATT

Leader & Times

The No. 2 Lady Redskins have a great chance to return to the state tournament for the third straight year, and sitting at 14-0 it would be hard to look at a team with such success and have questions about whether or not that shot at a state title will happen.

Coach Carter Kruger knew his team is having some struggles, and it goes beyond a missed shot or a turnover.

“We are in a lull right now,” Kruger said. “More than getting in the gym we need to fix our culture. I don’t think we are necessarily all bought in as we need to be. That’s something we can fix really quick, otherwise we are in for some trouble.”

He’s right.

When wins come easy, the cracks aren’t so hard to see.

But when challenges come, that’s when unity means more than ever.

Liberal has had some close calls this season — an overtime win against Dodge City, a late rally to beat Hugoton by two, and Friday’s game against Great Bend was a lackluster performance for the No. 2 team in Class 6A.

There is no question the talent on this team is good enough to compete at the highest level. 

But here are a few pointers for the Lady Redskins if they want to fix the culture and achieve the lofty goals they have set for themselves.

Trust your coaches 100 percent if they are asking you to do what you believe to be impossible.

The best leaders never see in you what you see. They see more. You will never see it in yourself until someone else drives you beyond what you think you can accomplish.

I was fortunate to have two people like that in my young life, ‘That’ Liberal Band director Richard Honish and newspaper publisher Jim Elsberry. They demanded of me and the team more than I ever thought I could do, and the results were Div. I ratings at every contest for four straight years and establishing the best small daily newspaper in Kansas.

But we followed them without question, starting with the seniors. They showed undying loyalty to the leaders.

Coach Kruger and his assistants are the best coaching team in Kansas. Be willing to follow them to the gates of hell if necessary.

Leadership and talent aren’t always the same.

The best lesson in leadership I ever heard came from Ivanhoe Love, Jr., during a Leadership Liberal class in 1999.

You are on a city subway for the first time, and throughout the day you pass the same location and saw a skid row bum on the platform and other business people as well on the train.

A fire breaks out in the subway. You don’t know the way out. The business leaders in their suits say, “I’m a leader. I’ll find the way out.”

The skid row bum then says, “I live here, I know the way out.” Who are you following?

I’m following the skid row bum.

Leadership doesn’t come from the place you might expect it on a team. But without it, the team will not be cohesive when times get tough.

Leadership voices aren’t those who offer criticism or believe they know all the answers.

Leadership comes from the teammate who encourages, who rallies the troops, who earns respect by sacrifice and is willing to admit their own mistakes. If no one is following, then you aren’t leading.

Trust your coaches and find a leader, and there is nothing that can stop you.

EARL WATT • Leader & Times

 

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