Great sports are great people. Great people are great sports. Thank you makes it all better.
The idea of LovePrints is the covering of the planet in love. One person at a time. One act at a time. Love in action. Action in love. Love out loud. A constant message is loving and learning through sports. The games we play are a mirror to life away from the field, away from the court, away from the water, away from the net, away from the sticks, and away from the whistle. If we get this right, we can make them all better. We must.
It all starts at home. The parents and the family. The nuts and bolts to it all. The games do not matter without the core values of family. Love should start at home, be carried into the community, into the schools, into the places of faith, into the events, and into relationships. Teams are an accumulation of parents and families united, connected, and missioned. They mirror the people who work to get them in place, and if actioned in love, make a proud statement of who they all are. The parents and family should be the standard for love so that the athletes know what love is, know how to identify it and seek it out. It also gives them protection from the other thing. To the parents who work, cheer, show up, support, rally, lift, and love, THANK YOU.
It is passed on in love to the schools, communities, and teams. If done properly, there is a coach there in place who respects the love mission, and adds more love. The coach is there to cosign the family’s love, and enhance it, shine a light on it, and help it shine more brightly. The coach is there to cover the team in so much love that the players lift the family, lift up the school, lift up the team, and lift up the players themselves. The players should be so covered in love that nothing else can stick. The coach can do that, should do that, and must do that. As the love is shared, victories are won. Losses are learning experiences, and accomplishments are given value. Purpose is recognized. To all the coaches who put in the work, lift, elevate, effort, achieve, and love, THANK YOU.
The athletes must love what they do, why they do it, and how they do it. If love is the why, the how and what become irrelevant. Love of self, love of others, and love of the game can move the family and community forward and up. That should be the basis for all actions in the game. Does it take you forward, and up. That is where love is. Forward and up. If the athlete is loved at home, loved in the community, loved as a teammate, it is much easier for them to love themselves. Again, if they are so covered in love, nothing else can stick. Nothing else will stick. Nothing else will matter. To all of the athletes out there who love, and are loved, THANK YOU.
Community has the ability to make the athlete, the family, the team, and the planet a more loving place. It can make love the why, it can make love the how, it can make love the what, and it can make love the who. If the community is a place of love, love occupies the vacuum, and nothing else can. Community is the vacuum, and if we spend each day, each opportunity, loving, nothing else will stick. We may not be able to make the other thing exist, but we can make love the louder thing, the prouder thing, the more constant thing. We can make love the objective, and in that, we can direct love to and for everyone, including ourselves. To each of us in the community who love, purposefully, constantly, loudly, and continually, THANK YOU.
If you officiate the games, cheer at the games, clean up after the games, set up before the games, take care of the players during the games, work during the game, secure the games, announce the games, cover the games, watch the games, financially support the games, wear the colors at the game, nurse them back to health after the game, feed them for the games, direct traffic at the games, or simply applaud the games themselves, THANK YOU.
If no one has said thank you, I just did.
If you have not said thank you, do so now.
I say this…LOVE IN ACTION. ACTION IN LOVE. LOVE OUT LOUD.
GO!
