The Locker Room Playbook

1Eyes on the Prize

For Everyone

Core Lessons

• There are subtle signs when a Locker Room is broken, but even the best coaches may miss those signs.
• The pressure to win should not be allowed to blind us to the needs of our team.

Chapter Summary

Coach Smitty is a well-respected coach with a winning team that could go all the way to a championship. But Coach Smitty has a problem: one of his star student-athletes has made racially offensive comments that were recorded and ended up on social media. Now everyone in the community and school is upset. Coach Smitty decides not to handle the matter in public, which causes further problems that he is not yet aware of.

Deep Dive Teaching

In the story, Davey is not held to the same standard as his peers. The problems with this are pretty obvious from our armchairs, but what about when we're faced with such a situation in the real world?

In reality, it can be all too easy to take the route that Coach Smitty did by relaxing the standard for the sake of a win. In this example, both Coach Smitty and Davey have allowed talent to outstrip character.

The Standard Is the Standard The standard exists as a benchmark. Not everyone will have the same talent or skill level, but everyone can meet the same basic standards of integrity, fair play, and work ethic. These are zero-talent skills that every single person on the team can develop.

But the standard only matters if everyone is held to it equally. If the standard is one thing for the star ...