If you were to collect the challenges of most of the high school football coaches across the country, I'd venture a guess that wanting more of their kids to dedicate the necessary time to their strength and conditioning program would be #1, and quite possibly by a large margin.
That brings me to this post-game press conference clip from Portland Trailblazers star guard Damian Lillard after hitting a dramatic series ending three a few nights ago.
With their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder tied up and a chance to put the series away with a bucket and time expiring, Lillard shimmied and took a step back, fading-away three from just inside the logo at half court. It was an incredibly difficult shot that some are calling among the most impressive post season game winners in NBA history.
Here's that shot for some perspective.
Afterwards, Lillard was asked how he had the energy to make that shot after contributing so many quality minutes in the game, and series. The answer he provided seems like a tailor made message for the coaching community to share with not only the guys we wish would spend more time preparing themselves in the off season, but also the dedicated individuals that you're blessed to have on your team already that have committed to putting the time and "sweat-in-the-bucket" in. "A lot of times, those situation are handled way before the time comes - in the summer, when you truly prepare yourself and you put yourself through those types of things with training, and conditioning and things like that." "When you cheat yourself, you fail in those moments. You crash." "But when you really put the time in, and whether people see it, or they know it or not, it always comes to light." See Lillard's full message in the clip below.