By Rob Ficiur

Two weeks ago I was able to hear Larry Gelwix share his philosophy of coaching.  If you are wondering who Larry Gelwix is, don’t worry, I didn’t have any idea who he was either.  He is the most successful American coach in the world’s second most popular sport.  If those clues don’t help you, they wouldn’t have helped me either.  Larry is the high school Rugby coach on whom the movie Forever Strong was based.

In the 35 years that Larry has coached rugby at the Highwood High School in Salt Lake City, he has accumulated a record of 404 wins and 10 losses.  That 97.5 winning percentage would be unimaginable at the professional level.  An NHL team would have 160 points.  Today the best team in major league baseball has a 62.6 winning percentage.  In modern history the highest winning percentage in baseball was the 2001 Seattle Mariners who had an enviable record of .716.

Coach Gelwix listed several keys to his success as a coach.  Some are obvious; others took some explaining.

1.  Have good players.  (At first I thought that this was obvious).  He said that his players do not always come to the team as good or great players.  However, his coaching staff can take an average athlete and put them into the team’s system.  Once the player buys in to the system, they play beyond what their normal abilities would be.

2.  Coaches and Playbook are essential.  Coach Gelwix and his 22 volunteer coaches have put together a playbook that works on the field.  However, his insistence on character development pushes his players to become a well-rounded respectful person off the field. as well.

When Hollywood approached Larry about doing a movie about his successful rugby career, Larry said no.  If they were to make a movie it had to accurately portray the players, because the team’s success is not all about the coach.

Larry went on to share the character development ideas that have made all the diference.

1. Choose what team you are going to play for.  That one seemed pretty obvious at a high school or professional level.  Once a player signs a contract he is on that team.  Then I thought back to the dozens of players who have held out because they wanted to renegotiate their current contract.  Ottawa Senators’ former captain Alexi Yashin thought he was so good he should have his contract renegotiated. When Ottawa would not comply, Alexi sat out a season.  Even though Yashin later played for the Islanders, he was never the superstar he could have been, at least in part because the team he chose to play for was Me not the Islanders or the Senators.

Recently there were allegations that Chris Bosh and Lebron James did not give their all to their respective teams last year.  While it would be hard to prove a lack of effort in these situations, there are certainly times when fans can see that a player does not have his heart playing for a certain team.

2.  Don’t Play with Snakes – Larry told the story of one of his 15-year-old rugby players who found a snake in his driveway.  The player picked up the snake by its neck and showed it to his friends.  Everyone was entertained by his antic and scare tactics…except the snake.  As the player entertained his friends, one neighbourhood kid asked a question.  As the boy answered the question, he unconsciously loosened his grip on the snake.  Loosening the grip for a moment was all the time that snake needed to bite his captor.

Coach was not very sympathetic to the snake bitten rugby player.  He said “You knew it was a snake when you picked it up…what did you think was going to happen?”

In sports (and in life) we all have rattlesnakes that can bite us.  Coach Gelwix said “What separates the chumps and the champs is how they handle the temptations (snakes) that come their way.”

3.  Hit the Road Running – How many teams and athletes are slow starters in a game by game basis.  You can’t continue to spot your opponent a lead and then expect to catch up, even if you are a more talented team.  In a lengthy professional season, we have observed teams that get off to a slow start; who then struggle to catch up all season.

4.  Focus on the Final Score – Whether the team is winning or losing half way through a game is irrelevant.  The focus must stay on the final score.  Too many teams relax their play and suddenly find themselves behind.  Likewise other teams see that they are ‘too far behind’ and coast the rest of the game.  Just like Coach Gelwix wanted his players to start the game strong – he insists that they play until the game is over.

Next week I will share Coach Gelwix’s Character Self Test.  He said the answers to his two questions will define a person’s character.  He said his test never fails... So study for your character self-test for next week.