Tired of sports-related examples yet?

This past weekend our rugby squad had a match in Cincinnati. Our coach, who is also one of our players, has to make the decision every Saturday to either stay on the sidelines and coach (something very difficult for him) or cut into someone else's playing time. Often, he is the best option, and it is at times more important to put the best players on the pitch rather than prevent someone from getting their feelings hurt by starting a less qualified individual. This saturday however, he took himself out of the starting lineup. Considering his personality, I think it took great leadership for him to step down and let someone who typically gets the short end of the stick see some playing time. We ended up winning by a landslide, and after the game, our coach went to the other team and provided tips and pointers for about 30 minutes on how to get better. In the male ego, this may be considered slightly insulting, but our coach's commanding demeanor and engaging attitude laid any pride to rest.

My other example was after the Kentucky Wildcats thoroughly defeated Wake Forest in NCAA tournament basketball this past weekend. When asked what he thought about U.K. being the tournament favorite to win it all, Coach Calipari simply stated that the Cats haven't won it yet. He went on the say that a team of freshmen and sophomores can fall at any moment, in the most important games. He was not saying that the starting lineup of basically all NBA draft picks couldn't get the job done, but what he was doing was displaying the healthy ego that we have discussed in class. Calipari is not only a great coach, but he is also a family man and fervent community contributer. I am sure that if we win the championship, he will be a leader in my basketball obsessed hometown whether he likes it or not!!!