I've never looked at the talent level of the players on my team as a way to judge them. I look at how hard they work. I look at their attitudes. I look at whether or not this guy is helping us reach our final goal. I believe you have to be one of the hardest workers to be a leader. Leadership has very little to do with talent. Leadership has everything to do with attitude and how hard you work daily.

If you're one of the hardest workers, one of the people who come early and stay late, THAT'S leadership. And leadership doesn't always have to be vocal. Leadership can be done with your actions. You gain credibility by working hard every single day and never taking a day off. It shows your teammates that you're playing for the right reasons. You're letting them know you play for the team, not just for yourself.

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We Honor the Game by respecting officials simply because it's the right thing to do. Officials work hard to learn the rules of a sport and administer them fairly during competition. Always show respect for officials, even at times when you disagree with a particular call. Without the officials you wouldn't have games to play in. Take time to shake their hand and thank them for the job they do.

Ask your coach if your teammates can take turns playing the role of the official during practice. This will help you all better understand how it feels to be in the official's shoes.

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When we think of people who are courageous, we think of firefighters and military personnel. And while these people are certainly courageous, there is another type of courage as well. PCA believes that moral courage, which is difficult to exercise, is just as honorable and important.

It is easy to follow everyone else, especially in school and on teams, even if you know what others are doing is morally questionable. Most people want to do what is right, but they lack the moral courage. A person with true character is not afraid to act alone to do what is right.

Challenge yourself to be the player who sets high standards and lives up to them, even when other players don't. Before you know it, you'll become a leader on the team and others will follow your lead!

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A Triple-Impact Competitor® does not define success solely by the scoreboard. Striving to impact sport on three levels by improving oneself, teammates and the game as a whole, the Triple-Impact Competitor has multiple ways to define success.

Are you putting everything you can into refining your performance, both mentally and physically? Are you the best teammate you can be, quick to praise others and share praise that may come your way so Emotional Tanks are kept full? Do you Honor the Game by the way you compete?

Answering yes to these questions means you have a great set of relationships, which is a greater life-long win than anything appearing on a scoreboard.

What is a Triple-Impact Competitor?

Triple-Impact Competitors® have Double Vision - the ability to look both inward and outward for the betterment of the team.

The inward view is "Mirror Time", an internal scan of what is going on inside you, including taking a hard look at your feelings and taking personal responsibility for your actions. The outward view is "Window Time", an external scan that involves focusing on what is going on with your team and your teammates so you can help them be successful.

Triple-Impact Competitors ask whether it is Window Time or Mirror Time. The answer depends on what your team needs in the moment. Sometimes its a Mirror, and sometimes a Window. Sometimes it can be both at once.

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If you are afraid of making mistakes, you will play tentatively, and tentative players usually get beat. It is better to make a mistake than to be afraid of making one. Sports are filled with mistakes.

The best baseball hitters fail about 70 percent of the time. Great shooters in basketball miss roughly half their shots. Elite corner-backs in football and closers in baseball cultivate "short memories" to quickly put mistakes behind them and prepare for what's next.

Every athlete makes mistakes -- lots of them. What separates great athletes from the rest is how they deal with mistakes. Strange as it sounds, to become a Triple-Impact Competitor®, you must embrace -- not fear -- mistakes.

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In Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, he writes that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become highly proficient at a skill or task. That is a lot of practice and potential for blood, sweat and tears. You may not always be up for it.

You may need many sources of inspiration, such as teammates, coaches, parents, books or movies. However, if you love your sport, it will be that much easier to keep showing up and doing the work necessary for success.

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A Triple-Impact Competitor® works to impact sport on three levels by improving oneself, teammates and the game as a whole.

Here is one tip for addressing each of those points:

- To improve yourself, think of every little way in which you can do just a little bit better, whether it's one more rep in the weight room or one less doughnut for breakfast.
- To improve your teammates, keep their emotional tanks full; if they're doing well, let them know, and if they're not, let them know they will.
- To improve the game, set examples, such as helping a fallen opponent.

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It is important to learn how to both win and lose gracefully, because you almost certainly will have both experiences. You can often learn a lot more from losing than from winning.

For example, it sometimes takes a loss to awaken you to flaws in your game or your team that you otherwise could have overlooked. Losing also can help renew your commitment to mastering your sport.

It can help you recognize any lapse in intensity of your practice, conditioning or mental focus. And, if you use the loss as a springboard for correcting a lapse, you will return to competition stronger than you were before.

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Competing in a variety of sports can help you develop different senses of leadership. For example, in a sport where you are less skilled than your teammates, you may become more of a vocal, emotional leader, while in your stronger sport, you might be able to lead more by physical example.

In sports and beyond, both forms of leadership are valuable, and you will find yourself in situations that call for one or the other...and sometimes the need to smoothly transition back and forth in the same day.

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