Competing With Class

What does it mean to compete with class?

• Class always respects teammates, coaches, officials and spectators.  It always sacrifices self for the greater good of the game.
• Class oozes with confidence, never cockiness.
• Class has an element of pride without being proud.
• Class has nothing to do with status, position, or wealth.
• Class knows you need not extinguish another's candle in order to let your own shine.
• Class does not need credit for getting the job done.
• Class is never self-seeking and always looks for ways to praise others.
• Class is void of excuses.  it learns from failure and moves on.
• Class is doing unto others as you would have others do unto you.
• Class has a sense of humor and knows that laughing at oneself is essential for positive well-being.  Laughter lubricates the machinery of human relations.
• Class cultivates good manners, recognizing them as a series of small, inconsequential sacrifices.
• Class is equally comfortable with nobility and the blue collar crowd.
• Class is authentic.  It loathes duplicity.
• True class has no rivals.  If you lack class, whatever else you have is inconsequential.

Taken from an article by Joe Bean (Wheaton College Mens Soccer Program) and Layton Shoemaker (NSCAA Ethics Committee) which appears in the National Soccer Coaches Association Of America new book "The Soccer Coaching Bible."