Pat Summit

by C.J. Aragon

There are a few coaches that transcend sports. The lessons they teach their students are more than what can be measured in wins and losses. I believe that coaches in any sport can learn lessons from some of these great coaches. Pat Summitt was a coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball team and her resume is more than impressive. She has the most wins in NCAA history with 1098. Summitt also won eight National Championships in her coaching career. I find her most impressive feat is that she graduated 100% of her players that used all of their eligibility in her 38 year career.
I have a few of my favorite Pat Summitt quotes and how I believe they apply to rodeo.
“Here is how I am going to beat you. I’m going to out work you. That it. That’s all there is to it.” Summitt grew up on a dairy farm and there was no doubt that her upbringing helped make her a hard worker. In basketball much like rodeo if you want to improve put in the work. There are no substitutes for hard work. Study. Learn. Compete. Practice. They are all forms of work. Don’t let you’re your competition beat you because you were not willing to work. That’s all there is to it.
“It’s my experience that people rise to the level of their own expectations and of the competition they seek out.” Summitt had high expectations for her teams and the results were a reflection of the expectations. Set high expectations and then work to meet those expectations. Find the best competition and compete against them. Learn from your competition to continue to improve. Don’t be afraid of tough competition, use it as a measuring stick, learn your lessons and improve. Set your expectations high then compete fearlessly to get meet them.
“See yourself as self-employed.” This one is very true in the sport of rodeo. On the professional level you truly are self-employed. Too many students in high school and college get comfortable with their parents helping them get down the rodeo road and do not realize that at some point they must produce results to justify the sacrifice the parents have made. To be great at any sport you must treat it like a job, can you make it on your wages?
Summitt was always looking for ways to improve, her coaching style and teaching style were always under construction. In rodeo you are only as good as your next run/ride, but you must always be practicing and working on improving to make that next run better than your previous run/ride. Always be building for the future.
Pat Summitt was a legendary coach, and the lessons she taught can be applied to rodeo as well.

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