Rosary soccer team learns lessons from successful coach in different sport

When Rosary's girls soccer team gathered earlier this week with its parents for its annual preseason meeting, the Royals were in for a bonus.

Coach Kevin Callaghan invited Bill Schalz, the school's girls swimming coach, to speak about how his athletes improve themselves. Rosary's swimmers have done very well recently, as three state title trophies will attest. But Schalz didn't once talk about success in terms of what his teams have accomplished.

He spent 45 minutes talking about how athletes can improve themselves every day and every season in a wide-ranging discussion of responsibility, goal-setting and attitude. And when he was through, Schalz might have been talking about athletics, but the lessons on which he drew had much wider applications, for there were numerous life lessons mentioned that the Royals could take and use far from the soccer fields or swimming pools or basketball courts on which they compete.

The first thing Schalz discussed was the need for athletes to understand that they are responsible for their results.

"I personally believe that I am 100 percent responsible for my actions," Schalz said. "That is something that I convey to my athletes. Not just on the soccer field or for us in the swimming pool, but in the classroom and in every aspect of your life."

Schalz used the example of a student who comes to him complaining about a pop quiz they received in class before practice.

"I'm like 'Is this new material that the teacher didn't tell you about?'" Schalz said. "They're like 'No, we were supposed to read something.' And I said 'That was your responsibility to read.' If a teacher gives you 20 days in a row to read a chapter and on the 20th day, gives you a pop quiz and you didn't read it - then it is your responsibility."

While the coach is responsible for putting the program together for the athletes, Schalz said it is up to the athletes to get things done if the team is to be successful.

"Your coaches are not going to get out onto that field and kick a ball," Schalz told the soccer players. "They're not going to stand in the goal and try to block the ball. That's up to you."

Schalz then reached a discussion on goals and how to both set them and to achieve them.

"I think goal-setting is critical," Schalz said. "Imagine being in a boat in the middle of the ocean and you've got about an hour's worth of gas. You know there's an island about 50 minutes away, but you don't know which direction. You're going to be real tentative going anywhere because you want to save your gas. That's what goals are, the thing that points you in the direction of that island and tell you where you're going."

Goals are not dreams, Schalz said. He further broke goals into long-term and short-term. Depending on the nature of the goal, Schalz said the definition of "long-term" could be anything from a season to a career. But they require time to achieve. Short term goals, he said, "are the underlying goals for your long-term goals."

"Let's say you want to score 20 goals in a season," Schalz said. "If you've got 20 games in the season, your short-term goal is 'Hey, I need to score a goal every game.' Or maybe you need to see what you need to get better at in order to help you score goals."

Schalz laid out four requirements in order to define a goal.

1) Goals must be concrete and definable.

"A lot of times, a swimmer will come to me and say 'I want to qualify for state in the 100 butterfly or the 100 free,'" Schalz said. "I'll ask them 'What's the cut in that event?' 'I don't know.' That ends the goal meeting right there."

Only after a swimmer produces an actual time needed in order to qualify for state will Schalz accept this as a goal.

2) Your goal must have a deadline.

"If it doesn't have a deadline, then it's a dream," Schalz said. "If you want to score 20 goals and you're a freshman, then I want to know if you mean today, this week, this month, this year, through the four years. A deadline on your goals creates urgency. And it makes your short-term goals much easier to fill in. I've got kids who say "I want to go under 1 minute. And four years later, they're still at 1:00 and not quite under a minute because they haven't said 'I want to go under 1 minute by this date or by this meet.'"

3) You must be willing to do the work in order to achieve your goal.

Schalz said, "When swimmers come up to me with some goal and they're not working hard and they say 'Oh, I really want to go to state,' my response is typically "I want to be an astronaut and it's just not working out for me." You have to be serious. This is what you want to accomplish."

4) Goals must be written down.

"Put them someplace where you will see them every day," Schalz said. "I have seen athletes write their goals on their shoes. I have seen swimmers write their goals on the tops of their feet, so the last thing they see when they go to take their mark is their goal time. I knew a swimmer who wanted to go 4:49 in a 500 freestyle. He set is alarm clock for 4:49 every morning. He didn't get up 4:49, but he woke up at 4:49 and saw his goal time. And he made it."

Schalz said that having goals written down allows an athlete something to use when there are obstacles.

"It's the goals that will get you through the hard parts or practice and in life," he said. "That's your beacon. That's your island and what you're moving toward."

Schalz mentioned that it is his belief that anyone can achieve anything they want, that there are no limits to what an inspired athlete might accomplish.

"We have had swimmers who have made state qualifying times who, as freshmen, I was like 'no way,'" Schalz said. "But they did the work and they did what was required. If you have great goals and if you do the work to achieve your goals, then you will achieve those goals. You can make that happen."

The word Schalz threw out as one he despises is "trying." He said the word is like "fingernails on a chalkboard" to him.

"When they say they're trying, all that means is 'It's OK that I'm failing because I'm trying," Schalz said. "Don't try, get it done."

As an example, Schalz mentioned Michael Phelps, the swimmer who set the Olympic record by winning eight gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

"What makes Michael Phelps great is that he practices seven days a week every week," Schalz said. "Christmas morning, Michael's at practice. Thanksgiving, Easter, any holiday, New Year's, it doesn't matter. A lot of those times, he's going twice a day. If Christmas falls on a day when he's going doubles, then he's doing doubles that day and he's got five hours of practice. He is committed to not trying to get better but doing what it takes every single day."

Schalz then turned toward having the proper attitude to be successful, the frame of mind in which an athlete programs himself or herself. He reiterated the quote that "Whether you think you are a winner or think you are a loser, you will be correct."

"Attitude is not something like a light switch that you can flip on and off," Schalz said. "It takes an incredible external motivation to flip that switch."

In backing up that statement, Schalz challenged the Royals to wake up every morning and say the day would be great, and then go and 'make that happen.' While he acknowledged that this may be difficult at first, the process becomes easier as time passes.

Schalz passed on a good many other solid lessons to the Royals, who then had some pizza together before departing for the evening. But they walked out of the school that night armed with a blueprint they could employ for improvement.

And those of us who whose high school days are well past left with that same blueprint as well.