Iron

“Goodness gracious sakes alive!” is what any UCLA basketball player in the 60s and 70s would tell you was their most feared sentence. Coach John Wooden believed in three rules in his practice sessions:

1. Be on time
2. No profanity
3. Never criticize a teammate

Coach John Wooden also won 10 NCAA championships and still holds the longest winning streak in NCAA basketball of 88 straight games. He did this not with scouting out other teams or constantly strategizing for each game, he did this by perfecting his own team to execute their job and position with seamless action.

In his rules we find a dedication to fostering mutual respect among all of his players. Everyone on time, no one swears, and only the coaching staff gave criticism to build the team.

The Bible says “iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” in Proverbs 27:17.

There was a small group in the 20th century called The Inklings. It consisted of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield. They would meet in one of Lewis’ rooms at Magdalen College on Thursday or at a local pub on Friday. In this setting the men would read excerpts from their writings, such as The Hobbit and Screwtape Letters of Tolkien and Lewis, respectively. Then the other members would engage in “the cut and parry of prolonged, fierce, masculine argument” to use the words of C.S. Lewis.

The great works of this group owe a large debt to the sharpening remarks of the other members in the group. To the extent that now all are familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings series’ around the world.

When you are part of a team, you are part of something greater than yourself. We must enter into the team without selfish desire for success as an individual, but only when you enter with the desire to bring success to the team as a whole will all the individuals find success.