3 Life Lessons from Disney’s Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is a movie about the affects of early 70s public school desegregation in Alexandria, Virginia. Football teams from three schools were forced to integrate and form a new upper class football team at T.C. Williams. Despite the hardships of that era, three coaches learned to place their own differences aside to go undefeated and win a state championship. One of those coaches recently transitioned from this life, but I know he left his family with many life lessons. Here are a few I extracted from one of my favorite sports movies:
Leave your fear behind.
This message can be seen in the movie as a poster in the locker room, yet it possess some significant truth. There are moments in life when the door must be shut on crippling fears and stand with a mind full of confidence to tackle issues head on. Fear is a weakening attribute and does not help anyone become great. When the door of the locker was closed, the boys were able to handle tough conversations with one another and re-bond prior to the next game day. Create and have your own locker room space. A space where you can face yourself and encourage the inner you before you face current day issues.
Display the vision you have in mind.
We all are given vision. What we decide to do with that vision is up to us. Coach Boone saw an united team winning at T.C. Williams before actually having a united team winning. Now execution of his vision came with several hardships and threats to discourage the vision. Coach was internally motivated to see his life purpose and vision through to the end of the season. Even if the the football team lost one or all games the efforts and principals established during training camp were all part of the vision.
Reconciliation is best conquered face to face.
Throughout the movie hate were handled face to face violently. On the other hand, there were moments where both players or coaches did not want to handle moments of reconciliation face to face. They saw injustices, but would ask someone else to intervene when they had opportunities to step up publicly themselves. Although many of the reconciliation moments were handled privately, it was the best way to resolve internal conflicts. Brothers and sisters are won when faults are handled privately face to face.
Pictorial representation of Coach Yoast and Coach Boone united at the end of the state championship game.