We came across a story about a former NFL player who has established himself as both a thought-leader and an action-leader when it comes to the development of young people and the betterment of society.

Joe Ehrmann, whom some of you may already know of, has done the greatest thing upon creating an effective approach to coaching and imparting wisdom and guidance to his student-athletes and fellow coaches. He has shared it with the world. He is helping to multiply the positive effects of his approach, which entails instilling in young men especially the ideals of relationships, supporting one another, individual, team, and community service, and in thinking about one’s ultimate legacy. Joe was profiled by Parade Magazine 7 years ago and in the book Season of Life, both written by Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Jeffrey Marx. We encourage you to take a look at both.

You will also want to take a look at Joe’s book InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives, which he describes as “an accumulation of my lifetime spent in sports as a player, coach and trainer of coaches. It is a book that we hope will encourage and challenge you to turn your struggles, errors and misfortunes into lessons that will make you a coach who instills a sense of community; is a better classroom leader; a clearer and more empathetic communicator; an advocate of healthy and constructive competition and a mentor who turns sports into a ceremony of celebration for young people.”

We also include a message from Joe’s website that captures the essence of his approach. We applaud Joe and all of those who see the young person as more than just an athlete, or a student, or a friend, or son/daughter, or neighbor, etc. They are all of those. They embody an array of qualities and great potential and should be treated as such and taught they must view others the same.  Our interaction with a particular person may be relatively short. However, our impact can be enduring if we view them not by title but rather by whom they are, i.e. a total person.

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