Patriot Hearts Read Online Free

coach’s tongue-lashing.
    The next game finally rolled around. I scored several times. I was in on key tackles. I left the field exhausted and covered in mud. Although we won fairly easily, I could see that our team was still struggling on several fronts. Against a stronger opponent, we’d be in big trouble. Still, I was happy with the way I’d played and figured I had saved myself from a roasting by the coach.
    The dressing room went silent as the coach strode in. Within minutes he started in on different players. Eventually, his gaze settled on me. “Furlong,” he said, “is there a chance you will be making a contribution anytime soon?”
    I was stunned. A contribution? I’d just had the game of my life. What on earth was this man talking about? I’m not sure how much later it was when the light went on, but eventually it did. My coach wasn’t talking about how many points I scored or tackles I made. He was talking about leading. As captain, I had to concern myself with more than just my own little world. “Your job is to help this team succeed,” my coach said. “Your job is to lead this team in all respects.” What he was talking about was finding a way to imbue my teammates with the belief that they could be the best in the country. I had to teach them that when someone falls down it is a teammate’s job to pick him up. When someone falters it is a teammate’s job to cover for him and not be blind to the needs of others in pursuit of one’s own success.
    That is the contribution to the team that my coach wanted from me. It was one of the best lessons on leadership I ever received.
    BY MY EARLY TWENTIES, I had represented Ireland in basketball and European handball, and I had played Gaelic football for Dublin. I would discover years later that I scored the very first goal for Ireland in a European handball match. My experiences on the Gaelic football field were the most memorable, however, for the sheer magnitude of the events, if nothing else. We would often play in front of 80,000 people, and when we screwed up on the field they’d let us know it.
    I’ll never forget walking toward the dressing room after a game early in my career and being met by a man and his son. The man said I was his son’s favourite player and that his boy would often wear a team sweater with my number on it. He wondered if I’d sign an autograph for his son. That was the first time that I understood the impact an athlete could have on a child. Instantly, I recognized the role model responsibility the athlete bore. But I also remember thinking what an honour it was to be in that position, to have the power to shape someone’s thinking and outlook for the good.
    When it came to sports, I was fanatical. I trained hard, I played hard. I was never the most talented guy on my team. If I were to compare myself to a player on a hockey team, I was a second-liner. Not a star but a notch above the third-and fourth-line grinders. I think I was often asked to be captain of my teams because of my heart and desire. Few people were going to outwork me.
    At 23, I was asked if I wanted to coach Ireland’s women’s basketball team. The women weren’t very good. In fact, they were beaten pretty badly most times they played. But I saw the offer as a challenge, something I rarely passed up.
    I became possessed with the idea of turning this disparate group of women into something resembling a real team. I decided I was going to make them better no matter what. I remember realizing that when I stood in the middle of the gym floor, looking them in the eyes, making demands of them that they initially thought were impossible to meet, every one of the players looked directly back at me. They were paying attention. That may not sound significant, but for someone who was 23 and a little intimidated by the job I’d taken on, it was. It told me I’d made a connection with these women, giving me confidence that I could make them believe in things they