Greg Holker

Kobe Bryant: "Failure doesn't exist, it's a figment of your imagination" An interviewer asks: "Are you someone who loves to win or hates to lose?" Kobe responds: "I'm neither. I play to figure things out. I play to learn something. Because if you play with a fear of failure or you play with the will to win that supersedes fear, I think it's a weakness either way. If you play with fear of failing, you'll capitulate to that fear. If you play with the sense of 'I want to win, I want to win,' then you have the fear of what happens if you don't. But if you find common ground in the center, you're unfazed by either. That enables you to stay in the moment and not feel anything other than what's in front of you." The interviewer asks: "How did you become someone who doesn't seem afraid of failing?" Kobe responds: "What does failure mean? It doesn't exist. It's a figment of your imagination." He explains with an analogy: "Let's use happy endings. Everybody wants a happy ending, right? Snow White finds her prince and lives happily ever after. Well, I call BS on that because two months later, they had an argument and he's sleeping on the couch. The point is: the story continues. So if you fail on Monday, the only way it's a failure is if you decide to not progress from that. If I fail today, I'm going to learn something from that failure and try again on Tuesday. That's why failure doesn't exist." The interviewer asks: "If you finished your career without a championship, would you have looked at that as a failure?" Kobe: "No. I would look at it as being extremely disappointed, because I had a dream and goals I wanted to accomplish. If I didn't accomplish those goals, I'd have to ask myself why. Poor leadership? Failure to communicate with my teammates? Lack of preparation? Those would be reasons why I didn't win. So I'd have to analyze that. And as I evolved post-basketball into business, those same weaknesses would reveal themselves there too. If I don't learn from that, I'm going to struggle again." He concludes: "I can take those situations and learn from them and have them make me a better person later in life. But if I don't take that stuff and apply it someplace else, that's failing. The worst possible thing you can ever do is to stop. It's to not learn."

Saylor Academy is now Saylor University. The Florida Department of Education has granted @saylordotorg university status—marking a major milestone in our mission to provide free, world-class higher education for all.

USMNT legend Tab Ramos has called out coaching in American youth soccer 🗣️ He believes due to various circumstances, coaches are making things too complicated for young players— which ultimately harms them instead of helping them develop. “I was able to coach youth soccer outside of the national teams for a period of about 10 years,” Tab began. “Unfortunately nowadays, the game has gotten so complicated, the pyramid of soccer in this country has gotten so complicated that it's very difficult for coaches.” “By the way, it's a really big effort to get your C license, your B license, and your A license. It's an effort. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money. And so now these coaches are going to go back to a club, you know, after spending all this money on their coaching education, those coaches have to get paid.” “And in order to get paid, you have to sort of not only teach the players, but you have to kind of put on a show of all of the things that you learn.” “So now I get to the complicated area. Because now what if you hired me in California? Here I am. I'm the former U.S. Soccer technical director and under-20 national team coach for four World Cups, and I have my pro license, and you bring me in and I take your players, because you just hired me to coach your team, because I'm this incredibly knowledgeable guy. And I come in and I just do small sided games with your players.” “The parents of the kids on your team are gonna be sitting around and going, ‘Wait, why are we paying for this?’ But this is what happens.” “See, I would have enough confidence to go there and do that. But the problem is that every coach in the country has to respond to a technical director.” “And because of that, they have to put on this very, you know, difficult training session that's in sequence from your activation, to your small five v two, to your small sided possession, to then the body of your work, to then the tactical to then the big game, right? You got to go through the whole thing.” “They have to do that. And the reason they have to do that is because their technical director is under pressure.” “Because for the technical director to have his club in this league, the ECNL, or whatever, you need to have all of these standards.” “And because of those standards, now the technical director is forced to hire someone who can do all these things.” “Well, at the end of the day, there's all these standards and all these things going on. And who's not benefiting is the player, because the player would benefit more from things being simple, right?” “And of course, it's only my opinion, but I think I've gotten enough experience. Forget the playing side. I've gotten enough experience on the coaching side at all levels, from youth national teams to coaching in MLS at Houston Dynamo to say, ‘Okay, let's put the brakes on this. Our training sessions are getting too complicated. How about let's go back to the beginning, right?’” “That's what matters. This is how players learn the most. And of course, every once in a while you have to have your tactical sessions, and your exercises, where you have the certain patterns to goal, and like I get all of that.” “Of course, we all know that stuff. But the simpler we make it, the more we put players in game like situations and one v one, the better.” [via Sports Recruiting USA]

THE STUFF OF LEGEND. 🤯 16-YEAR-OLD MAX DOWMAN GOES COAST-TO-COAST TO SEAL ARSENAL'S WIN. THE YOUNGEST GOALSCORER IN PREMIER LEAGUE HISTORY.

2026 Minnesota State High School All Hockey Hair Team Presented by DripDrop. Experience all the gold medal salad from Saint Paul and see who earned their spot on the FLOWdium. Pulltab Sports is hosting an Olympic themed hockey hair-a-lympics, and you’re invited to see all that salad shenanigans from the greatest high school tournament on earth. Special thanks to presenting sponsor DripDrop, the hydration choice for next gen athletes. Visit dripdrop.com for doctor formulated, fast hydration that tastes great. And please consider making a donation to the Hendrickson Foundation at gofundme.com/hockeyhairchan… supporting sled, special, military, blind, deaf and hard of hearing hockey in Minnesota.

The Rules of Bitcoin 1. Buy Bitcoin 2. Don't Sell the Bitcoin

𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚! Athletic Director Rachel Bergeson announced that current Augsburg assistant coach Nick Zuchowski has been named the new head coach of the Cobber men’s soccer program. Zuchowski helped the Auggies reach this year's Elite 8. concordiamn.prestosports.com/sports/msoc/20…

“First you form your habits, then your habits form you,” Curt Cignetti The standards of a winner are grounded in habits shaped by goals, not emotions.

Today I reached my limit. ❌ Not because of the game. ❌ Not because of a mistake. ❌ But because of the nonstop voices coming from the touchline. I kept hearing: “Press him.” “Pass it.” “Shoot.” “Turn.” “Get wider.” “Drop.” Every action I made already had an instruction attached to it, before I’d even thought for myself. ◍ I’m trying to play, but I can’t. ◍ I’m trying to make decisions, but yours arrive before mine. ◍ I’m trying to focus, but I keep looking over, checking if you’re annoyed, disappointed, or waiting to shout again. ⇢ I’m only a young player, still learning. ⇢ I want to hear my coach. ⇢ I want to understand the game. ⇢ I want to trust my own eyes. ⇢ I want to make decisions and learn from them. But when the sideline becomes a second coach, louder, harsher, more impatient, I stop learning. ❌ I stop thinking. ❌ I stop enjoying it. And then the questions start: ⇨ Why do adults think their constant instructions help? ⇨ Why do they talk as if they’re in the game with me? ⇨ Why am I worried more about upsetting them than doing the right thing? Football shouldn’t feel like a test I’m failing in real time. It shouldn’t feel like I’m being judged for every decision I don’t make because you’ve already shouted the one you want. Here’s what nobody admits: 🔴 Children don’t struggle because they can’t think. 🔴 They struggle because adults don’t let them. ☉ Decision-making comes from freedom, not fear. ☉ Awareness grows from playing, not from being shouted at. ☉ Confidence builds from trying things, not from being corrected every five seconds. I’m playing the game. I see what you can’t see. I feel the pressure you don’t feel. I’m learning in real time. All I’m asking for is space to think, to breathe, to grow. If you want to help me, let me play. Let my coach guide me. Let my mistakes teach me. Let the game speak. Because when the noise stops, the learning starts.

Check out our winter ID Camp - register here: auggiemenssoccercamps.com

Final Match Day pic as our season comes to a close in the Elite 8.

See you Saturday!

NUMBER TWO!!! Augsburg men's soccer earns its highest-ever ranking in the @UnitedCoaches NCAA Division III national poll, ranked No. 2! #d3soc #AuggiePride unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/colle…

Enzo Maresca’s words hit deeper than football: “I don’t punish players — I teach them, like I do with my kids.” That’s the kind of pedagogy sport and education need — less fear, more understanding. Teach, don’t punish. ⚽🧠

MEN'S SOCCER - Carver Tierney scores 2 goals in 1:58 span in 2nd half, #7-ranked Augsburg clinches MIAC playoff spot with 3-0 win over Carleton! Auggies now 15-1-1, host #4-ranked St. Olaf on Saturday at 4:30 pm at Edor Nelson Field! #d3soc #AuggiePride

Auggies remain #2 in this week’s NPI National Rankings

Carver Tierney gives us the much needed 3 pts!

Mizael Harris, ladies and gentlemen!