I have always taught both my children and step children a very valuable mindset that I have driven home repeatedly.
You Can’t Have Fun with the Fundamentals
No matter what you undertake in life, until you get the basics down, your just average. The fun starts when you train yourself and do the fundamentals without thinking about what is needed.
I play a daily basketball game with my youngest step son of HORSE. Basically you have to make the last shot the person before you does or you gain a letter with each miss. Once upon a time I could play that game effortlessly, but the last four years as he has increased in athleticisms, my winning percentage had dropped to almost nil.
Finally with exasperation, as he would like to at least have a challenge, he turned to me and said, “Do you know what your problem is?” (Now I admit, that’s the last thing one wants to hear from a mouthy teenager.) So I respond “No, tell me” as I let out a big sigh.
He responded, “You have no form.” You’re always reminding me to practice the fundamentals, but how have you been doing with practicing the fundamentals lately in basketball. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. So I swallowed my pride and said “Show Me.”
And he did. And sure enough, I started to make some of the more challenging shots. Now, I am still not near ready yet to give him a full run for his money. But without telling him, I went out and purchased my own basketball to practice with while on my lunch breaks. There is some signs that I am indeed improving, but I am confident that if I do keep up working on my fundamentals, my game will improve.
Consider it a lessoned learned.
Unspoken Theology 