What is different is I am giving the kids a chance to train

Hear the words of Thomas Dooley, coach and mentor, who once declared: “What is different is I am giving the kids a chance to train every day. Not only once a day, but sometimes when they do not have school, we will try to do something in the morning too.” Though he speaks of the field and of training, his words reach far beyond the game. They are words of devotion, of discipline, and of the sacred duty of shaping the young into men and women of strength.

The difference, as he names it, is not in talent nor in circumstance, but in opportunity. Many children grow with dreams but lack the space to discipline those dreams, to transform raw passion into skill. Dooley understood that greatness is not born in a single moment, but forged through the fire of repetition. To train every day is to engrave upon the body and mind the habits of excellence, to make what is difficult become natural, and what is natural become powerful.

The ancients knew this truth well. The warriors of Sparta were not made in the heat of battle, but in the daily rigors of their agoge, where from boyhood they rose before dawn, exercised, trained, and learned discipline in body and spirit. Their victories were not sudden gifts of the gods but the fruit of years of tireless practice. In the same way, Dooley offers to his kids not just drills for the body, but a school for the soul, where perseverance is learned and strength becomes character.

History offers many mirrors. Think of young Mozart, who as a child was given not leisure but daily instruction, practice upon practice, until his gift grew into mastery. Or recall Michael Jordan, who did not become legend by talent alone, but by hours of unseen labor in the gym, long before the crowd ever cheered his name. The common thread is clear: to be given the chance to train every day is to be given the seed of greatness.

Yet Dooley speaks not only of discipline, but of generosity. For the morning hours he describes are not convenient—they are sacrifices, times taken from ease and given to the cause of growth. This reveals the heart of a mentor, one who offers himself so that his students may rise. The gift of time is the greatest gift, and by offering these hours, he teaches not only skill but love, showing the kids that their dreams are worthy of labor.

The lesson here is radiant: greatness is built in the small hours, the daily acts, the consistent steps. If you seek to achieve, whether in art, in learning, or in life, do not wait for great bursts of inspiration. Instead, make discipline your companion. Rise in the morning, practice in the silence, labor when others rest. For it is not the occasional effort but the daily devotion that separates the dreamer from the doer.

Therefore, O seeker of wisdom, take Thomas Dooley’s words into your own life. Give yourself the chance to train every day—not only in sport, but in kindness, in knowledge, in the art of living well. Do not despise repetition, for it is the mother of mastery. And when you guide others, as he guides his kids, offer them not just words, but the time and discipline that prove their worth.

So remember: the difference lies in constancy. To train once is chance; to train daily is destiny. Whether on the field or in the heart, it is the daily effort, the extra step in the morning, that prepares the soul for victory.