Post by marinersmedia on Jun 11, 2010 11:45:34 GMT -5
Coach Simpson Plots the Way Ahead for Mariners’ Championship Run
BALTIMORE, MD (June 11, 2010) – I’ll be the first to admit, I wear my emotions on my sleeves. Maybe not publicly but, my Mariner family knows. They see it in the locker room and on the practice field. There are rare moments when the public sees that emotion. I suppose I had good reason to let it loose last Saturday night. Beating Erie was a huge win for all of us and vindication for all of the hard work that each member of the Mariners has done to build this franchise into a successful one on and off the field. However, our work is not finished.
“Finishing” is something we have talked about since the beginning of training camp. We will be rated by what we finish, not by what we attempt. We are not satisfied with what we have done as a team. Our number one goal is to win the AIFA Championship. Our first two were to secure a playoff spot and then to obtain home field for the Eastern Conference Championship. We must win that championship in order to have the opportunity to “Finish” what we started back in mid-February.
There is a price to be paid and a sacrifice to be made to be where we are at now and to continue to the course. It gets tiring and sometimes routine. However, I don’t believe anyone has ever drowned in their own sweat. The team knows we must continue to work harder, prepare better and stay more focused than our opponents. J.P. Morgan once stated, “If you have to ask how much something costs, you can’t afford it.” If we had to ask ourselves what price must be paid, or what sacrifices needed to be made to win a championship, then, we were not prepared to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.
Sometimes, when objectives are achieved, people tend to take a collective breath. They relax and take a break. Going undefeated was not the result of being lucky or poor opposition. It was the result of taking one game at a time and simply putting all of our focus into preparing ourselves for our next opponent. Each week, our goal is to win. We have been fortunate to do so. During WWII Winston Churchill commented on enduring the war, “We shall neither fail nor falter; we shall not weaken or tire...give us the tools and we will finish the job.” Each week is a battle. As a staff, it is our job to provide each player and each squad the tools necessary to win. We don’t have easy practices. We still condition and we still pop pads in a controlled environment. We will not change the way we do things because we have clinched at trip to the Eastern Conference Championship. As I have told my players and coaches, “We are now defending our regular season title.” We cannot go about doing things at 90%. We must be 100% all of the time. There is no time for us to relax and catch our collective breath.
Erie is a tough opponent. They will give us all they’ve got this weekend as they are playing to earn a playoff spot. We look forward to the challenge. The farmer can plant, water, and fertilize, but these activities mean absolutely nothing unless the farmer harvests the crop. The harvest is at the finish line. Success is all about finishing and we are not finished yet.
For more information about the Baltimore Mariners go to www.baltimoremariners.com.
BALTIMORE, MD (June 11, 2010) – I’ll be the first to admit, I wear my emotions on my sleeves. Maybe not publicly but, my Mariner family knows. They see it in the locker room and on the practice field. There are rare moments when the public sees that emotion. I suppose I had good reason to let it loose last Saturday night. Beating Erie was a huge win for all of us and vindication for all of the hard work that each member of the Mariners has done to build this franchise into a successful one on and off the field. However, our work is not finished.
“Finishing” is something we have talked about since the beginning of training camp. We will be rated by what we finish, not by what we attempt. We are not satisfied with what we have done as a team. Our number one goal is to win the AIFA Championship. Our first two were to secure a playoff spot and then to obtain home field for the Eastern Conference Championship. We must win that championship in order to have the opportunity to “Finish” what we started back in mid-February.
There is a price to be paid and a sacrifice to be made to be where we are at now and to continue to the course. It gets tiring and sometimes routine. However, I don’t believe anyone has ever drowned in their own sweat. The team knows we must continue to work harder, prepare better and stay more focused than our opponents. J.P. Morgan once stated, “If you have to ask how much something costs, you can’t afford it.” If we had to ask ourselves what price must be paid, or what sacrifices needed to be made to win a championship, then, we were not prepared to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.
Sometimes, when objectives are achieved, people tend to take a collective breath. They relax and take a break. Going undefeated was not the result of being lucky or poor opposition. It was the result of taking one game at a time and simply putting all of our focus into preparing ourselves for our next opponent. Each week, our goal is to win. We have been fortunate to do so. During WWII Winston Churchill commented on enduring the war, “We shall neither fail nor falter; we shall not weaken or tire...give us the tools and we will finish the job.” Each week is a battle. As a staff, it is our job to provide each player and each squad the tools necessary to win. We don’t have easy practices. We still condition and we still pop pads in a controlled environment. We will not change the way we do things because we have clinched at trip to the Eastern Conference Championship. As I have told my players and coaches, “We are now defending our regular season title.” We cannot go about doing things at 90%. We must be 100% all of the time. There is no time for us to relax and catch our collective breath.
Erie is a tough opponent. They will give us all they’ve got this weekend as they are playing to earn a playoff spot. We look forward to the challenge. The farmer can plant, water, and fertilize, but these activities mean absolutely nothing unless the farmer harvests the crop. The harvest is at the finish line. Success is all about finishing and we are not finished yet.
For more information about the Baltimore Mariners go to www.baltimoremariners.com.