Guest post by Jenny Young
Play Your Position
In Mark Chanski’s book, Womanly Dominion: More Than a Gentle Quiet Spirit, two coaching slogans are mentioned, “Play your position!” and “Win it!”. Chanski shares with his readers the importance of these two slogans in sports and life. “Play your position!” means “Stay put, and don’t wander away from your assigned post.” The illustration for soccer would be for a goalie not understanding the significance of defending the goal, but rather believing the only significant contribution would be scoring goals and running around undisciplined in their play. This would be detrimental to the team in her/ him leaving their position as goalie and then seeing an opposing player dribble uncontested up the field to score without the goalie around. The goalie then hears the voices of the fans and coaches saying, “You’re the goalie, you need to defend your position, stay at home, play your position!”
Win It
He then goes on to explain that “Win it!” means, “Play with all your might, in every encounter!” The illustration here would be a soccer ball is in the open field where two opposing players go towards the ball and the coach shouts, “Win it!” The player on either side debate whether they should go all out after the ball or passively surrender it to the opposing player. It’s the “Win it!” vs. “Surrender it!” mentality.
In his closing remarks on both of these slogans, he uses scripture to point out the way God challenges us in the field of life from 1 Corinthians 9:24 -run in such a way as to win the prize. In Ecclesiastes 9:10 - whatever she put her hand to, she’s to “do it with all her might!”
I have been challenged by these two principles as a woman and in sports ministry. How often do I wander away from my assigned post? How often do I surrender versus win it? Will I “Play my position and Win it?” How can I help others in these principles?