Choose Love

Movement

Champions Choose Love

Team Leader
Journal

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement
 CHAMPIONS CHOOSE LOVE
TEAM LEADER JOURNAL

INDEX

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 3

2. Courage to be a Champion ......................................................................... 7

3. Champion of Gratitude ............................................................................... 9

4. Champions with Heart, Choose Forgiveness ............................................. 12

5. Champions Act with Compassion ............................................................... 14

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement

INTRODUCTION
“A true champion is someone who wants to make a difference, who
never gives up, and who gives everything they have no matter what the
circumstances are. A true champion works hard and never loses sight of
their dreams.”
- Dot Richardson

Welcome to The Champions Choose Love Program for Team Leaders. This program has been
modeled after the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Enrichment Program™. It looks at being a team leader
from the lens of an individual who had the courage to stand up and put his classmates before
himself. Jesse was a leader.

We hope you use this journal to write the information learned, your
thoughts, and reflections.

At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Define what it means to be a Champion.
• Compare and contrast the qualities of a Champion vs. a Leader.
• Explain the ingredients of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Formula
and their relevance in sports.

Below, write in your own words the definition of an individual who is:

A CHAMPION:

A LEADER:

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 3
For each of the four components to the Choose Love Formula write how you have witnessed them
in sports.

COURAGE

GRATITUDE

FORGIVENESS

COMPASSION IN ACTION

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 4
 LEADER CHAMPION

What are the similarities and differences between a Leader and Champion?

Characteristics of an effective Team Leader who Chooses Love on and off the field include:

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 5
 My Strengths as a Leader My Challenges as a Leader

A strategy I could use to develop my strength is:

A strategy I could use to develop my challenge is:

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 6
COURAGE TO BE A CHAMPION
“Courage is not the absence of Fear it is the ability to act in the
Presence of Fear.”
- Bruce Lee
At the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• Define Courage.
• List the qualities of a leader that Leads by Example or one that is a Vocal Leader.
• Reflect on whether they are a Leader by Example or a Vocal Leader.

COURAGE TO ME MEANS:

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 7
On April 23, 1910, in Paris, at 3 p.m. at the Sorbonne, before a crowd that included, according
to the Edmund Morris biography, Colonel Roosevelt, “ministers in court dress, army and navy
officers in full uniform, nine hundred students, and an audience of two thousand ticket holders,”
Theodore Roosevelt gave what would become one of the most widely quoted speeches of his career.
Roosevelt delivered a speech called “Citizenship in a Republic”, which, among some, would come
to be known as “The Man in the Arena.”

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points
out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer
of deeds could have done them better. The credit
belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose
face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again
and again, because there is no effort without error
and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do
the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great
devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least
fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never
be with those cold and timid souls who neither know
victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt

There are two types of leaders, those who lead by example and those that are vocal leaders. What
kind of leader do you think you are and why?

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 8
CHAMPION OF GRATITUDE
“Often people ask how I manage to be happy despite having no arms and
no legs. The quick answer is that I have a choice. I can be angry about not
having limbs, or I can be thankful that I have a purpose. I chose gratitude.”
- Nick Vujicic

At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Define the benefits of being a grateful leader.
• Explain the Gratitude Five: Love, Labor, Learn, Laughter, and Let Go and their relationship
to sport and leadership.
• Discuss strategies for being a positive role model.

Athletes need physical strength, strong communication with coaches, managers and teammates,
and they also need mental toughness.

What does mental toughness mean to you?

As a leader you are a role model. What are some strategies you can use to guide yourself to be a
good role model?

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 9
As a team leader, you can help to guide your teammates to an attitude of Gratitude by modeling
the Gratitude Five: Love, Labor, Learn, Laughter, and Let Go.

In your group, write what each of the Gratitude Five in sports mean to you.

LOVE

LABOR

LEARN

LAUGHTER

LET GO

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 10
Learning to Pause
In the book, Think Before Reacting. How to Use Your Mental Pause Button, Kelly Pietrangeli
outlines the following strategies to use in difficult situations:
• In situations, recognize how your body responds.
• Press Pause: Reach the remote and press pause. Even say “pause” to yourself.
• Take a deep Breath: The extra oxygen to your brain will help to give you time to compose
yourself and to think more clearly.
• Observe: In interactions involving people, listen. There is no rule that says that you have to
respond right away. Be grateful for the time you have to take it all in and look for a positive
outcome.
• Press Play: You can now act in a mindful way.

As a team leader, you may have to make tough decisions involving teammates on and off the field,
what are some strategies you can use to make the right choice in these situations?

It will take time to develop these strategies, but you will be grateful for your ability to
communicate, create camaraderie, sportsmanship and team cohesion.

Write the things you are grateful for as an athlete.

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 11
CHAMPIONS WITH HEART, CHOOSE FORGIVENESS
“It takes a strong person to say sorry, and an even stronger person to
forgive.” - Anonymous

By the end of this lesson you will be able to

• Define the benefits to a team if Forgiveness is practiced by its’ members.
• Discuss strategies to overcome tough situations.
• Demonstrate strategies for communicating effectively.

We have covered the first two components of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Formula, Courage
and Gratitude. These components are often easier for athletes to comprehend when compared to
Forgiveness. Forgiving someone and even ourselves is not easy, it’s not something we can do with
a flick of a switch or sound of a whistle...in fact, Forgiveness takes practice, strength and resilience.

Ken Ravizza in his book Heads up Baseball discusses a traffic light analogy to help you become
more aware of your mindset.

Green Light: composed, optimistic, confident, focused, determined, communicating, en-

couraging, strong body posture, aggressive, poised
Yellow Light: frustrated, questioning, doubts, negative, blaming/making excuses, distant,
tentative, distracted, confusion, rattled
Red Light: angry, pessimistic, overwhelmed, out of control, apathetic, hopeless, poor body
posture, unapproachable, scared, emotional

Tough Situations in sports may lead to you experiencing one, two or all of these emotions at the
same time.

What are some tough situations that you have had to deal with as a leader in the past?

What emotions did you feel at this time?

How did you manage these emotions?

Do you think Forgiveness has anything to do with getting and staying in the green light?

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 12
According to Jeff Janssen author of The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual, some strategies
athletes can use to get into the “green light” after a tough situation are:
• Quiet reflection
• Chat with teammates
• Refocus your thinking
• Slow the pace to allow yourself time to regroup and refocus
• Recognize the things that you can control vs. the things you can not
• Focus on the present
• Learn a lesson

Complete the sentence: Effective communication skills will…

Verbally communicating and listening can help teammates forgive one another in tough situations,
such as a loss, or in social situations, such as drama caused by gossip.

Unforgiveness refers to persistent negative reactions towards the offender like avoidant, revengeful
or resentful thoughts, feelings, motivations, and behaviors. (Fincham, Hall & Beach, 2006).

Your role as a leader means you can communicate clearly to confront the issues in a way that will
show your teammates that you care about them and your team.

Tips for managing and resolving conflict

You can ensure that the process of managing and resolving conflict is as positive as possible by
sticking to the following guidelines:
• Listen for what is felt as well as said.
• Make conflict resolution the priority rather than winning or “being right.”
• Focus on the present.
• Pick your battles.
• Be willing to forgive.
• Know when to let something go.

Remember that whether or not you are a leader by example or a vocal

leader, your teammates will follow your lead.

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 13
CHAMPIONS ACT WITH COMPASSION
“Your character is more important than how good you are at any sport. Your
athleticism is only temporary. But your character, the type of person you
are, lasts forever. Be Humble. Be Grateful. Be Honest. Be Compassionate.”
- John Wooden

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Discuss the difference between Empathy and Compassion in Action.
• Define Team Cohesion.
• Discuss strategies to improve team cohesion.

Compassion in Action can increase team cohesiveness. Write below why you think team
cohesion is important?

There is clear evidence that the more united a group becomes with its cause, and the more interac-
tive group members are socially within the group, the greater the probability of success.

What is Empathy and how is it different than Compassion?

Reflect on your team, how cohesive is your team in terms of social cohesion and task cohesion?

As a leader on your team, how can you help to build and maintain team cohesion?

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 14
Compassion can truly unite a team.
• There is an increased feeling of the group as a whole rather than as individuals.
• Players work together to achieve team goals ahead of personal goals.
• Communication and motivation within the group increases.
• Players enjoy each others’ success
• The members in groups that are cohesive are much more satisfied with that group and are
willing to stay in the group longer when things are not going well.

As Compassion in Action increases both on and off the athletic field, cohesiveness develops and
teams perform with a sense of pride and collective identity.

As the instructor of Champions Choose Love, I am grateful for the time we shared, the lessons we
learned, and connections we made.

Practicing the The Components of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Formula, Courage + Gratitude +
Forgiveness + Compassion in Action, will help to make your journey as a leader in sports and in life
satisfying and enjoyable.

Best of luck to you, and in the words of Jesse, “Have a Lot of Fun!”

©2019 Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement Champions Choose Love | Team Leader | 15