Better than it sounds

In a recent post by Seth Godin, he mentioned that Mark Twain said that Wagner wrote music that was better than it sounds. It got me thinking, is my product (Victory School of Wrestling) better than it sounds, or does it sound better than it is?

Five years ago I had a vision to create an environment that produced championship wrestlers with championship character. We work hard to be sure that we're constantly in line with our mission. This helps posture me as a learner and puts me in a position to be constantly evaluating our approach. Our mission never changes, but our approach is always changing and improving. I'm trying to provide something that, like Wagner, is better than it sounds.

Yesterday I received a message from the mother of a 5th grade athlete who has been involved at Victory for three years. Here's what she posted on my Facebook wall:

A "feel good story"...Paul received a phone call today from the Elementary Principle (typically not a good thing from past experience). But today, "I am calling to tell you about a spectacular thing that Gabe did. He stood up for a girl that was about to be ridiculed by another classmate. He discouraged the boy from doing wrong, pointing out the consequences. If only all of the kids could do one of these random acts, just imagine the possibility?!". When we discussed this with Gabe, he simply said "Kevin's been teaching us about doing the right thing, taking responsibility for our lives.". We just want to say...THANK YOU!! The influence you have is powerful. - The Colbeth's

I think this is evidence that we're moving in the right direction. I often say that I won't be able to accurately evaluate our club model until these young men are adults with families and responsibilities. When they're having a positive impact on our world, I'll know that our approach is successful. Unfortunately, there are far too many programs within the wrestling community that sound better than they really are. However, when a 5th grade student steps up and does something like this, it leads even me to believe that what what we're doing is actually better than it sounds.