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Ricky Byrdsong played basketball at Iowa State, moved up the coaching ranks, and became the first African American head coach at Northwestern University. He led the Wildcats to their first winning season in 11 years. But after three less successful seasons, he was fired. Ricky remained a popular motivational speaker, and developed programs to help underprivileged youth reach their potential. In 1999, at age 43, he was fatally shot by a white supremacist.

Ricky Jr.'s teacher called and said he wasn't behaving in class. Sherialyn and I let Ricky know we were concerned and wanted to stay on top of what was going on. So we asked the teacher to give us a day-to-day evaluation of his behavior. When we got the daily note she sent home, we discussed with Ricky what she considered to be bad behavior and why it was unacceptable.

I told Ricky that if his reports were consistently negative, he'd lose some privileges—watching TV or playing with his PlayStation. I didn't enjoy taking away his fun. So how, as his biggest fan, could I encourage him to do better? So in the morning, when he was getting ready to go to school, I'd say, "Hey, good luck today. I'm pulling for you. I hope the teacher thinks your behavior is acceptable so that you can do the things you want to do." And when he came back with a good report, we said, "We knew you could do it."

Adapted from Coaching Your Kids in the Game of Life (Bethany, 2000) by permission.

Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to stay connected with the children you've entrusted to me, and to steer them away from the dangers they'll encounter.

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