The Chair

Submitted by president on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 16:09

“It is not easy to sit in that chair.” 

That’s how he started our conversation as we drank tea on the stuffed sofas in his office.  He was speaking about his chair and his job as a sport administrator in Iraq.* 

 

He went on to elaborate how he was pressured by politics, friends, faculty, and people wanting this and that. 

 

From 19 years in this business, I am well aware of the corruption, manipulation, power plays –and temptations—that sports officials struggle against not only in the Middle East, but in so many countries (Europe and the US are not exempt).  

 

We really need to help these men and women.   They want to do the right thing, but the pressures often overwhelm and defeat them. 

In all of these relationships, we strive for one result: to make them better.  Better in performance and better in purity. 

 

It was so refreshing to meet this man (unnamed for his protection), and it is a pleasure to work with men and women like him.  Our Global Sports Partners Staff and Representatives have the privilege of working with many good men and women who serve in various areas of sport management and administration in National Olympic and Paralympic Committees, Sport Federations, Physical Education Colleges, Ministries of Sport, Professional Clubs, and other sport programs.  

 

I also sit in a chair.

That responsibility both humbles me and drives me to lead my ‘team’ to the best of our capabilities.  Half a Hundred GSP staff and representatives in 26 countries look to me for leadership and direction.  

Pressures and the pursuit of perfection make that chair uncomfortable at times, but it is my privilege to work with our excellent GSP team, and I find tremendous fulfillment in the victories we achieve with our partners and clients.  

 

So, whatever your goals or pressures, I invite you to contact us at GSP for any of your needs.  

Call us, send us an e-mail, or stop by to visit us.  

You’ll find me “in the Chair” . . .  whether I’m in the office or on the road.

 

Steve

 

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*(Eight GSP coaches—Basketball, football/soccer, softball, and adaptive specialists—were recently contracted in Iraq to train young players, coaches, and Physical Education students in skills, techniques, and transformational lessons in personal integrity and team values.)