Quiet Strength: Essay on Tony Dungy

Many people may imagine being coach calls for one to be yelling in the pitch, giving strict orders and attitude issues all time when dealing with his players. However, that stereotype is not for one Tony Dungy who was, in fact, a complete opposite of that. Rather the coach seemed to be reticent, discreet, optimistic and a family-oriented guy. In spite of all, he commanded respect from many by his sheer presence. Through his book, we get to learn on how to approach issues of life. Additionally, it provides life skills of how a leader may be influential and with a demonstration of an upper drive in life.

Tony Dungy seemed to be one who is convicted of having a better community. He devoted his all beyond his career of just being a coach, rather he showcased one with a higher purpose in his life. Dungy seemed to care a lot about the well-fare of his community as he was involved in prison ministries. Besides that, he embraced and was a firm believer of volunteering to show the love he had for his community. He imagined of creating a better society through his influential position as coach. For instance, in many cases when a player is not at his best in the game, coaches may leave him out. Dungy was way different since he took responsibility of wanting to know what was affecting the performance of a player (Dungy, 38). He found out his kicker had personal issues of dealing with his mother who was diagnosed with critical cancer. He said to him, "You're a Buccaneer. You're part of our family. You're a kicker". In fact, Husted made the game-winning kick in the next game. Ideally, Dungy had lifted a heavy burden on his shoulders by being concerned with personal issues affecting his players.

Dungy believed that family is essential to him by being a good father and good husband without neglecting serving his community. He felt he had a purpose of making his country better through his selfless acts. "I wanted to show people you can win all kinds of ways For your faith to be more important than your job, for your family to be more important than your job" this indeed shows how Dungy valued his family. Football merely served as a platform through which Dungy gets to share his values with the rest of the world (Dungy, 63). Despite the pressure of winning in high stake games in the NFL, Dungy does not lose sight of his values. He uses this as a basis of living a gratifying life.

In trying to figure out the needs of his community, we see Dungy getting involved in volunteering jobs that help him interact with the people. Through such interactions, he gets to get a better picture of how his community is fairing. Tony is indeed a religious man and actively involved himself in ministry and was a staunch Christian. Tony came to an actualization to be successful he had to win more than football games. Indeed he needed to leave a legacy by impacting the community positively.

He, therefore, chose to incorporate his values and use the platform of a coach to influence his players and the world. "Never let your profession define you" Dungy echoed this in his talks. He went ahead to say that creating time for family while helping in the community is imperative to someones life hence realize success (Dungy, 50). He advocated for his players to seek beyond winning games. Rather he said that they should focus on more meaningful things that are sustainable. It would involve helping in the community and create a greater impact. The secret to achieving success is via real leadership and which is ideally achieved by making the lives of team members better.

Tony being a family-believer advocated for time spent with family to be quality. Most fathers are less involved in the upbringing of their kids, and Tony wanted to change. He would advocate for fathers to be involved more and spend time with their children more (Dungy, 45). Dungy led by example, and he was actively involved in his son's lives.

Drawing from my experience, I find the relationship in the book; Quiet Strength to very inspiring. I find life lessons which I may choose to pick from Tony that once I incorporated, they would lead to my achievement of a fulfilling life. The lessons of trying to make a difference and serving my community are indeed great path I should pursue. Whenever I have a chance, any platform I get should be used to reach out and pass on good values and make the world a better place. Success would be deficient without having to improve the lives of those in my community. I would consider to be actively involved in volunteer and seek to understand personal issues of people to put smiles on their faces. The relationships are cordial of father and son; Tony is a family man who advocates for quality time spent with the family.

Generally, the book presents the life of a coach who does beyond the imaginable being displaying acts of selflessness through community service. He imagined of creating a better society through his influential position as coach. He shows the world how one would live a fulfilling life by being a giver, caring selfless and concerned human being.

Works cited

Dungy, Tony. Quiet Strength: A memoir. Tyndale House publishers, Inc., 2007.