This book reaches people from all walks of life. The ideas presented are simple, timeless, and extremely important. The central idea is to tie in great stories from people that bring with them unique perspectives and backgrounds and center them on Christian principles of leadership. The stories enable each reader to bring with them their own perspective and will get different things out of each story. It is not a how-to book on leadership, rather an inspirational and informational book that provides each reader practical, Christian principles that can help any leader develop, motivate, and lead a successful team. When you put Christian values into your decision making process, get ready for real success!

Sweatin' the Small Stuff

By Kirk Jared Freeman

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Kirk & Jared Freeman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-0938-4

Contents

Foreword...........................................viiDedication.........................................ixAcknowledgments....................................xiSweatin' the Small Stuff...........................xiiiIntroduction.......................................xvThe Rady Bunch.....................................1Patrick and Jonna Rady.............................5My Husband, Mr. Modesty............................8Pat Rady...........................................13Kindness Comes Full Circle.........................15Senior Spotlight...................................17Erin Meadows.......................................21Lessons from Across the World......................25Chennai, India, 2005...............................262004, Swaziland, Africa............................282008, Kenya, Africa................................31DeWayne Norris.....................................36Special Christmas..................................39Jon Stuckey........................................42M & D..............................................44Major General Desjardins...........................48Finnie Flight and Fuels............................51The Medal..........................................54Surprising Birthday................................56Interview Excerpts.................................58Bob Medworth.......................................63Sundae Surprise....................................65Food and Fun.......................................67Marty Constantine..................................70A Bag of Cashews...................................72The Umbrella.......................................74Maggie Shook.......................................78Successfully Simple................................82David Thomas.......................................87Scott Kern.........................................93Green Shoes........................................95Sharon Koehler.....................................100The Conversation...................................102Kennard Sproul.....................................106Touching One Person at a Time......................108Let's Talk about Dad...............................112Even Good People Make Mistakes.....................118Always Enough Time.................................122More like You Every Day............................127A Simple Hello.....................................131

Chapter One

The Rady Bunch

Kirk

One of the coolest opportunities presented to us during the writing of this book came about by getting to work with the Rady family. For most people who live in the Wabash Valley, they know the name. Coach Rady has been coaching high school basketball for many years and has done a lot of great things. I have also met his son, Patrick Rady, while working with his father.

Knowing who Coach Rady was and what I believed he stood for initially motivated me to ask him to contribute to this book. What I didn't necessarily expect from the beginning was the other possibilities that would come from this working relationship, namely that I would be asking both his son and daughter-in-law to contribute to the book.

The more I thought about what Pat Rady stood for and the things he continually talked about, which was the importance he placed on his family, the more I thought, "What better way to showcase that than actually have his own son be a part of this book?" I already knew Patrick and what an outstanding guy I thought he was, so there couldn't have been a better family to showcase.

However, Patrick's humbleness (much like that of David Thomas) led him to a hesitancy to share positive stories centered on his actions, so my son and I had to do some creative thinking in order to share stories with you about him. We thought there would be no better person to do this than his wife, Jonna.

You will find that these stories take on much different shapes. This is intentional and also a product of what we asked each person to contribute. Jonna did exactly what we asked: to tell stories about her husband and why she believed him to be so great. Coach Rady Sr. also did exactly what he was asked: to highlight some stories throughout his coaching career that showcased traditions he had that came full circle in his life. Both are vital contributions to this book because we believe that both behavior patterns are important things that all people should try to emulate in their different roles in life.

Every community seems to have that family next door, the ones you see out in public and think, "Wow, they've got their stuff together." For me, the Radys are one of those families. They have a strong family core that has seemingly banded them together through everything that they have chosen to do in their professional lives that has allowed them to stick close together.

Jared

When I get to come home, one of the things I enjoy being able to do is catch a couple of high school basketball games. Indiana is the place to do that, and it doesn't hurt that my little sister, Sarah, is a senior cheerleader at Clay City High School, which gave me even more reason to go watch a game or two. Fate had it that the game Clay City was playing while I was home was against Cloverdale, where Coach Rady and his son are currently working.

I was excited to see Sarah for sure, but I was also interested to see how Coach Rady and his son interacted with the other coaches, the opponent's coach, their players, and their fans. I had met both Coach Rady and his son when I was quite a bit younger, but as a product of writing this book, I was obviously going to get to see them in a different light. I was pretty excited to see them in action and look for the types of things Dad had talked about that he said made them great.

Something I think I forgot about Coach Rady after reading his stories and hearing Dad talk about him so much in a different light was this ... He is super competitive! Like many other coaches of his time and before, he clutched onto some folded-up papers, presumably the night's program and/or match-ups he had drafted up. I was back in Indiana, watching high school basketball, and loving it.

Cloverdale played very well, relying on their quick guards and unselfish passing to beat Clay City that night. It was definitely a treat to get to watch these two coaches I had heard so much about from my Dad do what they love to do-coach and lead young men on the basketball court. Not that I didn't realize what these two gentlemen were best known for, but while working on these stories, I had lost sight a little bit of how good they are at what they do ... impressive performance, to say the least.

Our intent with this portion of the book is to allow you to look into the lives of a family that has lived a significant portion of it in the local spotlight. This is surely not an easy thing to do, and especially not when the lives you are leading are young men with passionate parents who do not always look at situations through an objective lens. Much like other positions of leadership, a higher set of standards of both conduct and performance are required in this setting, standards that both Coach and Patrick Rady live up to, in my opinion.

We hope you enjoy getting to learn more about how Coach Rady made his players feel loved and respected through his famous end-of-the-year ceremonies. You will also get to hear a wife's account for the reason her husband is such a special human being. We would hope that you can all take a few pieces of these stories and apply instances of them to your lives, finding new and exciting ways to improve your life and those in your immediate family.

Honor your father and mother, and "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 19:19, NIV).

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4, NIV).

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you (Exod. 20:12, NIV).

My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching (Prov. 6:20, NIV).

Patrick and Jonna Rady

Rarely do I get to meet a husband and wife couple who both have me leaving a conversation thinking, "Wow, they've really got it together. I wonder if I was like that at their age?" Understandably so, we all have different talents and blessings the Lord has given us, but the gift that both Patrick and Jonna have is something I would love to possess much more of.

I love leaving a conversation with people feeling refreshed, energized, and wanting to do something good and productive that day. I believe that quality from people is not something you can teach. Simply put, some people have it ... and some people don't. Over the next few pages, I would like to share with you some things I feel highlights why I admire Jonna and Patrick this way.

Patrick Rady

I met Patrick for the first time while he was an assistant coach at Terre Haute South Vigo High School (THS). He was, like other times in his coaching career, one of his father's assistant coaches. One of the quickest things that struck me about Patrick was his ability to put someone at ease at the beginning of a conversation. He made it a point to walk over and greet me every time we crossed paths.

Many times, it was just a short conversation, but it was always genuine, and the topic of conversation always covered two things before anything else. "How's your family?" and "How are you doing?" The best part of these conversations was that, when he asked me those two simple questions, he actually waited, listened, and seemingly expected an answer other than the typical, "Everything's fine" bit that is routinely put forth during mindless conversations.

There are people who, when greeting someone, make others feel as if they are putting on a show or practicing their politician's handshake; Patrick was not one of those people. He had the gift of making me feel as though at the moment I was speaking to him, I was the most important person in the world. Now, many people are good at a wide variety of things, most of which I, like most people, have forgotten within six months of meeting someone.

Patrick was no different; he is also good at a lot of things, but he is great at some very simple things that carry with them a lot of power to influence those around you. One of my favorite sayings reads, "People remember how you make them feel long after they forget what you say or do." Honestly, I remember Patrick mostly because of the way he made me feel when I was around him; I felt important.

This, along with many other qualities, including his basketball coaching skills, helped him land a head-coaching job at Southwestern High School as the head varsity coach. Southwestern is located in Shelby County. However, at Patrick's core is his love and admiration for God and family, so after a tenure of five years at Southwestern High School, he went back to be an assistant coach for his father at Cloverdale High School. He currently enjoys teaching business, coaching basketball, and spending time with his wife, Jonna, a teacher at Cloverdale Middle School.

Jonna Rady

I first met Jonna Rady while on a consulting trip to South Vermillion Middle School in Clinton, Indiana, in the late 1990s. Since then, she has participated in several workshops I led. I've also been able to see her in the classroom, teaching a few of her graduate courses while she has been a Masters student at Indiana Wesleyan University.

During all of these professional development courses, whether it be for her graduate work, or the mandatory in-services that I get to put teachers through, what strikes me about Jonna is her ability to stay professional, excited about learning new concepts, continuously maintaining a positive attitude, and being open to new ideas. It isn't often that I see other teachers actively seeking advice from one student in the room, but this was the case with Jonna. Her peers showed the behaviors that made me believe she was well respected among her peers.

I learned during her time at South Vermillion that she was married to a man I knew pretty well already, Patrick Rady, the son of coaching great Pat Rady. I had known Patrick for a few years at that point, including a few instances in the summer where he led a basketball camp my oldest son, Jared, attended. During our conversation about Patrick, her pride, love, and admiration for Patrick was communicated to me by her unrelenting smile as she talked about her husband.

Currently, Jonna is a language arts teacher at Cloverdale Middle School. Mrs. Rady possesses numerous related teaching experiences and received many teaching honors. She has been selected to be part of the "Who's Who Among America's Teachers," an Academic Excellence Award Winner, and the Student Teacher of the Year Nominee at Indiana State University during the 1992-93 school year.

She has also served as an academic team leader and the assistant drama director at South Vermillion Middle School. Also, she served on the Bully Busters Student Advisory Committee and on the AdvanceED Accreditation Committee at Madison Junior High School. Currently, along with a fulltime teaching load at Cloverdale Middle School, Mrs. Rady is working on her Master's of Education degree with Indiana Wesleyan University.

Admittedly, the things that stand out most to me about Jonna are things that never win awards, rarely get recognized, and are hardly the types of things that stand out during the first few times of meeting a person. What stands out most to me about Jonna is her humbleness and love for her family. She is so quick, much like her husband, to give other people credit for success.

She supports her family and students in order for them to be as successful as possible. These qualities, again, while easy to discuss and get excited about in theory, are extremely difficult to maintain all the time, especially Jonna's level of excitement and love for what she does. What I have seen from Jonna speaks to her ability to do just that-maintain that level of excitement and passion necessary to be a simple yet successful leader in life.

My Husband, Mr. Modesty Jonna Rady

Patrick as Coach

To quote one of my favorite hymns, "Count your many blessings. Name them one by one." This quote always brings to mind the countless joys I am blessed to have in my life. I have been blessed many times over and certainly don't have the mind capacity to understand all of its complexity. However, I find myself constantly praising and thanking our almighty God above for giving me my husband, Patrick. His compassion, devotion, humility, and love for God, family, friends, and his job enrich my life daily.

Patrick would literally "give the shirt off his back" for someone, if need be. Throughout our sixteen-year marriage, he has repeatedly left me in awe of his constant eagerness to make someone else's life better. That eagerness is evident in multiple facets of his life. His love for the game of basketball is not just about winning games. He wants the boys he coaches to become gentlemen. He will sacrifice many hours of his own time above and beyond regular practice/game time to help develop not only a young man's basketball ability but also, more importantly, his character.

His understanding, unselfishness, and forgiveness are so many times tested, especially because his career is focused on dealing with young adults in his teaching and coaching career. He assures the basketball boys they can come to him anytime, anywhere with anything. He will listen, share, and help redirect them no matter how wrong they may have been in a situation. He never gives up on them.

Multiple times I have been frustrated when witnessing a student/ player take advantage of him and/or do something that he is well aware of as being wrong. But Patrick never dwells on the negative. He forgives and forgets. He spends many hours developing plans for practice and school and equally focuses on what will most effectively aid the development of these new young adults. As a competitive individual, winning is still important to him, but integrity is what really counts.

One of the most memorable times for me to witness Patrick's compassion in action occurred while we were living in southern Indiana. Patrick was the head high school boys' basketball coach and poured his heart into it around the clock, as normal. Unfortunately, a young man on his team made a horrible choice off of school grounds. While at a local store, he decided to take something without paying for it. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he was seen by undercover security.

To add to the intense situation, the young man was standing at the checkout with his mom when the officer approached him and his mother. Being of adult age, the young man spent the night in jail, and that was only the beginning of his humiliation. The following day the boy's parents reminded him there were probably several people he owed a personal apology, to include family members and others.

Patrick was, of course, one of the people on his list and was asked to come to their home that evening. Patrick, once again, handled the situation with grace and compassion. He shared his disappointment with the young man and proceeded to tell him to get refocused on what he needed to do to "make things right." He reminded him that we, as humans, make mistakes and that when it's done, it's done. He encouraged him to "make it right" with God and his family first and foremost.

He let this young man know that now was the moment to decide if this incident was going to be the ruination of him and his character or if this was going to be an experience he chose to learn from, becoming a better person for it after dealing with the consequences. Many people in this young man's life did not share the same compassionate spirit my husband did.

Sadly, some did not see this as a young man who had simply made a bad choice and who could be redeemed. On the other hand, his coach-mentor-friend, Patrick Rady, never gave up on him. Part of the discipline he received resulted in him not finishing the basketball season as a team member. Boy oh boy, we sure did miss his dependable three-point shot and aggressive play on the floor.

However, he continued to undeniably support his team and coach for the remainder of the season. The most thrilling part is that this young man not only understood his wrongdoing, but also persevered and matured to be an accomplished adult with much integrity. He will graduate in the spring of 2010, with a triple major from Xavier University in Ohio with a degree in finance, management, and information systems.

He keeps in constant contact with Patrick and has insurmountable respect for him. His and Patrick's friendship has become one of the best over the years. Their support for and loyalty to one another has continued to strengthen through the years. You can't help but see his admiration for Patrick, especially when they are together in person. I know in my heart Patrick's guidance and compassion have played an integral part in this young man becoming what he is today. And there is no one, other than his family, prouder of him than my husband.

(Continues...)

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