The Roundup: Training Virtue, Heeding Ambition, and the Point of Sports
Ideas, Links, & Recommendations
A weekly roundup on manhood, mentorship, and meaning.
This Week’s Feature Post
An excerpt:
As a Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, I’ve worked with dozens of coaches across many sports—some outstanding, others not. And I’ve often been amazed by what some coaches will allow.
I’ve seen players talk back, show up late, or ignore rules without consequence. I’ve seen varsity teams where all the players are scrolling their phones at halftime. I’ve seen coaches turn a blind eye to trash talk and incessant profanity from the sidelines.
These are not small things. Teams that tolerate this kind of culture always suffer. But more than that, these coaches have missed the point of sports entirely.
In Case You Missed It
If you haven’t yet downloaded the 10 Rules for Every Young Man which comes with a poster and mentor guide, you can grab it here:
👉 Download the 10 Rules for Every Young Man (PDF)
And get the poster here:
Good Fuel for Good Men
For years I wanted to try AG1 — but it’s very expensive. After some research, I found something better.
I’ve been using Live It Up Super Greens every morning for months now, and it’s become a staple. It tastes great (I use the original flavor), has a better ingredient profile than AG1, and costs half as much.
If you want something that supports energy, recovery, and overall vitality — without gimmicks — this is the one I actually use and recommend.
Ideas, Links, & Recommendations
Heed your ambition.
“Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence.”
Source: Turning Pro, Steven Pressfield
You can’t think your way into virtue — you have to train it.
“No justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism. I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite skeptical about ethics, but bred to believe that ‘a gentleman does not cheat’, than against an irreproachable moral philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers.”
Source: The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
Also worth your time:
A Crisis of Mattering by Will Storr
Does Stoicism Extinguish the Fire of Life by Brett and Kate McKay
From the Archives:
Thank you for reading Raising Men. If this work resonates, please share.
Because boys don’t just become men worth admiring.
Carry the fire!
Shane