One of the "top-of-the-list" lessons I have tried to teach my children is how important it is to be able to be yourself, whatever that may be, around everyone you know and meet. In other words, you don't have to act like one person around a certain group of people and then completely reinvent yourself around another group.

I suppose one of the toughest places this holds true in the teenage years is around a boyfriend or girlfriend, as opposed to how you may act around their parents, your pastor or the pharmacist down the street. Too many feel they have to change it up so that said individual will like them.

I teach the biggest problem with this is there will come a day when the multiple personalities get confused and sneak their way out at the most inopportune time. This then creates a whole new set of relationship problems and respectability goes out the window for good.

So why not be yourself ALL the time?

The same can be said for sports teams. I say the key to a successful sport's program is the ability to play the same whether you happen to be winning or losing. It's easy to "be yourself" on the court when you are winning, but replicating the same when you are behind is a much more daunting task. Teams who find success find if they play the same while losing that they do when they are winning, oftentimes you can overcome a deficit and be back on top. Not always, of course, but more times than not this is true.

Billings' boy's team and Republic's girl's team were two prime examples of this in 2011-12. Both squads lost some games during the season and both found themselves behind on the scoreboard at key times, as well. But by playing with the same emotion and control while behind that they exhibited when they were ahead, multiple times each team found a way back on top instead of snowballing themselves into a double-digit loss.

Both these teams won state championships. We can't all win state titles, but we can all represent ourselves in just one way on and off the court; the positive side.