He has to adjust his footwork. He needs to work on his passing. He is too heavy. His body is too thick. These are just some of criticisms, without even making a reference to his on-field praying, that were heard about and by Tim Tebow during the football season.

As a former athlete, I can understand all the questions and doubts that Tebow has faced during his first season in the NFL. Opinions and advice have come at him from every possible direction. So has the in-your-face media attention at such an early age, which is something I am glad that I did not have to face while concentrating on my game during college.

After leaving the lacrosse field and starting my career in the insurance field 30 years ago, I received a lot of valuable advice and countless suggestions from many people. I wrapped all of this into a neat package tied together with solid experience. Before venturing off to start my own firm, I made sure that I had built a strong foundation of knowledge, contacts and experts beneath my feet to give my business the chance at survival during the trying start-up years.

I did not focus on just one part of the insurance business. My game plan was diversification into personal, commercial and health insurance. As with any athlete, when one area of my game required a bit more coaching or practice, another strength in my arsenal continued to carry me down field to score the early points needed to build a winning business.

Tebow’s strength is his diversity. He is a fullback, a halfback and a quarterback all in one. He can throw, he can run and he is difficult to bring down. He can take a hit. To avoid a serious injury, he knows how to hit the ground. Understanding how to take the hit and how to fall in sports and business is as important as planning the game-day winning strategy. Whenever you are knocked off balance or whenever you fall — and you will fall — proper preparation will lift you for the next challenge.

Tebow has tasted success early during his brief football life. He won the Heisman Trophy during his sophomore year at Florida. After a 1-4 won-loss record this season for the Denver Broncos, he became the starting quarterback and helped put the team in the playoffs. As part of his experience, he now has a playoff game victory and a defeat in his arsenal. Both will prepare him for his next challenge.

Tebow already has gathered many fans and followers. He has garnered much attention in the regular media, along with the social media, for his play and his prayer. His name even has become part of the lexicon – “tebowing” quickly became the definition for a person bending on one knee in prayer.

He came to the NFL with a solid athletic and personal foundation that he attributes to his faith. He will continue to refine his football talents during these next several years. While criticized by some and mimicked by others for publically portraying his faith in God, he has used this to his advantage to build upon his successes and quickly recover from any failures.

My prediction is that people will be “tebowing” again as soon as he gets back on the field for his first pre-season game for the 2012-2013 season. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Jim

I graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills during 1977. My only thoughts at that time probably were about playing lacrosse in college, having the grades and talent to receive a scholarship, and yes, girls. It was the simple life of a teenager on Long Island!

I returned to Half Hollow Hills a few months ago. Older, wiser and now able to share my success with today’s local teens, I was honored to present the inaugural James C. Metzger Outstanding Player Award.

The first recipient, Matt Graziano, is exceptional. Matt is a six-foot-three-inch midfielder from Melville who now will play lacrosse at SUNY Albany. At Half Hallow Hills, he competed in lacrosse, soccer and basketball.

Matt played varsity lacrosse for three years. As a junior and senior he ran first midfield. During his senior season, he was team captain and scored 39 points, including 16 assists that tied him for second highest on the team. Considered by his coach to be a “human clearing machine,” once he had the ball on a clear he often would run out of the defensive end or make the critical pass to the open player up field.

Matt is the perfect recipient for this first award. In many ways, he reminds me of myself on the lacrosse field at that age — a workhorse during games to succeed offensively when matched against excellent opposing players. Matt has the athletic ability to excel at the Division I level at Albany. To grasp the next rung, he must apply himself and push himself.

The school’s coaches, especially lacrosse Varsity Head Coach Gordon Hodgson, have been outstanding when communicating to players and parents about the benefits of playing high school athletics. They explain to them that hard work and dedication is required to be successful on and off the field.

Much of my success in business is attributable to the lessons I learned on the sports field. In recent years, I’ve been able to give back to the college where I was an All-American lacrosse player by establishing programs that support Hofstra University students and student athletes. Now, I am grateful that I can do the same at my former high school.

The opportunity at Half Hollow Hills to support my school, my sport and Long Island teen athletes was made possible by school trustee Eric Geringswald, the administration, the coaches and the parents. It is good to be back in the game, especially where it all started for me.

Jim

I hadn’t seen Tom Rotanz for more than 30 years. We used to glare at each other through the cages on our lacrosse helmets as we faced off against each other in high school and then in college.

Tom was an All-American player at Ward Melville High School in Setauket. His team was 1976 Long Island Champions and 1977 New York State runners-up. He also played at Suffolk County Community College and then Adelphi University. He was an All-American defenseman during his entire college career.

When I played against Tom, the competition always was fierce. But we always had respect and admiration for each other on and off the field. That combination of fierce competition along with the respect and admiration for a player on the other team lasts a lifetime and carries over to other aspects of life long after we leave the field.

Even though Long Island isn’t that huge, in all these years our paths did not cross. We travelled in different circles – Tom became a fabulous teacher and lacrosse coach while I concentrated on growing The Whitmore Group.

That changed a few years ago, when I attended my nephew’s high school lacrosse game. Tom was scouting my nephew’s team.

After renewing our friendship and reliving some of our head-to-head battles from the field, I learned more about Tom’s passion for coaching young lacrosse players. He learned about my business success and my continued interest to help today’s high school and college athletes. Now, through a new training product – The Power Shaft™ – that he designed, we finally have the opportunity to play on the same team.

The Power Shaft (www.ThePowerShaft.com) allows lacrosse players to train and perfect their game any time of the day and any time of the year in the yard, in the park, or on the practice field. With my connections on the marketing side, more of you soon will learn about this product and how it will help your budding athletes improve their game.

There is a time for everything. This, I strongly believe, was the time for Tom and me to reconnect. Finally, after 30 years, we are wearing the same jersey, and it is today’s young lacrosse players who will have opportunities that we never had or never thought were possible.

Just as with baseball, spring is the time for businesses to re-evaluate returning talent, determine which rookies may require some more seasoning and to bring on board a veteran bench coach who will share valuable lessons with the team.

As the season begins with an economy that is trying to circle the bases without getting caught in a run-down, The Whitmore Group has added the consulting services of a valuable veteran to its roster.

Harry Pontone is a long-serving executive from the funeral services industry. In our dugout, he, will provide us with more than 60 years of business and management expertise to support our insurance underwriting and management programs for companies in the New York area and nationwide.

A licensed funeral director who graduated from the New York School of Embalming, Harry will share with us his career stats as a five-tool player in the areas of marketing, sales and management. He will help The Whitmore Group expand its casualty underwriting for funeral homes, other funeral-related businesses and businesses in other industries.

Harry started his career by working for his father, who founded the South Brooklyn Casket Company during 1931. Along with his brothers, Harry operated and expanded the business to include additional services such as personalization, merchandising and business planning. He dedicated his entire career to providing services in the death care industry with compassion.

Harry is the greatest salesman I ever met. He’s been a mentor to me and, for many years as one of our earliest clients, he has believed in the insurance program we developed for the funeral industry. His marketing and client service expertise, whether for the funeral business or for any line of business, along with his commitment to ensure that people’s wishes and needs are understood and respected, have been a tremendous asset to us since we first met. His experiences will be even more valuable to us now as we continue to improve our underwriting programs and services for all business sectors locally and across the country.

It is no secret that I attribute my success in business to all that I learned as an athlete in high school and college athletics. I also engage in business with many others who have played sports at various levels. While Harry did not get his game from the sports field, he did me one better, or, should I say, at least two sewers better. He played ball the hard way – figuring out how to get out of the house with his mother’s broom handle so he and his buddies could play stickball in the streets of Brooklyn.

Welcome to your new team, Harry!

JCM

Take it from someone who competed on the sports field. Trash talk can be brutal. It can be intimidating. It can push you off your game, if you let it get into your head.

We’ve seen more than enough of it. We see it in football, basketball, hockey and countless other games and competitions from the pros down to the level played by our children. But if you have confidence in your abilities, trash talk will not affect your game. It even can become a source of on-field entertainment and provide a little levity to remove some of the pressure.

The same scenario is found in business. Success is achieved by conducting pre-game research, developing a game plan and remaining focused on the desired outcome. Rather than discrediting the competition or speaking too much about personal abilities, concentration needs to be placed on the needs of clients and anticipating outside influences. The objective is to accomplish the desired results.

The Whitmore Group team doesn’t do any talking until we listen to and understand the needs of our clients. We do not become concerned when our competition claims it can deliver equal or better counsel, products or services. We already know that we provide our clients with the best talent to help them achieve their desired objectives. We prove this to them every day, and at the end of every day, we always leave the field together as champions.

JCM

Meet the Newest Member of the Whitmore Team

Coming from the sports world, I like to work with people who have experienced similar competition and have converted their drive for success into wins. Athletes understand the ingredients of success — extensive training and preparation, skill development, teamwork or individual commitment, and executing the game plan on the field. They also understand what it takes to rebound from tough losses.

At The Whitmore Group, our team recently added Louis D’Agostino to the lineup. A graduate of Lawrence High School on Long Island, where he was a star running back and linebacker, Louis received the 1990 Thorp Award for most outstanding Nassau County high school football player. Louis also enjoyed a successful college career at Hofstra University and then at the University of Rhode Island, where he received three team MVP awards and first-team All-Conference and All-American honors. He also received the Laboufe Award for 1995 Male Athlete of the Year.

Though undrafted after college, Louis relied on his work ethic and turned pro with the New York Jets. He then played with the New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the XFL and the Florida Bobcats of the Arena Football League.

After finishing his on-field career, Louis joined a leading New York City insurance firm. Then, after honing his skills in the field, he created Iron Cove Partners, an agency dedicated to servicing the unique insurance requirements of the financial services and securities trading industry. He delivers a broad variety of risk management and insurance related products for business and high net worth individuals.

Now, Louis has brought his competitive business acumen to us. Iron Cove has become a division of The Whitmore Group and Louis is a senior vice president and a member of our management committee. He also will continue to oversee Iron Cove Partners as its managing principal.

Besides Louis, we have other Team Whitmore players with competitive sports backgrounds. But sports isn’t a pre-requisite for success here. Some of our employees never have competed on the field, but they have faced various challenges from childhood to today in the form of science competitions, dance recitals, overcoming serious personal situations and finding solutions that support our clients.

The bottom line is that all our employees know what it takes to compete. By choosing our experience, skill sets and preparation, our clients join a winning team.

JCM

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This past December, the women’s basketball team at UConn set an NCAA record. The team won its 90th consecutive game, passing the previous NCAA record set by Coach John Wooden’s UCLA men’s basketball team during the 1970s.

While many in the sports world celebrated, others, unfortunately, downplayed this fabulous story and achievement for a variety of reasons – citing significantly different levels of competition, a gap of 30+ years that resulted in different playing conditions and the opinion that the men’s record was a more difficult hill to climb. None of this, however, should have come into play to dampen the success achieved by UConn’s women athletes. Their record may never be broken and their outstanding success needs to be celebrated.

As with sports, achievements in business should never be compared and measured against the success of others from yesterday or 30 years ago. Accomplishments never will be exactly the same simply because the players, obstacles and available resources never will match perfectly.

Instead, all levels of success should be acknowledged and celebrated by an organization. Management’s role is to infuse encouragement for a team or an individual, help them seek new levels of success and lead the celebrations when goals are achieved.

At The Whitmore Group, each team and individual achievement is embraced company-wide. The knowledge gained from the battle benefits all our employees. All success stimulates our competitive spirit, helping each of us reach new heights to serve our clients.

JCM

I’m excited about a new section added to website this week. We were able to piece together an historical archive of all High School Boys Lacrosse All-Americans since 1971 and it is available at the link at the top of this page.

I was surprised when I found out that this complete list wasn’t easily available anywhere else on the web. I felt that it was important to have these records preserved for all of the athletes who worked so hard over the years to earn this honor (and who were are not as fortunate as I am to have their own website.)

Working with Charles Bindert and his team at Spontaneous Development, we were able to compile the list and build the interface that lets you search by name, and group the athletes by year, by state and by school. Selecting by school lets you see all of the All-Americans from all years for that school.

Enjoy searching through the new section and going down memory lane as I did. Let me know what you think.

JCM

P.S. By the way, I’m sure there are some omissions or misspellings that came from the various sources we found, so feel free to contact us if you know of any corrections that are needed.

Do you remember the card game “Concentration” from your childhood, or the television version of the same game that first appeared during 1958?

The children’s game matches cards. All cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up during each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards that lead to solving a puzzle that mixes letters with symbols. The TV adaptation featured a board consisting of three-sided motorized boxes. Numbers appeared on the first of the three sides, prizes for matching and winning were on the second, and the puzzle clues appeared on the third.

Life seemed so simple when we played our childhood games or watched TV contestants solve puzzles. Sometimes we weren’t totally aware that distractions, even of the smallest kind, could change the course of the game, or, for those on TV, that valuable prizes were replaced with the dreaded “parting gifts.”

But distractions do have the potential to alter our ability to remain focused during a game, on a school or business project, during an important conversation, or even while driving. Distractions can create roadblocks to success — if we let them.

Since everything I have learned about life and to achieve success in business has come from playing competitive sports, I offer Tiger Woods as an example of a person who once had exceptional concentration but now continues to suffer from the burden of various distractions.

Since he was a young boy, Tiger’s success was honed from constant analysis of his game that he perfected with rigorous practice. When on the golf course, Tiger blocked out everything that did not pertain to golf. He always remained in the moment, whether driving the ball or sinking a long putt that no one else could ever place in the cup. His game plan and focus led to countless championships, huge financial prizes, worldwide recognition and admiration, and even more rewards as a corporate and brand spokesman.

That all came to a screeching halt the day his car hit the tree. Quickly bogged down in a sand trap that seemed to be composed of quicksand, Tiger’s professional game and image suffered right along with his personal life. Now, more than a year later, with personal issues still a huge part of each day, Tiger has not been able to regain his mastery in the game he once dominated for so many years. Whether or not he has found the proper balance in his personal and family life is an issue that only he can address.

No matter who we are or what we do for a living, distractions always will pop up to grab us and push us off course. A family issue, a souring relationship, financial problems, loosing a client, or even a health matter can hit us on any day at any time. The best response, as many people have shown, is to turn these distractions into positive actions.

By remaining focused on the personal and professional goals that truly matter, each of us can find ways to address distractions and become a returning champion in business and life. A solid strategy will help solve the puzzle. The prizes will be those we value and not just parting gifts.

JCM

During the surprising and exciting season-ending surge by the San Francisco Giants that created a fun ride for the team’s fans through the playoffs and the World Series, I started to think about who should be considered the historical face of the franchise.

For fans over 80, along with many baseball historians, the nod easily could go to Manager John McGraw, pitcher Christy Mathewson, or outfielder and slugger Mel Ott. They helped the Giants dominate the New York baseball scene for decades until they pushed the Yankees out as tenants at the old Polo Grounds. The acquisition of Babe Ruth may also have had something to do with the rise of the Yankee dynasty and the demise of the Giants in New York.

For those of us slightly younger but still over 50, I have found that Willie Mays mostly is considered to be Mr. Giant. One of the best players of his generation (if not the best), Mays is classified as one of the first “five-tool” players. He was able to hit for average, hit with power, run with speed, field his position and throw out runners for most of his career. He was the complete package in Giants cream, black and orange.

Fans under 50, I suspect, might tap Barry Bonds.

Certainly, many fans, especially Giants fans, were crazed about his monster home runs and the breaking of season and career home run records. He dominated the game for more than 10 seasons. Proof of this occurred when a manager intentionally walked Bonds with the bases loaded to force in a run rather than pitch to him and face his damage potential.

But, what was the cost of his success?

Allegations of steroids have tainted him and his career numbers. Ever since he was first marked with the steroid “S”, everything that has been written or reported about him and his statistics have referenced drug enhancement.

While the wild ride that many took with him as he clubbed those record breaking homers may have been enjoyable, it also was a record run that quickly became tarnished along the way. True baseball fans did not want Bonds to break Hank Aaron’s record, and many still question if the career home run record, or any baseball record, really has been broken during the steroid era.

I have always said that the lessons I learned in sports have been the foundation of my business success. Whether in sports, business, or anything else in life, each of us is given the opportunity to choose the path to our desired destination. The one that will be most rewarding personally is the same one that will garner the respect of family, peers and customers. The chosen path may contain many rules on road signs and many road blocks, but the open road also provides many opportunities for hard work that will refine raw talent.

In the long-term, shortcuts never are successful. To reach the Hall of Fame in sports or business, the best philosophy is to build a solid foundation, play by the rules, remain on the honest path to success and always play hard to win.

So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that my selection for the “face” of the Giants franchise, at least for the San Francisco version, is and always will be the Say Hey Kid.

JCM