Think back in your life, growing up, and when you actually learned something. Probably it was from some type of adversity. It may have been a "time out", it may have been being spanked, it may have been from losing a loved one or in athletics a loss.This season my team has endured much adversity and they are learning life lessons. It is through athletics that I have learned to deal with both success and loss. There will be many things that my players this year will endure throughout life and they will be able to get through it because of the lessons they learned this year.
Some of the lessons learned:
1. Hard work does not guarantee success. You can come every day prepared and ready to bust your behind, but it does not guarantee success. If you don't work hard, however, you will fail. But you get up, go to practice, and work....every day....because it's the right thing to do.
2. In times of success everyone is on the same page, in times of adversity everyone's individual agenda shows up. It can be parents, fans, or the players themselves and it makes it harder to work as a team. You must get past those things and stay on the same page.
3. Playing something they love and not winning or seeing success is not fun. Yet, you continue. You don't quit...you put one foot in front of the other and continue to work because in the end you are still doing something that you love.
4. In all reality, you should be horribly disappointed in not being successful in something that you put so much time into; but...depression or suicide watches are not necessary. It is a game and if that is wrong to know that, then I am wrong.
5. When it comes to communities, they will not be happy when you do not win, and I cannot blame them. The money it costs to get into a game, they expect to see something for it. Often, playing hard and watching their local boys compete is enough, but they want to see wins. Our players have heard people bad mouth possibly them, but definitely me and their teammates. How do you handle it, get through it and support everyone while immersed in that?
6. Finally, for me personally, it is hard to deal with losing for a few reasons. I feel that I have not done everything possible to help this team be successful. And, my young daughter is finally old enough to listen, comprehend, and try to understand some of the things that are going on. She wants the team to win, but she has also heard harsh things said about me. It isn't fair to her, but it is part of growing up. We all can't live in a perfect world and she will learn from it. In fact, there is part of me that is glad she is dealing with it so that she is learning that life isn't always ice cream and video games.
So, we have two regular season games left and then the sectional. This team after the season can look back on what they have gone through this season and realize they have learned about life. Hopefully, they will look back with some fondness on this season as they deal with life (divorce, death, sickness) and understand that they can get through what life throws at them.
It is about making a positive out of a negative whenever possible, getting past the emotions and understanding what is important; forging character!
