Our middle school basketball team had just taken a pounding, which happens. Head Coach Ralph Labella was upset at our girls lack of response to the aggressiveness and physicality of the opponents. He said, "Ron, say something to them."
"You cannot fail to respond to your opponent, allowing them to walk all over you. How you play basketball is how you live your life." Over six months later, Kiki Kiernan (also MVB) came up to me and said, "That how you play is how you live really got to me."
Play sports and sometimes you lose. But there's losing with attention to detail, effort, and energy as a worthy opponent. And there's "not showing up" or "mailing it in." Unacceptable.
Coaches want teams to reflect their personality - prepared, dynamic, selfless, tough, relentless. When teams give their best and it's not good enough, tip your hat to your opponent and prepare for the next game.
Players don't always get to control the situation they're in; they always have a choice on how they respond.
Lagniappe. Resilience is a skill. Manage it with mental skills training and physical actions like muscle contraction (e.g. holding a fist) and controlled breathing.
No comments:
Post a Comment