(Note: from time to time, I'll resurrect a noteworthy, still relevant post. Here's one from over a year ago. Many new readers have joined.)
Winning a title is hard. Repeating is harder. Melrose has won ten sectional championships since its first in 2003. "The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain."
First dynasty - 2003, 2004, 2005 They say 'tradition never graduates' but tradition didn't exist coming into 2003. Senior leadership and an influx of young talent loaded the springboard of success.
Second dynasty - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 A four-peat takes remarkable resilience. The lead actors from the first title are long departed for the last. A loss in the state championship in 2011 set the stage for the 'wagon' that won in 2012.
Third dynasty - 2021, 2022. It's hard to graduate your best player and repeat with a new libero, a rebuilt defense, and new setter. But Melrose accomplished that during the second season of the new statewide playoff format.
Is there a secret?
"Maintaining success is difficult: “…champions lose focus because of the distractions that success brings. The championship becomes the focus—not what it takes to be a champion… The best advice is to go back and prepare as if the success never happened.”" - Nick Saban in How Good Do You Want to Be?
What promotes or compromises continued success?
- Player development/lack of preparation
- Focus/distraction
- Strong culture/dissent and selfishness
- Good fortune/bad luck (injury, illness)
- Leadership/diffusion
- Determination/apathy
- Tenacity (grit)/softness
- Resilience/quitting
- Play each point in the moment ("be here now").
- Have a short memory. "Be a goldfish." Never let a lost point bleed into the next point.
- Balance aggression with judgment.
- Communicate consistently, "call the ball."
- Prize team spirit.
"Prepare as if the success never happened."
Lagniappe. Elastic serving tip?
No comments:
Post a Comment