What Is Your Superpower?

"Success is a choice." What qualities belong to those you admire? Can you apply them?

A teacher had an unruly, undisciplined and disrespectful class. She had an idea to improve their self-esteem. 

She gave each student (teammate) a paper with the name of all the class and asked each to write two things that they admired about a classmate. 

She then cut and pasted the comments onto a sheet for each student, so they had a big sheet of positives about themselves. 

She witnessed a remarkable transformation as the students' self-esteem and self-control rose. 

Many years later she passed away and many of the students came to her funeral. Many brought a wrinkled, faded paper from that class with the positive observations of classmates. 

We choose to lift people up or do something else - "success or less." 

Become a storyteller. Develop a portfolio of stories to lead others up, especially when an individual or group needs it most. 

Everyone wants to be valued, appreciated for who they are and what they bring to the team. 

MVB has many stories wroth telling:

In 2005, Melrose played Burlington, a team which had three boys at least 6'3" who by rule, could only play the back row. Coach Scott Celli said that they could play all positions. MVB won anyway in straight sets, one win on their march to their first State Finals. 

In 2010, a young team had a panoply of sophomores who led them to a Sectional Title, then a Finals in 2011, and a State Title in 2012. 

In 2023, Sadie Jaggers led MVB to a playoff win despite playing out of a "sickbed" with a respiratory illness. Her performance was the MVB version of the "Jordan Game" where he led the Bulls to a Championship despite illness. 

Tell your stories. Make them great. 

Lagniappe. Your standard is your standard.