Lessons from the Game

Lessons from the game

I’ve never been into sports. In fact I almost flunked PE when I was in school and found it my most difficult subject. Luckily my kids took after their dad and their love for sports is simply amazing. Their not just into the one sport but many. From Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Cheerleading and Volleyball. My role is to be their number one fan and cheerleader though admittedly I don’t fully understand those sports YET.

Today I am watching my youngest daughter’s volleyball game. As I watch the games I reflected on how the game reflects a lot of things about life. And here are some of my takeaways:

1. It ain’t over until it’s over. I’ve seen how teams lagging behind in scores catch up and win. I’ve seen how the determination to give it all they got until the buzzer stops gets them to where they want to be.

2. Eyes on the ball. Not because the team hit the ball to the other court, are you given permission to be complacent. The ball keeps moving and you need to have your eyes on the ball and make your turn, else it drops or goes weird directions. Focus is key.

3. A game is a game, you can choose how you come out of it. Win or lose, you can always choose to feel like a loser or a winner. It’s a matter of attitude. You can come out the winner and still feel like a loser when you beat yourself up for missed turns and wrong hits. If you focus on what went wrong, and “I could have done better” or worse “you should have hit that, we could have finished them up earlier,” and start a blaming and shaming, you still are at the losing end. On the other hand, you can come home without the medals and the trophies and still feel a winner because the team simply enjoyed a good fight and learned, focusing on progress, developmental areas with the thought that “we’ll do better on the next round. This is not the end but the beginning.”

Sports is a game of recovery and so is life. No matter where you are in your journey, it is giving your 100% in the game that matters.