Hats Off to the Skills We Learn From Sport
Coaching Tip # 61
Competitors quickly learn that success is not a straight line.
Over a life well played, you will experience many arcs of success, with dips in between. Arcs can occur within one day of training, a weekend of competition, or an entire season. If you link the arcs together you can visually describe a lifetime of experiences in sport.
These arcs are represented by a period of upward directional success, a dip of that momentum and then a reemergence of a positive trajectory. I refer to this as the Arc of Success, primarily because in order to power up the positive side of the arc, you must develop and act on strategies when you experience the downward slope.
Athletes regularly experienced these arcs and that understand in sports there are no guarantees. There is only the pledge you fulfill each day to challenge your best from the day before. And when you challenge yourself each day, you come to accept that some days, weeks, or months are better than others. It is this ability to slug through the adversity, in whatever form it shows up in, that mark the character of a true champion.
Let me be clear, when I refer to champions, I am not just talking about the ones that stand on podiums. There are millions of athletes out there that did not reach that final destination, but showed up every day, put in the work and found ways to work through hard times – that bottom part of the arc. Champions they are.
One year ago yesterday, the world of sport shut down. Every athlete in every sport, in every age group has had a version of an arc (or several arcs) over the last 12 months. The pandemic shut out opportunities for our little ones starting out in their first sport, as well as our high school athletes working toward goals, championships, scholarships and celebrations. For many of our college athletes, their seasons were cancelled and equally devastating was the abrupt stoppage for the those striving to represent their countries on national teams.
Dreams were cancelled, and this forced us to make a choice. As you experience the bottom of the arc, each individual needed to decide what to do about it: climb back up or give up.
I am inspired by those who took up the challenge. They worked out over zoom. Found places to practice and although competition was cancelled, became involved in simulating different forms of building a competitive muscle.
It has not been an easy route. But for those that choose to keep going, the lessons learned over the last 12 months are now embedded into your solutions for future adversity. It is the climb that you will value even though while in that climb, this pandemic kept throwing you curve balls. You found a way.
Stop and acknowledge that! Celebrate the last year as a symbol of character growth. Take a moment to journal some of the strategies you used.
Ten years from now, we will all look back and appreciated the lessons gained. Remember that for most, sports is a fundamental training ground for life. You are developing an athlete DNA of resilience, self-regulation and coping mechanisms that will serve you down the road.
Right now, stick with it. You are learning something far more valuable than any trophy - you can handle life.