Losing season, cold temps

The presidential candidates have long since left Iowa. The only traces are a few yard signs around town and the many emails I get from all of the campaigns. Most of them ask for money, particularly the ones from Edwards and Huckabee. These two also ask me to contact people I know in South Carolina or Florida to encourage them to support the candidate. Since I don't have much money and I don't know many people in either State I generally hit the delete button.

In addition to my wife's leg we are dealing with cold temperatures. Our thermometer says it is -10 F. I tell my students it teaches them how to deal with adversity.

In the meantime I thought I would put something on here which I wrote back in the fall of 1999 after my soccer team finished the season with a grand total of two wins. If somebody runs across this I hope they find it helpful. The guys I shared it with at the time seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

Fall 1999
Riding home on the bus after a game there is always time to think. One night I remembered something from when I was a student at Eastern Mennonite. After practice as I hurried into the cafeteria, an important looking guy asked why I was so late. I told him I was on the soccer team. He asked how we were doing. I replied "we're having a losing season." He said, "you can learn a lot from losing." I don't remember exactly what I said but it was probably along the line of, "the only thing you can learn from a losing season is that its no fun to lose."

Two years ago after we won the State championship I remember saying all those nice things about how hard work and dedication always lead to success. This caused me to rethink some of those things I've said. The guys on this years team worked hard, they were dedicated, they did, or tried to do what we asked of them and yet our record didn't reflect their effort. Are there things you can learn from a losing season? Let me suggest some.

1. Hard work is no guarantee of success. Hard work is necessary but just working hard won't always ensure success. If you look around this community you can see many people who work their tails off without much to show for it. Farmers are just one example, there are many others.

2. There is pleasure to be found in working hard, especially when you are doing something you enjoy, regardless of the outcome. One of the most gratifying things I will remember from this season was after our last game when one of the seniors, a guy who worked extremely hard to improve his soccer skills said, "this was the most fun sports season I've ever had."

3. Relationships are extremely important. When there are lots of wins it is easy to overlook personality conflicts on a team. When things are not going well even minor conflicts can become major problems. From my perspective this years team got along with each other better than any other team I've coached. That says a lot about the character of these young men.

4. It is important to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and while high goals are necessary, realistic goals are important. One of the reasons this group related to each other well was because they all took responsibility for themselves. They focused on how they could improve themselves and the team. They didn't focus on how someone else could improve or what someone else could do differently. These guys knew their limitations and they worked to improve themselves.

5. A won-loss record is only one way of measuring success. A won-loss record is obviously the most visible and easiest way to measure success but it is not the only way. In many ways these young men are winners. They know how to work hard in practice and competition. They have learned how to relate to each other under adverse conditions. They put forth maximum effort even when the situation looked bleak.

In my mind you are all winners and I expect you to have much success in the future, in sports, academics, and most importantly, in life. Life isn't always fair, but if you have faith in God, supportive friends and family who share common goals and values, and if you are doing something you enjoy, you will have a "good life."

That is what I wrote back in the fall of 1999. Since then I came across a book by Pat Conroy titled My Losing Season. I would recommend the book. For all the winning teams that people celebrate, there are usually losing teams many of them made up of fine people.