A Winning Performance!
What a day! What a day! The morning and the afternoon games: night and day! It reminded me of walking in the garden in the morning and seeing little cute caterpillars and taking an afternoon stroll on the same day and seeing butterflies and trying to reconcile that they were one and the same.
Let's go over the morning game in the spirit of Michael Jordan. We do not need to dissect the game to find out what was wrong with our plays. As Coach Shrell pointed out, that is dust off your sneakers, gone forever.
First there were five and what a team. They got no breaks and they withstood the pressure. Then there were four and they didn't miss a beat. They had issues, major issues. Firstly, they started out with half the size of their opponents (in numbers) with no bench. Secondly, they lost a player due to lack of registration and thirdly, they played last night. Other issues included a different floor than that which we are all used to playing on. Rubber balls obviously bounce differently on hardwood floors than they do on rubber.
If that was not enough, add two games being played simultaneously in full view of each other in the same gym, whistles are blowing, referees are distracted by the other game or they take a moment during time out to eat a slice of pizza. These are all mitigating circumstances but they are not what makes the headlines in basketball.
What struck me the most is that those four players with the odds stacked against them, played like that was the norm. In my book, they registered as extraordinary players. They displayed a passion for the game that was bigger than their excuses, larger than all the issues surmounting them. That is what made theirs a winning performance in spite of a tailing score against the Lady Lions.
In every game we play, let us seek to learn. Let us yearn to learn not only from our own mistakes and achievements but from the performance of the other teams. While we all agreed that there was a lot missing my regret was that we fell back to being ordinary by justifying the reasons why. Here is one I heard that I sincerely hope I will not hear from a Lady Lion ever again:
"I was tired..."
I sent a special article that included recommendations for sleep and rest as well as nutrition to make sure we were not tired. We had the advantage of playing early in the morning while fresh. The other team had played the night before and should have been more tired than we were. Furthermore, you are too young to be tired at 9 a.m. on the first day of a two-day tournament. However, I am glad that this happened this early in the season because you will appreciate the difference once you have had the personal training with Coach Andre'. Fatigue for you as athletes will not ever arise again.
Let's look at the second game. The game against the Clearwater Heatwave. Now, that was a game that will go down in our history books (just kidding) as a great game. You know you were awesome. You played every minute, every second of the game. You took what you are best at and played your hand over and over again.
Lady Lions, your defense is absolutely admirable. I am reminded of playing music. If you learn to play a note , don't try to get creative with it, just play it the same way each time, you will always get it right. Same thing here, if something works for you, do it over and over again. It was awesome watching you. I will take a one point win any day (and a bottle of Mylanta). Coach is really proud of you. He was tickled pink....ha!ha!ha! Now I am, too.
It was obvious that the Heatwave expected to win that game. They outnumbered you in numbers and size. They were dressed in black (Men In Black) for power. Indeed they looked like they were more than they really were. Yet we know (from the earlier game) that numbers or lack of them don't count for nothing, right? You played your game and not one that they pressured you into playing. You are good, you know you are so don't let anyone change your mind on the court.
Now visualize all that was right with that game and keep doing it again and again. Find out what was missing (not wrong) and add it at the next opportunity. Take a moment and savour this winning performance. Enjoy the feeling of success. It is a great motivator. Then make a commitment to make every game a winning performance: great scores follow high achievers.
Yay! You did it Lady Lions! You did it!
YOU MADE US PROUD! Grrrr.....rrrr~
What a day! What a day! The morning and the afternoon games: night and day! It reminded me of walking in the garden in the morning and seeing little cute caterpillars and taking an afternoon stroll on the same day and seeing butterflies and trying to reconcile that they were one and the same.
Let's go over the morning game in the spirit of Michael Jordan. We do not need to dissect the game to find out what was wrong with our plays. As Coach Shrell pointed out, that is dust off your sneakers, gone forever.
First there were five and what a team. They got no breaks and they withstood the pressure. Then there were four and they didn't miss a beat. They had issues, major issues. Firstly, they started out with half the size of their opponents (in numbers) with no bench. Secondly, they lost a player due to lack of registration and thirdly, they played last night. Other issues included a different floor than that which we are all used to playing on. Rubber balls obviously bounce differently on hardwood floors than they do on rubber.
If that was not enough, add two games being played simultaneously in full view of each other in the same gym, whistles are blowing, referees are distracted by the other game or they take a moment during time out to eat a slice of pizza. These are all mitigating circumstances but they are not what makes the headlines in basketball.
What struck me the most is that those four players with the odds stacked against them, played like that was the norm. In my book, they registered as extraordinary players. They displayed a passion for the game that was bigger than their excuses, larger than all the issues surmounting them. That is what made theirs a winning performance in spite of a tailing score against the Lady Lions.
In every game we play, let us seek to learn. Let us yearn to learn not only from our own mistakes and achievements but from the performance of the other teams. While we all agreed that there was a lot missing my regret was that we fell back to being ordinary by justifying the reasons why. Here is one I heard that I sincerely hope I will not hear from a Lady Lion ever again:
"I was tired..."
I sent a special article that included recommendations for sleep and rest as well as nutrition to make sure we were not tired. We had the advantage of playing early in the morning while fresh. The other team had played the night before and should have been more tired than we were. Furthermore, you are too young to be tired at 9 a.m. on the first day of a two-day tournament. However, I am glad that this happened this early in the season because you will appreciate the difference once you have had the personal training with Coach Andre'. Fatigue for you as athletes will not ever arise again.
Let's look at the second game. The game against the Clearwater Heatwave. Now, that was a game that will go down in our history books (just kidding) as a great game. You know you were awesome. You played every minute, every second of the game. You took what you are best at and played your hand over and over again.
Lady Lions, your defense is absolutely admirable. I am reminded of playing music. If you learn to play a note , don't try to get creative with it, just play it the same way each time, you will always get it right. Same thing here, if something works for you, do it over and over again. It was awesome watching you. I will take a one point win any day (and a bottle of Mylanta). Coach is really proud of you. He was tickled pink....ha!ha!ha! Now I am, too.
It was obvious that the Heatwave expected to win that game. They outnumbered you in numbers and size. They were dressed in black (Men In Black) for power. Indeed they looked like they were more than they really were. Yet we know (from the earlier game) that numbers or lack of them don't count for nothing, right? You played your game and not one that they pressured you into playing. You are good, you know you are so don't let anyone change your mind on the court.
Now visualize all that was right with that game and keep doing it again and again. Find out what was missing (not wrong) and add it at the next opportunity. Take a moment and savour this winning performance. Enjoy the feeling of success. It is a great motivator. Then make a commitment to make every game a winning performance: great scores follow high achievers.
Yay! You did it Lady Lions! You did it!
YOU MADE US PROUD! Grrrr.....rrrr~
posted by zinzi | 5:16 PM
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