At the halfway point of the season it would be easy to look at our record and see our failures as negatives. Outside of our little cocoon I am sure that is how people see it. But I see things differently. Our record is a reflection of us as a team yes, but it is far from a reflection of the character shown, or the talent and work ethic we have as a team. We have failed to live up to our own expectations. We have failed to get the results up to this point, and we have failed to fulfill our true potential. But failure is only negative if you look at it in a negative light. Nobody has ever achieved anything without failing. It is a part of life. Successful people and groups persevere. The only true failure is giving up. It is in the darkest moments that champions are born. It is in these exact moments that people make a choice, they are either going to quit, or they are going to give everything they have got to being successful.
As stated in Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’, it takes around 10,000 hours to become excellent in any skill. With this said, it is clear to see that before we become excellent, we must fail over and over again. Failure should not be seen as a negative consequence to hard work, it should be seen as a necessary consequence to achieve success. In order to get to the 10,000 hour mark you must persevere. Just look at any person you admire or idolize for what they have achieved, and look at what it took them to get to that point.
So this match report is a little different from the usual. There will be no real detail of the game against Georgetown College. We lost the game 3-1. We gave up three easy goals, one coming two minutes before halftime to send Georgetown in to the break with a 2-1 lead. The third coming with three minutes left in the game. The point is, the details of this game are not really important to this piece. What is important is that we understand that our failure must give us strength, and that in our darkest moments, we must continue see the light. The game didn’t come down to which team had more soccer ability, the game came down to which team believed more, and which team was willing to sacrifice more for the benefit of the team.
Look around any major league in the world and you will see that the talent is very similar. The difference between successful players/teams is the desire to win and the sacrifices people are willing to make to get the top. The world’s best players don’t step foot onto the training ground when they are told to. They are the first ones there and the last ones to leave. Lionel Messi is the world’s best player because he has put in more work than anyone else, and at a club like FCBarcelona that is no easy task. Standing at a mere 5’7 he has no right to be the best player in the world. The difference is he never sees himself as been accomplished, there is always more that can be done. He has overcome more obstacles than most, and yet still strives to achieve more.
So while we have to accept the position we are in right now as a program, we have two choices to make. We can feel sorry for ourselves, take it easy, and get through the season. Or we can redouble our efforts, gain strength through failure, and come back stronger than ever. Success doesn’t start the minute you start winning, success comes from realizing that in order to succeed we must fail.
To finish off, here is a quote by Michael Jordan, Arguably the greatest athlete of all time. His words epitomize that of a champion:
Maybe it's my fault.
Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn't.
Maybe made you think my highlights started at the free throw line, and not in the gym.
Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game winner.
That my game was built on flash, and not fire.
Maybe it's my fault that that you didn't see that failure gave me strength;
That my pain gave me motivation.
Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for... every single day of my life.
Maybe I destroyed the game.
Or maybe... your just making excuses.
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