Philosophical

OK, I'm about to get a little philosophical, so watch out! (I know the idea of Coach T. getting deep is probably a little scary, but stay with me on this...)

Someone asked me this morning about our game last night, and I responded, "Yeah, we won." And I didn't realize how nonchalantly I had said it, until they pointed it out to me...almost like it was expected, or that there shouldn't be any question that we would win. And it occurred to me, and it was proven last night, that we do have the ability to play a bad game and still come home with a win, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's a curse, because it doesn't require us to make ourselves any better. If we wanted to, we could just continue to play at the same level, and probably keep putting enough balls in the back of the net to secure more wins. But to me, that doesn't feel right.

Then, in our daily announcement, Mrs. Bradshaw included the quote, "Success isn't measured by the position you reach in life; it's measured by the obstacles you overcome." And another thought occurred to me...we haven't really had to face many obstacles as a team. Sure, we complain about a cow-pasture field...but then we go play a team whose game field was basically built for smurfs, so we aren't the only ones with field issues. The thing is, we can't rely on any other team in our division to push us to the next level...it won't happen. We have to look to ourselves.

What does this mean? It means that we have to challenge each other...that we give 100% in practice, because we know it's the only way to make ourselves, and our teammates better. It means identifying our individual obstacles and working to overcome them. You know what you struggle with individually...whether it's problems catching, not cradling properly, picking bad shots, checking or shooting when you're upset, missing groundballs...you know what areas you need to work on. And to take it to the next level, it means working on these things during practice and on your own time.

We have the potential of becoming state champs in just over two weeks, and that's an exciting thing. But, how sweet would that success be if you didn't feel like we had to work for it...or if you came to the end of the season and didn't feel like you had improved much as a player? I don't want you to walk off the field of the state finals match feeling like we did after the game last night...I want you to walk off the field of that final game feeling like it truly was the best game you have played, individually and as a team.

So, I will now quote the Gatorade ad slogan, "Is it in you?" I believe it is. We have unlimited potential inside of us...we just have to work to bring it out.

Rock on, tiger rockstars...