Life is all about competition. And I learned my greatest competitive lesson on the football field at the tender age of 11.
At the time, our Chevy Chase Boys Club Youth Football team was a dominant force in the Washington, DC area. Through 8 weeks, we had run up an impressive string of lopsided victories and dominating performances. Our confidence bordered on cockiness!
In the last game of the season, we faced a team we had never seen before. (There was no scouting and certainly no film back in those days!) But after one glance at the far sidelines, we knew an undefeated season was assured.
Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover!
The players were small, disorganized, and disinterested. Their jerseys were frayed and faded and their coaches were nowhere in sight. This was gonna be fun!
We lined up for the opening kickoff and our underwhelming and overmatched opponents started to take the field. A few of us were laughing. One of our players didn’t even bother to buckle his chinstrap.
But then everything changed.
A thunderous drum beat echoed from the woods to the left of the field. The scrawny team reverse-pivoted from the gridiron and stood at rapt attention on the sideline.
What was happening?
Suddenly, eleven of the biggest, baddest, meanest 11-year olds emerged from the woods and stormed onto the field. It was the most incredible bait-and-switch scheme in the history of sports!
With no time to regain our focus, we kicked off to these behemoths. Their All-Star running back took the ball and ran 90 yards for a touchdown behind a wall of massive blockers. My teammate who had not bothered to buckle his chinstrap was sprawled on the ground, staring up through his ear hole.
It was going to be a long day.
We ended up losing 44-0. Had we been mentally prepared for the battle, we certainly had the talent to beat them. But we grossly underestimated our opponents. And that is a critical mistake in athletics and in life.
Athletics Provide a Blueprint for Battle
Maintaining a healthy respect for our opponents is a major key to success on the court or on the playing field. We cannot tell how competitive a team is by looking at their past record or judging their size. Optics can be deceiving! We must physically and mentally prepare to fight no matter who we face.
Major upsets happen in sports. The upstart US Hockey team took down the mighty Soviets in the “Miracle on Ice!” in 1980. Jim Valvano’s “Cardiac Kids” shocked the uber-athletic “Phi Slamma Jamma” of Houston in 1983. And the outmanned Duke Blue Devils stunned the “invincible” UNLV Runnin’ Rebels to win their first college basketball national championship in 1991! (That’s right, haters, as shocking as it may seem, Duke was once considered a “loveable” underdog).
In all these cases, the more talented and physical team lost. Why? Because in all these cases, the overwhelming favorite grossly underestimated their opponents.
There are many battles in life. We must prepare for them all!
But this phenomenon is not limited to athletics.
In sales, the best company does not always win. If they did, there would be no competition!
Savvy salespeople never underestimate their opponents. They enthusiastically prepare for every meeting and presentation. Even if they have a superior product or service, they take nothing for granted. Just being the best does not guarantee they will come out on top. They know winning is all about effort and relentless focus on the customer’s needs!
The same is true with any battle in our lives.
When fighting addiction, we can never underestimate our opponent. It will take a Herculean effort to overcome our demons and emerge clean on the side. Even when we think we have it under control, we can never let up! We must keep fighting!
When battling a disease, we must stay mentally and physically tough throughout the journey. Sometimes, it can feel overwhelming. Sometimes, it seems we have the upper hand. But at all times we must summon the courage to overcome our affliction. We cannot underestimate the power of our opponent. But we cannot underestimate the power of our own steely resolve! We will beat this thing!
Adversity might be our greatest opponent!
When we face adversity, we face perhaps our greatest opponent. We cannot listen to that negative voice inside our own heads!
I can’t do this anymore.
I don’t deserve success.
I was born to lose.
I might as well give up on my dream.
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THIS NEGATIVITY.
Resilience is not easy. We must recognize that fear and doubt are worthy adversaries.
But once we acknowledge the power of that negative voice, we must reject the temptation to listen. Resilience is a choice. We must choose to fight. We must choose to maintain our optimism. We must choose to never stop following our dreams!
We Need to Buckle Our Chinstrap and Fight!
Whatever our battle, we must prepare as if we are facing the toughest challenge of our lives. Take nothing for granted. Relentlessly pursue victory. Stay resilient in the face of defeat.
We must never underestimate our opponent in our work or personal lives. Regardless of the circumstances, we need to buckle our chinstrap extra tight and prepare to fight!
Until next week, keep smiling!
I used to play for Chevy Chase Boys Club in the 70’s. Coach Hubbard… Coach Kane. Same time period?
Ethan, absolutely! You were a couple years older but I had those same coaches. In fact, amazingly, Coach Odom used to refer to me as an “Ethan Ferkiss protege’!” Small world.
lol – that is SO great to hear! Those were great days for sure – and Coach Kane and Coach Odom were amazing to play for. I had no idea Odom would do something like that – that’s awesome. Do you remember what sparked that? Your hits? Hustle? It certainly wasn’t my speed! Thanks for the response – you made my day.
I remember exactly what sparked it–Y.A.C. (Yards After Contact). I refused to go down with the initial hit and after the first week of practice, Coach Odom said:”Clark, you scratch and claw for every yard. You are an Ethan Ferkiss protege'”. I had to go home to my Merriam-Webster dictionary and look up “protege'”. Good stuff!