Other side of the same coin
Take home message
IN SPORT, EVERYONE’S A WINNER.
For Coaches
Your immediate impact extends well beyond the group right in front of you. Take time to step back and see the bigger picture.
For Athletes
Win, lose or draw, it’s how you play the game.
It has been a long time between posts for several reasons: a busy first half of the year (excuse), the difficulty in restarting a habit (as much as I’m a proponent of habits!) and the fear (False Expectations Appearing Real) of writing: “What if it isn’t any good?”. However, there’s no such thing as a good excuse, or a better time than now to start (or restart) a habit and the point of writing is to share; sometimes I’ve unique experiences that are worth sharing. So here goes.
It’s almost a year to the day I wrote about the bigger picture of a narrow loss (“Failure has a silver lining”). Now I’ve the privilege of sharing somewhat of the other perspective - the other side of the coin - having just returned from a multi-sport competition.
It’s amazing just how similar the experiences are. Sure, this time around, there was immediate happiness and celebration at the final siren. For me anyway, the intense joy lasted almost as briefly as the intense sorrow of last time, as both ultimately ended up in celebrations of camaraderie and the journey undertaken (Have you noticed that after a finals match or race, both the winners and losers embrace their teammates and acknowledge the opposition. I think that says something).
In my particular circumstance, I can’t say we worked harder for this win than we did leading up to that loss. It’s not as though we changed everything, overhauled our practices, searched high and low for something new, that we trained longer and harder and made even more difficult choices about work-life-family balance, better diets or radical physical routines. We refined a few things that we learnt, you always do, but I believe we are always checking ourselves, innovating, demanding excellence from each other and work damn hard all the time. I felt just as prepared before this as I did l the last major.
Sometimes, there really isn’t much separating winners and losers but chance (like flipping a coin). As much as we try to eliminate chance, every honest athlete and coach will credit an element of luck.
Why I think it’s the different side of the same coin is the bigger picture is still the bigger picture and so much greater than the acute moment of victory or defeat. The losers are still inspirational. All competitors are still role models of resilience, sacrifice and courage, regardless of their placing.
At an international competition, the more populous nations dominate due to an abundance of resource whilst smaller nations still strike their own high mark against the odds. Despite differences in performance level (and there are differences), games are competitive - no one wants to be taken easy and no one wants to go easy. The competition is respectable. I am proud of my fellow coaches and players knowing so much of our training and playing kit never came home, having found homes with new friends where it will be put to great use.
These games in particular are always a special privilege for me to be able to witness first hand the adversity and achievements of our challenged athletes. I know I get caught up with my own world and it is a great reminder for me to be more mindful and the important role sport and exercise has for our entire community. I can easily be too focussed on the small group of athletes right in front of me, unaware of the far reaching effect of our collective work has through them, the greater contribution I can make and the far reaching effects of the universal language of sport and physical activity.
It’s for these many reasons that win, lose or draw, it’s either side of the same coin. Being involved in sport and exercise has immediate personal benefit but for coaches and athletes is also a privileged responsibility to assist and inspire the community.
Heads or tails, it’s a win.
Proceeds from my coaching workshops and mentoring support Sport Access Foundation - “Helping Aussie kids with a disability to play and participate in sport'“.
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Thanks again. BA.