DELEGATES CORNER - by - Dave Johnson, Marshall School - Duluth,  MSHSCA President-Elect

 

“The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it is so accidental.  It’s so much like life.”

Arthur Miller

American playwright, 1915-2005

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a high school tennis match.  It was a cold Minnesota spring day, overcast with a strong wind off the nearby lake.  The players really didn’t seem to mind since they were dressed in jackets and sweatpants rather than shorts and t-shirts.  As the matches progressed my attention was continually drawn to one young man who appeared to be having a “bad” day.  After any play where he made a mistake or missed hitting the ball he would yell out, “Come on!!!” As the match came to a close, he missed a well placed shot. His reaction was to pick up the ball and then hit it as hard as he could into the fence surrounding the court while yelling out a loud AAARGHH! 

 

After the match was over I went for a walk and I began to think about this young man and his reactions to mistakes and disappointments.  This led me to think about what makes sports like tennis, volleyball, golf exciting to play and watch.  The common theme that I see is mistakes.  Without a mistake by one player or team, then what happens?  If the match was perfect, if both teams played perfectly, there would be no match or contest.  The first volley would go on forever and only end when both teams dropped from exhaustion.  A mistake; hitting the ball out, not covering the court, or hitting the net is what makes the game exciting.  The winner of a match could be called the team or player who made the least mistakes or even better the side that learned best from their mistakes and capitalized the best on the mistakes of the opponent.

 

I don’t think I am taking the role of a pessimist when I say that life is often a series of mistakes or disappointments.  Rarely do we win the powerball, get offered that dream job with high pay or always hit the green light.  More often than not we find there are no parking spots near the store, our kids have made a mess of the kitchen again or the dog has made a mess on the carpet.  What determines who we are is not so much what happens to us, but rather what is our reaction to the things that life brings our way?  Do we yell and “hit the ball into the fence” or do we brush it off and make the best of each situation?

 

How do you as a coach handle disappointment and mistakes?  Do you take them as a learning opportunity and a teachable moment?  I know of a coach who developed a hand signal for his team that they would use after making a mistake.  It was a simple brushing off of the shoulder with a hand.  That simple motion showed that mistakes happen and the best reaction is to brush it off.  Take ownership for the mistake and then clear it off the body.

 

I would be very interested in your thoughts on mistakes and sport.  Send me any stories or thoughts that you have about their role in sports or life to djohnson@marshallschool.org