http://www.jsonline.com/sports/prep/feb06/389601.asp
The story of a recent girls high school basketball game, in which the the scoring record was broken for most points in a game, 113, by the star of the winning team. Much hand wringing and discussion over whether it was bad sportsmanship to leave her in and let her break the record against such a hopelessly overmatched team. The link above for more details, and you're welcome to comment on it, but I mention it because it reminded me of something that happened to me.
A few years ago, my oldest son was really into roller hockey. For those who don't know, roller hockey is similar to regular ice hockey only they play on roller blades instead of skates. This was an over 30 league, and my son played because there was a shortage of goalies in that age group and most of the teams used a kid from the teen leagues to mind the nets. My son would play with his age group on weekends, then on Tuesday nights he'd suit it up with the oldsters. Now, this was a no-contact, fun league, but like most organized leagues there were a few teams that took it way too seriously and considered the league their last chance to redeem a squandered youth that possibly could have ended up in the NHL . (yeah, ooookay). Anyway, it's important to note that in my younger days I also played goalie, but many years had passed since then. While I wasn't out of shape, there's a certain level of fitness (or youth) required to play goalie in any kind of league. Although the regular players wear much less padding and equipment than a ice hockey player might, goalies wear pretty much the same type of equipment as their ice hockey counterparts.
It was a league where all of the teams made the playoffs, the opening round pitting the best team against the worst, and this particular year my son was unavailable for the first round so I said "Hey, I used to play, I'll do it!" Realizing the team had no chance of winning the coach agreed to let me play. (There were two women in the league, both post menopausal, and they played for our team. This is not a knock on the hockey skills of post menopausal women, just, you know. When you have the golden girls in front of you facing a team of 30 something guys who practice three nights a week and are undefeated, well, I just want you to know what I was up against.)
It was 83 degrees at game time, a particularly warm and humid July night. It was even worse inside the rink, with no air conditioning, and here I am with about 20 pounds of equipment on. The puck dropped and the rout was on. It was one breakaway after another, and after 10 minutes we were down 8 -1 and it was dawning on me that I was seriously fucked. I could barely stand, and I could start to feel my legs buckling. The combination of the equipment, my state of conditioning, the heat and the fact that I was seriously under-hydrated had me thinking I will die tonight. But I refused to quit. It's that sick guy thing where we think it's better to be taken away in an ambulance than say "Uh, I can't do this."
At the end of the first period, the score was 9-2. There was only a five minute intermission between periods, so I had little time to recuperate. I skated over to my daughter, who had come with me to witness the massacre. (Which, of course, was another reason I couldn't quit. My daughter was there! Someday she'll have kids and tell them about the day grandpa died playing roller hockey!)
She had Gatorade and a bucket of ice. I drank as much as I could, and in a desperate attempt to snap me back to life, took the ice and stuffed it down my pants.
I started the second period on one knee when the play was out of my zone, which wasn't often. The good news was the ice was helping a bit. The bad news was the ice was shooting out of my pants while I was squirting around trying to make saves. Ice is usually a good thing in hockey, but as we were playing on rollerblades in a roller rink ice was a bad thing. Players were slipping and complaining, and one even skated over to me and asked about it and I said I thought someone in the crowd had thrown it in the rink. (I wasn't going to admit it was me, was I?)
I spent the most of the second period on my knees and at the end the score was 14-4.
The captain of our team knew something was seriously wrong as the third period started and he kept asking if I was okay. (I'm fine, why?) About five minutes in I feel like throwing up. I am very close to becoming one of those people in a triathalon staggering across the finish line covered in my own urine, feces and vomit. The captain comes over. Let me call a timeout, he pleads. No.
16-5. 17-5. 18-5. 18-6. 19-6.
Just as I'm about to pass out, I hear the other team talking. "Let's get twenty and then we'll let up."
At that moment a fire was lit. It had stopped being about winning a long time ago, but now I had a chance at a moral victory. Stop them from scoring twenty! Suddenly I got a second wind, I stood up, whacked myself awake with a sharp stick blow to my goalie mask, and hunkered down. You will not score twenty.
Two minutes to go, they break out fast out of their zone. They fly past the defense and are bearing down on me. Two on none break-a-way. I glide out to cut down the angle. As they come in, there passing the puck back and forth like pros, and a third guy comes in from the side. I'm skating backwards to the net, and I'm seeing everything. I think I even see one of the guys look at the other as if to say, whoa, he's acting like a real goaltender.
Let them make the first move. Don't commit. Hold your ground. Then I see it...I know what's going to happen. That third guy coming down the side, he's going to get the shot. So I overplay the middle and left side, leaving the right side of the goal open, and sure enough, the guy on the left gets real big eyes and he gently places his stick down. The trick for me is to wait as long as I can, and no matter what I see, commit to my play. The guy with the puck dekes a shot to get me to go down but that's my cue to snap over to the guy on the right side. Sure enough, he passes the puck over just as I slide over, stack the pads and block the shot.
The crowd made the sound crowds make when something totally unexpected happens, kinda like a rolling "whoa!"
Problem was, I left the rebound loose, it's just laying there, and there's a fourth guy barreling down. It's only a foot away, but I was completely spent and couldn't move my arms quickly enough.
Player four scooped it up and flipped it in the back of the net.
Final score, 20 -7. Yeah, they got twenty, but I had my moment. I had a fun ride home with my daughter, because sometimes it's better to fail spectacularly than to fail just a little bit.
Anyway, I was thinking of this when I read about the poor girls who got slaughtered in that basketball game. Pick your spot, make your stand and then have a laugh afterward.
2 comments:
You're only a failure if people don't remember how good/bad you actually were afterwards.
I do have to agree with your comment on how some people take these social type games too seriously. I administer a disabled sports organisation and some of our players carry on as though big money is being laid on the line every time they go out on the court.
I am more proud of the kids who are just happy to be getting the opportunity to do something more than sit at home for two hours on a Saturday morning regardless of whether they win or lose. At the end of the season, they all get something anyway.
When we are born our brains are like empty computers waiting to be fed information. As we grow our peers act as our programmers, they supply us with the knowledge which we channel through the conscious mind into the subconscious (our hard drive). The subconscious mind is the biggest hard drive ever developed - it stores everything we come in contact with and by no means is all of this information of a positive nature.
All that we have heard, touched, smelt, tasted and seen are stored in the recesses of our minds. The subconscious mind holds on to this information until we need to recall it. For example when you were young your curiosity lead you to investigate your surroundings. When you approached a substance that was dangerous, such as fire, your parents or guardians would most likely have rebuked or scolded you if you ventured too near the flame. Perhaps you may even recall an incident when you were physically burned. Your subconscious mind then began to relate scolding (or pain) with the intense heat of the fire and would therefore feed the feelings of the scolding incident back to you whenever you got too close to fire again, thus acting as an early warning system.
This is the mechanism used by our brains to learn. It is also the same method employed by the mind in every situation. The subconscious mind has a tendency to emulate what it sees - it tends to replicate its environment. This is why so many people find themselves in similar relationships and situations that they saw their parents in while they were growing up. Most people also hold very strongly or similar views of their parents.
Think of a time when you gave yourself praise. What words did you use? Do you use the same words that your parents or peers used when they were praising you? The same is applicable when you scold yourself.
Watch your internal dialogue. Look at it closely. It takes diligence to change the way you think. When you notice yourself thinking a negative chose to think the opposite. This way you neutralise the negative thought. Now the think the positive thought again! You have just reversed the negative thinking in that moment and remember you only have this moment. No other time exists!
Daydream about what might be. Imagine things they way you wish them to be. If you catch yourself thinking "this is just a daydream - a fantasy" then stop! Think the opposite. It is not a daydream it is your reality. Now think it again.
By doing this simple procedure you will begin to retrain your subconscious mind to think positively and you will ultimately begin to consciously create a life that dreams are made of! personal development
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