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Using Poor Performance to Inspire Greatness

June 17, 2008 on 5:23 pm | In Uncategorized |

This past weekend one of our 16U girls’ water polo teams started the tournament with a poor performance that ended in a loss. We lost to a team that we all felt that we were stronger than, and we did it in sloppy, disconnected fashion. What’s more is that the stakes of the game were high, in that if we had won we would have qualified for the national championships. Immediately that loss put us in a position where we had to win our next game or go home without qualifying, our goal for the weekend.

 It’s easy to say “We should have beat them,” or “We’re better than them,” much easier than actually winning all the games that you think you “should” win. We play the games because there really is no “should”, there is only the opportunity to make something happen. If the formula were as easy as who can swim faster, who can throw harder, who knows more moves, there would be no point for the actual competitions. So how do we respond when we feel we missed an opportunity? We take the next one that comes along and meet it dead on.

 The 16U team did just that this past weekend, it took the opportunity at hand. In what was likely one of the biggest wins of any team over the entire tournament, our 16U team beat (and sent home) the team that placed 3rd at the same tournament last summer. The win extended the tournament for us and put us in a good position to claim the final qualifying spot. The game was won by using the frustration stemming from the earlier loss as motivation and energy. Every member of the group made sure to not make the same mistakes they had made in the previous game, using that desire to prove their skills as fuel for the fire. It’s one thing to say “We played poorly,” then quite another to prove just how good you can be. But the team got it done, and in the end we qualified for the national tournament.

 The main thing is to realize that mistakes will be made; as athletes we are all human and may not always do things just how we know we can. But to learn to respond to that and to use the mistakes and the frustration to make adjustments for the next round is crucial. Though it made the weekend more stressful, I’m glad that we lost that first game. Losing that game forced us to pull together more as a group, to really bear down and focus on our goals. Next time we won’t wait until our backs are up against the wall, we’ll take care of things the first time around.