As a coach for over 35 years, I have been fortunate to be part of many championships and champions being awarded their gold medal for winning a championship. That has always been an amazing and humbling experience. The hard work, the dedication, the sacrifices, and the determination that it takes to win a championship is not something that just happens because you show up on the mat, court, or field. Whether we are talking about everything that goes into preparing for the game, match, or season, or if we are sharing about the struggle to learn our multiplication facts in 3rd grade, or possibly we are talking about the hard work and effort displayed to earn a new position at work, the need to recognize the effort through celebration is all the same. But, what happens when you don't win the championship? Is there something to celebrate if you work your tail off and then someone else gets the promotion at work? How about the student that gets the 5's, 6's, and 7's mastered, but still needs to get those nasty old 8's and 9's multiplied out in their head? I believe there is celebration to be had in all of those places, it just needs to be authentic and realistic. Today we look at the fourth "C" in our Coach'em Up series, Celebration.
Everyone loves a winner. In competition that's why they have scoreboards to see who wins the match or game. The winner of the match gets his or her hand held high, and the champion gets to stand at the top position on the championship pedestal. In the classroom, we recognize the honor roll, the straight A list, and even the all A's & B's list, and at graduation the valedictorian is given the opportunity to impart words of wisdom on the class due to their academic success. In our relationships at home we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and milestone accomplishments throughout each year. And at the place where most of us spend a great deal of our waking hours, bonuses, promotions, and plaques of appreciation and success drive us to work harder and achieve more for our company or business. We achieve because we compete. We work hard because we want to excel. We sacrifice our time, our bodies, and our plans so that we can make it to the top of our game whatever area that may be. Everyone loves a winner.
But, what happens when your team doesn't make the championship run? You relentlessly give it all you got and you still come up short at the promotion table. Your efforts in class tact your stamina, and then at the end of the school year you've still got a "C" average on your final grade. How do we celebrate in those situations? How do we authentically celebrate when the score on the scoreboard clearly indicates that your team lost the set? The answer to that can be tricky. I'm definitely not a fan of the “everyone gets a trophy “mentality. If the goal is participation then sure award being present and breathing throughout the season. I believe there are ways to celebrate throughout a season of life whether you or your team win the championship or if at the completion of the season you have reached set goals that were created before the season began.
Setting goals gives us a target. In volleyball, I teach players to pick out a spot to serve to on the other side of the court and then hit the ball to that spot. I proceed to explain that otherwise you are just hitting a ball and hoping it goes somewhere, anywhere. Having a destination gives us a target, having a target gives us a goal, and working towards accomplishing that goal gives us a reason to celebrate as we progress towards reaching that goal. Setting individual goals as opposed to team only goals creates an opportunity for celebration regardless of the outcome on a scoreboard. So many times, dejection is the only associated emotion when a team loses the game. I get it, I compete to win, probably as hard if not harder than most people out there, but at the end of the day, winning is not my only goal in coaching. Progress towards achieving a personally set goal is really what I measure success by in my coaching/teaching.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.” We all enter a season expecting to win the championship. The amount of effort and time dedicated to that goal has a direct impact on the likelihood of reaching that type of goal. But when we don't reach the gold championship have we lost all reason to celebrate? Based on this scripture from Proverbs above the answer would be a resounding "NO". We set plans, we set a course to reach our plan/goal, then we execute in the most prepared way possible, and sometimes we still fall short of the goal of winning the championship. If we have set realistic individual goals then the celebration can still be authentic and intentional. Isn't the goal of any competition truly to get better at whatever it is you are competing? If we have done our job correctly as a coach or as a teacher (interchangeable) then each player, student, or member of our "team" should have short term and long term goals set and a plan on how to reach the goal and how to measure the success of the goal. Always, always, did I say always, keeping in mind that just because our plan is to win the state championship doesn't mean we are going to reach that goal, mainly because God has a plan and it may not include winning the championship at all. We just have to do our job, work as hard as possible, never give up on a goal, and learn to face adversity or affliction as opportunities to grow, and then keep pushing forward with those individual goals sitting in front of us!
Celebrate authentically and often!
Coach Carter
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