First Step in Becoming a Winner: Act Like One

I read this essay from the NYT called "First Step in Becoming a Winner: Act Like One" and fell in love with the message even before finishing it this weekend. I took some time and read it to my girls and discussed it a bit as well, taking some time to try to get some piece of it to sink in.

"Fake it until you make it" is perhaps one of the best pieces of advice we can give each other and to our teams. I absolutely love that Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith's routine included regular meditation sessions in the locker room where they "visualized bigger, stronger players in hostile arenas."

I remember being in art school and a teacher told me to simply start acting like I was a professional graphic artist and the rest would come. It worked seemingly overnight. My attitude changed and my career was launched with little else than the belief that I belonged and the hard work to make it happen.

While confidence is important at all levels of sports (and life!), I am starting to really believe that in youth sports in particular, kids can move mountains simply by believing in themselves and going from there.

It's something I will start to work on immediately with my teams!

Also in this weekend's paper, there was another feature article named "Allonzo Trier Is in the Game," which ultimately takes a \hard look at our culture and our obsession with "going pro" and cashing out in sports.

Look, I understand dedicating your life to something and putting the work in to get there. But at 12 or 13 years old, haven't we as parents and society learned our lessons yet? It's just too early. I worry less about Allonzo and more about the vast majority of those kids who have lots of talent, but come up just short. What will happen to them? Are they getting the right lessons as a child or are they being fed into a meat grinder only to be left on the outside if they can't make it in the pros?