91猫先生

From the desk of Wally Dawkins, Athletic Director:

My high school coach looked at me and, as serious as he could be, told me something that I have never forgotten. It had to do with how you act when you lose.

I was assuming that the coach was referring to losing an athletic contest, like a basketball game, tennis match or on the softball diamond. But he was also talking about the game of life鈥�and the games of life.

I would like to tell you that I have never lost a game, but that would be untrue.

I would also like to tell you that as a high school varsity basketball coach, I have won 702 games in 33 years as a head coach. That is true! (if you include the two years where I coached varsity girls鈥� basketball along with the boy鈥檚 team).

What I will not tell you is how many games I also lost. There are two reasons why I will not tell you how many games ended up on the losing side of the scoreboard. First of all, I really didn鈥檛 keep up with the number of losses as I did the 鈥淲鈥檚鈥�. Secondly鈥�I lost a lot of games, and I don鈥檛 really want you to know how many.

I do know this: If you are involved in competition of any kind, over any period of time, if you play long enough鈥�you will lose.

I still believe that not only was Michael Jordan one of the best athletes of all time, and certainly in my book the best basketball player ever,聽he still lost. “Air Jordan” won six NBA Championships but also got beat hundreds of times. The most skilled, super athletic, talented, and smart Michael Jordan was cut from his JV Basketball Team as a high school sophomore.

We probably don鈥檛 think much about the star of Space Jams being a loser, or having to deal with losses, since he won so much. But even the man who wears six Championship rings because of all the wins he and his team amassed, fell short hundreds of times.

Not long ago, I listened to a coach whose team had just lost in a collegiate National Championship Game. He referred back to his meeting with members of the media after the heart breaking loss.

He was answering a question from a reporter concerning his ability to be calm and congratulatory to his opponent, even after the gut wrenching, last second defeat for the national title.

鈥淵ou know鈥� he replied, 鈥淚 learned long ago that after a win, you want to go to the press conference to relish the victory and answer questions about the game and your team. But I also learned and equally important, was that you had to attend the post-game press conference after a tough loss, to show people that you knew how to lose with class and dignity.鈥�

Wouldn鈥檛 it be great that all of us, when we lost, could show class and dignity?

Wouldn鈥檛 it be awesome, that when the contest was over, we could still be gracious and conciliatory?

How much different would it be, if even after the 鈥渁gony of defeat,鈥� that we could still maintain our composure and conduct ourselves in a manner that reflected good sportsmanship and self-discipline?

I can hear you saying right now, “Impossible鈥�.

I鈥檓 saying, “ART FORM!”

Learning how to lose is basically an 鈥渁rt form鈥�. It actually takes practice. It takes experience (which I have unfortunately). It takes learning from the times that we acted like an idiot, or a sore loser, and we were embarrassed so badly by our own behavior, that we don鈥檛 want to ever act that way again.

As a 91猫先生 coach, it is my duty, and the duty of the BH Coaching Staff, to teach our athletes how to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. We take seriously how our players react after disappointment鈥�and learning from the mistake of reacting the wrong way.

As a Christian, I lose little battles everyday. I fall short in my actions, my attitude, what I say and what I think. But because of Jesus Christ and His Grace, in the end鈥�I will win. We all win!

Now, I must be honest. I hate to lose. Losing keeps me up at night. As the line in the Ole Coach Joke book says, 鈥淟osin鈥� is worse than dyin鈥欌��cause you have to live with losin鈥�.鈥�

It really hurts to lose, to fall short or to be disappointed that we did not win. How we react to losing however, may or may not tell people more about us than we really want them to know.

So I have never forgotten these words of my high school coach. A coach who was extremely successful at the college level, working with Olympic programs and not to mention his ability to motivate and mentor high school students.

鈥淵ou have to know how to lose before you can appreciate winning,鈥� he noted.

Wise words for all of us.

And that鈥檚 another reason to be 鈥淎LL ORANGE鈥�All The Time!鈥�