SUNDAY PLAYBOOK

This is a familiar scene for an athlete: your team is on the road facing a close rival. You want to win. Losing is not an option. The opposing team marches out in unison to the throbbing beat of a (usually) rock or a hip-hop song. The crowd is picking up on the intensity, standing and yelling at the top of their lungs. Your energy is barely restrained during the national anthem. Then, at last, the contest begins. Here is your chance for victory. Here is your chance to prove that your training and preparation is superior to that of your rival. So, the gun is fired, the beeper beeps, the whistle blows, or the ball is put into play. You experience the physical and emotional rollercoaster of intercollegiate athletics. You were certain of victory! This time, however, it does not quite work out that way. You must stand and watch the other team celebrate. Let's face it, it hurts. What do you do?

We do what we must! We do what is right! We maintain our dignity. If you wish, you can find a great number of quotes linking moral strength and integrity to the ability to maintain one's composure and dignity in stressful situations. Athletics can be fun, but in pressure situations it can indeed be stressful. 

From our perspective, it is dignity that earns respect from our opponents. In defeat, it grants us the clear-headed resolve needed to recover from the event and to increase our chances of winning the next time. In victory, dignity helps us to be gracious with our success. We know how the other team must feel and we do not wish to give them even more incentive to reverse the result the next time we meet. Further, it is our dignity and the moral strength to maintain it that helps us to both identify and change the factors that are holding us back. It helps us to focus on the things that we can control ourselves and not the external factors that we cannot (weather, officials, pool temperature, etc). 

Dignity is not always easy, but we consider it to be essential to our success. There are abundant examples of people from all walks of life who have famously "lost it." There are many more examples of people who maintain their dignity in even the toughest conditions. Think about it. The next time the action heats up, which path will you choose?
 
 
The question lingers...
Are You Inside The L?
 
Joseph Hannah, Ph.D.
Swimming and Diving Head Coach