Chance Favors Those Who Persist
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My son, Max, has been playing soccer since he was 5 years old.
Over the years, I’ve watched him and half a dozen buddies grow up, playing together on rec teams, club teams and school teams.
Their teams have generally been pretty good. Part of their success, I’m convinced, is how long they’ve been playing together. They know each other so well, and that makes them tough to beat.
And this year—Max’s senior year—they took it all the way.
***
By the end of the season, the Cohasset High School men’s soccer team was seeded first in their division.
They won the quarter finals, which had been the team’s curse for the last few years.
Next stop, a team called East Boston for the semis.
The East Boston game is close, much closer than any of us parents would like. But Max’s team plays hard. One element of their secret sauce is they play until the very end of the game. The last few seconds are just as important as the first.
And they won. In double overtime, 2-1.
We’re going to the state finals.
***
I’ll digress here to tell you how much this means to these kids. If you’ve never asked a successful student athlete what it’s like to win a state championship, you should.
These high schoolers are some of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever met, and the work they are willing to put in….the sacrifices they’re willing to make….there are lessons there for all of us.
So, state finals. We’re playing Lynnfield, the defending state champions.
Things get intense, and I’m talking about the parents on the sidelines. I feel an overwhelming need for this team to win the game.
If there’s any justice in the world, it seems like the only possible outcome. If they lose, the sky isn’t blue.
The other team is the better team overall, I’m certain of it.
But not that day.
My son gets hit within the first 20 minutes and limps off the field. He doesn’t return for the rest of the game (he’s fine now though).
Cohasset is down 2-1. This team is definitely better than us.
We tie it up at 2-2 with 3 minutes to go.
Once again, it’s down to the wire. We score goal #3 with 30 seconds left to make it 3-2.
Lynnfield takes one last shot on goal—and they miss.
Cohasset wins the Division 4 state championship for Massachusetts.
The place goes bananas.
Later, the fire engines in our town blare their sirens to celebrate.
There’s a police escort, and a banquet, and the kids are carrying this state trophy everywhere.
It’s a HUGE deal.
(You can see photos from their victory here.)
***
So, why am I telling you this story?
Aside from being a proud dad (which I very much am) who wants to celebrate my kid a little, it’s because of what I saw in that team.
It’s what some of the parents and kids from Lynnfield told me after the match.
“You wanted to win more than we did,” they said. “It made you unbeatable.”
When I asked my son’s teammates if they were nervous, they replied. “No. We always had faith that we’d win.”
That balance of desire to win, plus the ability to get results through the thousands of hours they had put in practicing together over so many years, was a winning combination.
In business, not just on the soccer field.
Success comes from belief in yourself, with the skills to back it up.
If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll fall short of your potential.
If you don’t put in the reps to build your skills, you won’t have enough potential to begin with.
Practice hard. Then compete.
You won’t come out on top in every match. But if you keep playing, you’ll win more than you lose.
