Failure in Sports

My gut says that if you subscribe to our emails, then sports have played and continue to play a large role in your life.

Failure in Sports

This is certainly true for me. I loved playing sports growing up, and I love being involved in sports to this day. I love coaching. I love playing. I love training athletes. Overall, I just love being a part of a team, working towards a common goal, and growing in the process. I am interested understanding and implementing the elements that lead to success both as a team and individual.

As I've grown and made conscious decisions to choose a career surrounding athletics, I would often question what drove me to wanting to be around sports so much. At times it may have felt a bit childish to build a career around a game; however, the more time I spend in sports the more conviction I hold in the importance of athletics. Sports are about so much more than just the game on the field.

We learn invaluable lessons through the dynamics in sport at an early age that are hard to embody elsewhere. We learn how to work with others towards a common goal. We learn how to take feedback. We learn the value of hard work and of putting the team before ourselves. We also learn how to put ourselves out there and go for something that we want knowing there is a risk of public failure. 

Recently, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo answered a reporters question about whether their season was a failure after losing their series 4-1 to the Heat in the NBA playoffs. You can see his response here:

Personally, I love this message. I have lost more championships than I've won. If you define success solely as winning a championship, then the likelihood of "failure" is quite high. Only one team each year ends with a successful season by that standard, but that certainly does not mean the other teams are all failures. While winning is a great goal, it should not be the only barometer of success.  You can look to other indicators of a successful season like:

• How has the team grown throughout the year?
• What adversity have you overcome?
• Did you achieve beyond your potential?
• Are you able to learn from the season?

Our competitive nature often drives us to think winning is everything, but there is so much more to sports than just that. Winning is one of the things, and still an important thing, but we become better teammates, partners, family members, friends, and ultimately better people through how we manage the ups and downs of a sport. 

- Coach DUNN

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