Braves,
I hope you have all had a great time during this break. With
the extended time off I began reading the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck, who is
an important person in educational psychology, particularly over the past few
years. There is too much in the book to give a complete rundown here, but in my
reading a certain paragraph stood out to me which I felt was applicable to our
team.
“Billie Jean King says it’s all about what you want to look back
and say. I agree with her. You can look back and say, “I could have been…,”
polishing your unused endowments like trophies. Or you can look back and say,
“I gave my all for the things I valued.” Think about what you want to look back
and say.”
When she says “endowments” she means natural abilities. In
other words, we can look back on any facet of our lives and say “I could have
been… if only….” (I could have been a brain surgeon if I had wanted to) or we
can look back and say “I became a… because I gave my all…” (We became region
champions because we gave everything we had day in and day out). This is a
simplistic explanation, but the first response is said by those who are afraid
to try, for fear of trying and failing. For many of us it is a scary thought to
try as hard as we can, and still fail. Instead, it is easier to not try so if
we fail we have a built-in excuse (I could have won, but I didn’t try that
hard). The second response is said by those who habitually give everything they
have, without fear of failure, because they have an understanding that “failure”
isn’t what they are, rather, it is something that happens on the path to
improvement (e.g., I am a failure vs. I failed this time…). I hope that we can
understand that failure is not something we are, but something that happens. May
we always give our best effort each day recognizing that success is something
found through consistent effort, and not something that is given to us because
of our “endowments” (natural abilities).
We are excited for racing season to begin. Our first meet is
next weekend (1/5-6). I will give a better explanation on how to sign up in an
email later this week. Talk to your event coaches about what events to sign up
for.
We will practice this week as a team on Wednesday 12/27, and
Friday 12/29 at 8 AM. Your best bet is to enter the building on the third floor
back doors by the fieldhouse/tech center. Hope to see all of you there who are
in town. If you can’t make it, and on days we aren’t meeting, we strongly
encourage you to get out and run so that you don’t take a step back before we
get back next week.
Enjoy the remainder of the break!
Coach Jacobson
