Do You Have It?

Each day at the GCCC girls practice, Coach Hicks sarcastically asks his players whether they are “basketball players” or “just girls that love to play basketball.” His intent is to motivate them by making them feel like they are either 100% Ballers or they are just pretending to be… which of course is an insult to a scholarship player. He’s pushing them to see who has passion and who doesn’t.

Passion is the one ingredient that can turn an average player into a good player. I saw what it did for Liz’ game. For being undersized (4ft-10in), she often held her own on the court because she played (and practiced) with tremendous passion.

There are few words that can adequately describe what passion is. Passion isn’t really an emotion as much as it is an overpowering personality all its own. Only those that have passion know its joys (as well as its burdens).

Throughout history there have been many people that became famous because of their passion for something. Their fame came only from a passion that drove them beyond the limits of mere mortals. Explosions and blindness couldn’t stop Albert Einstein or Helen Keller.

In the sports world, a player with passion can inspire their teammates to achieve far more than they would have without them. Not making his high school varsity basketball team drove Michael Jordan to workout twice as hard as he did before. That contagious passion helped lead his Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.

How many of you remember the movie “Rudy” and how his passion for football inspired his teammates? He’s still the only player in the history of Notre Dame football to ever be carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates. Each of these people possessed a passion to accomplish something. It was often that their frustrations brought even more determination to their endeavors…oh yes…the power of passion is incredible.

Think about it - whenever you interact with someone who is energetic and passionate in sports or even in a store or a restaurant or a business, doesn't it impress you? When you experience the opposite of that (total lack of passion) doesn't it make a negative impression?

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