YOUR GAME IS NOT BASED ON YOUR OPPONENT'S SKILL LEVEL

When a team plays poorly against an opponent of less talent, we often hear the phrase, “We played down to their ability!”  Everytime I hear this comment it annoys me.  Our ability to perform at our best is not a condition of the skill level of our opponent. What we become in life depends on choice, not conditions.  We must understand that whether our opponent has little or great skills, we are faced with a decision; whether to play at our best…or not!

Anson Dorrance, Coach of the legendary University of North Carolina girls soccer program, addresses this problem by setting the goal of trying to play the perfect soccer game.  It is not about the opponent, but about his team’s ability to execute the fundamentals of the game to the highest possible degree.  At UCLA, legendary Coach John Wooden never scouted his opponents because…it was not about the opponent, but about his team’s ability to execute the fundamentals of the game to the highest possible degree.

Today, no every day, I encourage you to recognize that what you become in life depends, not on conditions, but on decisions…choices.  Are your goals based on, and subsequently driven by, your opponents?  Or are you driven by the idea of “playing the perfect game” in spite of whatever challenges you face along the way?  Life IS about choices, so I encourage you to choose to execute the fundamentals of the game to the highest possible degree.

(Thanks Gary Rupert)