As I said in the only other post I’ve ever written about sports, I am not a sports fan. I never intended to write about sports again, but Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings is very persuasive when it comes to getting entries in his What I Learned From … group writing projects. So here’s another post on sports, an entry in What I Learned From … the World of Sports.
I certainly can’t write about my own experience playing sports. The only lesson I learned from PE classes in swimming, tennis, and bowling is that I’m no good at anything athletic.
So I’ll turn back to the San Antonio Spurs, our beloved hometown basketball team. I don’t remember exactly what year the franchise started in San Antonio, but I do recall that it held a contest to name the team. The teenage son of our next-door neighbor won with the name Spurs.
When the team won its fourth NBA championship in nine years last summer, I paid enough attention to learn some valuable lessons.
- Talent is important, but so is experience. The Spurs team has lots of talent, but having been in the championships before gave them an edge. Even imaginary experience can be helpful. Many successful people in sports, business, and just about any area of life have practiced and studied and visualized success for many years before achieving their goal.
- Teamwork is critical to success. None of us achieve success without lots of help. Every “self-made man” has someone who has helped him: a teacher who motivated him, family and friends who supported him, mentors who guided him. Although the Spurs have “The Big Three” star players, they would not have won with championship without the rest of the team doing their jobs effectively.
- Perseverance overcomes obstacles. We all face obstacles in life, and last year started off badly for the Spurs. However, they kept working and improving with every game until they won the championship. Many people want to give up when things aren’t going well, but often they would reach their goal if they didn’t quit.
- Nice guys don’t always finish last. The Spurs players are known for supporting the community and for avoiding the bad behavior that unfortunately is all too common among sports and entertainment stars. Nice matters, and we can be both successful and nice.
One more lesson: if I, a non-sports-fan, can learn these lessons from the world of sports, we can all learn from the world around us. We just have to pay attention.
[tags]What I Learned From, group writing project, sports, San Antonio Spurs[/tags]