When faced with a situation that is less than ideal – a disruptive classroom, a challenging timetable, a coach with a different style, a team that is short on talent and ability or a slacker blogger who only posts once per month – student-athletes can choose to remedy the situation or wallow in the status quo until it worsens. The perceptive individual separates the domains that they can control from those that they cannot and focuses solely on the latter.
The outcome may be out of their hands but they can always change the process. Don’t wait for a sudden change but take small steps towards improving the process and steering it towards a better outcome.
Self-Evaluate: Are you following the drill instructions correctly? Are your habits interfering with the goal of the drill? Are you developing the skills and performance factors that the drill focuses upon? Are you making teammates better? Are you paying attention to the details? Are you making daily progress towards your long-term goals?
A drill must be performed at game intensity and game quality. If you can’t dribble the ball at fullspeed or stay in a defensive stance for more than a stride and a half, it’s a waste of time. Cutting a drill short, even if it is just in warm-ups, is unrealistic because games are meant to be contested until the final buzzer.
Ask Questions: Are you performing the drill to the team’s standards? Can a teammate give you specific non-judgmental feedback? Could you ask a referee to explain their call if you are frustrated? Is there another observer in the gym who could provide a suggestion? Is there anything about the lesson that you do not understand? Is there another method to solve this problem?
Players who have succeeded in the N.B.A. and succeeded over the years are those with work ethic, who are diligently looking for ways to get better, even if it is just a little thing. Talent garners an invitation but hard work allows one to stay at the party. Grant Hill, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are veterans who far outlasted some of their short0sighted 1990s peers and received new contracts this past summer. Even Juwan Howard may remain in the league for another season because of the professionalism he acquired and began to display over the course of his career.
Take Initiative: Is there extra work that can help you catch up on what you missed? Can you read or prepare for the next class in order to get ahead? Have you noticed something that the team should try? Can you (or do you know anyone who can) volunteer to help the team? Are you attending regularly, arriving early and staying late in order to honour your commitment? Have you been keeping your head up? Can you add more energy to the team’s effort? If the situation isn’t satisfactory, don’t wait until it’s over to address it. Complaining is almost the antithesis of skill development (smartphone browsing would be the total polar opposite of practice) so choose carefully what you devote your time towards. Quitting during drills after the first hard repetition or when the coach is at the other hand of the gym is a waste of time. Even brief game situations are opportunities; the scoreboard can define the situation for you or you can define it for yourself.
As The Tragically Hip said in the song Courage (for Hugh McLennan):
So there’s no simple explanation
for anything important any of us do
and yeah the human tragedy
consists in the necessity
of living with the consequences
Student-athletes who achieve their goals are accountable to themselves, first of all, because that is the one person in the class or on the team that they can entirely control. You’ve made this class or sport something important in your life and you will be the sole person who lives with the consequences.