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As a grandparent, one of my official duties is attending all Little League games, ballet recitals, Christmas concerts, and graduations. It's a full-time job! I spend a lot of time in the audience watching other people, which can be quite an education.
My twin grandsons played baseball this Spring. They had a great coach who taught them skills while also making the experience fun. He didn't stress out over bad calls or when the team lost a game. But there were two teams in the league we simply could not beat.
One of the two was the first-place team. They didn't lose a game all season. The problem with that team was the coach's son. He was loud, arrogant, and obnoxious. He would ridicule his opponents and mock them when they were losing. For some unexplained reason, his dad never stopped him. The parents watching the games were increasingly put off by the sorry display. To make matters worse, it was a church league!
Then came the playoffs. Our first opponent was the second-best team, the other team we'd never beaten. The kids did OK. They didn't hit any towering home runs or make any double plays. They had a few errors that kept the game flip-flopping back and forth. What impressed me was our team's attitude. They had experienced enough adversity and loss during the season that they were accustomed to it. It didn't devastate them. When kids struck out or missed a catch, no one criticized them. When the umpire made a bad call, the kids just ran back on to the field and got ready for the next inning. When the dust settled, our team had won its first game against a team they had never beaten in the regular season. On to game two.
We had beaten the second team we played during the regular season, but they entered the playoff game with a renewed resolve to beat us this time. Our team went from underdog to favorite. Both positions carry unique pressures. Once again, we came out on top. We were going to the finals!
At an adjacent ball diamond, something unusual was unfolding. There was one team that had lost every game during the regular season.
Miraculously, they won their first game all season in the first round of the playoffs. That victory gave them the privilege of playing against the best team in the league, a team that had destroyed them twice during the regular season.
During that game, the unthinkable happened. The team that had never won started beating the undefeated team!
Word spread around the various baseball diamonds. Everyone wanted the underdogs to win. Or, perhaps more accurately, everyone wanted the arrogant team to lose.
The coach's son was the pitcher. He was having what we call in the South a "come apart"! The umpire would call a ball, and the pitcher would become agitated and loudly complain. The top team made a valiant comeback in the final inning, putting the tying and winning runs on base. But alas, they fell just short. Parents from the other teams were ecstatic, cheering for the underdog team that had just defeated Goliath!
Part of what makes Little League so much fun is that anything can happen. The arrogant, undefeated team often goes on to win the championship. But sometimes an upset occurs. Players rise to previously unknown heights and play a game for the ages.
What struck me was that the team that waltzed through the regular season without serious challenge fell apart as soon as it faced adversity. The team that experienced difficulty every game all season was unphased when they encountered it in the playoffs.
The same scenario often unfolds in professional leagues. The team that finishes highest in the standings doesn't always do as well in the playoffs. Sometimes the pathway to the games that matter is too easy. Easy challenges don't build character, grit, or perseverance.
In fact, you typically don't learn all that much when you win. Losses, however, can provide a goldmine of important lessons.
In the end, it didn't matter that one team had an undefeated record in the regular season, because they never made it to the finals. It also didn't matter that the other team never won in the regular season, because they got to play in the championship game. We do well to realize that much of life is the regular season. You win some and you lose some. But if you don't experience adversity, it's hard to grow and improve. Some of my greatest growth has come on the heels of my most painful experiences. At times, I have lost the game but become a better person on the other side.
The final game was a lot of fun, even if my fingernails were the worse for the wear afterward. The other team had found a good pitcher, and we weren't getting many hits.
But what we had, we made count. Going into the last inning, we were losing 4-2. The Cinderella team was one inning from a most unlikely finish: No victories in the regular season; no losses in the playoffs. But then our little team dug deep. We scored three runs without hitting the ball out of the infield. Now we had the bottom of the inning to prevent our opponents from scoring a run. It was tense! They got the tying run on base. He made it to third. A runner was going to first base. The throw came into home. The catcher (one of my grandsons) caught the throw, flung himself into the path of the tying run, and got him out. The last batter struck out. We won, 5-4.
Both teams were very nice. Some of the opponents' parents sat in our part of the stands to visit with the parents and grandparents of our players. No tempers were lost. No accusations were levelled against the umpire. Both teams met at the infield and prayed together. Two groups of kids were learning about doing their best, growing through adversity, and having fun as a team. I was proud of both teams. Neither of them had expected to play in the finals. But on that magical day, they had.
Everyone wants to be on the top-ranked, undefeated team. But playing for a team that never loses can breed hubris and shallow character. True character is forged when you lose, but you encourage your teammates and stop to get ice cream with your family on your way home.
If you have recently experienced failure, don't be discouraged! You may still be in the regular season. Grow from your experience. Embrace humility. Remember, it's not all about you. Learn to be a team player. And grow. When the playoffs roll around, you may be a better, more mature person who is undaunted by adversity, for you have already experienced it many times before.
 | Richard Blackaby is the president of Blackaby Ministries International and lives in Georgia. He travels internationally speaking on spiritual leadership in the home, church, and marketplace as well as on spiritual awakening, experiencing God, and the Christian life. Richard regularly ministers to Christian CEOs and business leaders. He has written or co-authored 33 books . This article was first published on RichardBlackaby.com. Used with permission from Blackaby Ministries International. Learn More » |
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