Honoring Your Opponents

A few years ago I was asked to give the introductory speech at the pre-tournament dinner for the teams in the NCAA Women’s Softball World Series in Oklahoma City. . . There were teams there from Arizona, Michigan, Stanford, UCLA, etc. So, what can one say to players and coaches of that caliber that they haven’t heard many times already? Besides that they were busy talking to each other and waiting for their food to be served. Maybe I could get across one idea, one valid message, and do it briefly and succinctly. Anyway, we had to get on with the program - I entitled my short, “meaningful” contribution, Honoring Your Opponents, and began with this story:

I was coaching basketball at a small high school in Central Illinois. We had a very good team and we played anybody and everybody and always had at least a 75 percent winning percentage. However, when the state tournament began, we had to go through county playoffs against other small schools and some of these teams tended to be poor to awful in quality.

I recall one game when our kids started out running our offense beautifully. Our fast break was going well, our offense was smooth; we looked great. The other team, however, seemed to know very little about defense and every time one of our players should have been clear, driving around a screen and going in for a lay-up, one of the opponents who had lost his man was standing around clogging up my player's lane. Likewise, there didn't seem to be any pattern or structure to their offense.

Before long, my team lost its sparkle and excellence - our terrific fast break was slowed to a walk - and we reverted to “alley” basketball. We won the game, but that night we were not the team that had stood up against some of the best teams in the state. We played only a bit better than our opponents. Fortunately, as the tournaments went on we met better teams and we managed to regain our excellence. Just get that fact - It was because of their excellence that we regained our excellence.

The point of this story is that your challengers are much more than your opponents – these excellent players – these excellent teams are the co-creators of an environment which enables you - which actually forces you - to express your excellence.

What I want you to do right now is to honor those players – these teams - who are here to challenge you - it is because of their excellence that you play so well. So, make sure you give those guys you really want to beat, and beat soundly, the credit they deserve for you being here and taking you on at the ballpark this week.

I waited a while as they honored one another.

Then, I was smart enough to make a few more small statements, such as, “Good Luck and Have Fun.” and let the program move on. I wasn’t doused with a bucket of Gatorade but I wasn’t booed off the podium, either. Fortunately, I’m not the only person carrying this message. Michael Jordan was complimented on his and the Bulls’ excellent performance in the league championship game and he said very clearly that part of this excellence could be credited to their opponents who demanded that he and his teammates play that well in order to win - in order to beat another excellent, dedicated team.

It's essential that we, as Coaches and Parents, teach our players and other supporters to have the utmost respect for our opponents - to honor them for their contributions. The only thing that enables us to express our excellence as coaches, players, and fans is an adversary who demands this excellence from us by competing with us at its highest level.