I heard Beth Torina from LSU on the “In the Circle” podcast talking about her team and she made a very powerful statement:
“We want our team to get used to doing hard things!”
Let that sink in for a minute because it deserves a little thought. Has ever a more fitting thing been said about the game of fastpitch softball? I doubt it!
This game in and of itself is very difficult. Each player faces a long list of challenges during the course of every game they play. Every pitch, every swing and every play can range from pretty routine to very difficult and that variance is a big part of what makes our game so hard. And we’re just talking about the process of playing the game, at any level.
Torina is talking about her team striving to win a national championship and the challenges they will face along the way. Every team chasing a championship knows there are many hurdles to be overcome. For LSU, they challenged themselves by playing an historically hard schedule. Seeking out the toughest competition at every turn has challenged this team but appears to have set them on a path for potential greatness down the stretch.
We should all strive to challenge our teams and ourselves to do the hard things!
Come on, you know that an easy accomplishment isn’t nearly as fulfilling as overcoming long odds and doing something many people can’t do. How do we know what amazing feels like? We have to challenge ourselves with things that seem impossible. That’s where the magic lives!
