The pain of losing
Basketball season has only just begun and teams have already started to rollercoaster. Norphlet's girls suffered through an 0-3 start, playing sporadically with about a game a week. Finally, the Lady Leopards got to play back-to-back games, winning two before falling in the finals of Magnolia's tournament Saturday.
Parkers Chapel jumped out to a 6-0 start but has dropped two of its last three, including one to Norphlet after handing the Lady Leopards their first two losses of the season.
El Dorado and Strong seem to be steady Eddie and congratulations to Henry Harrell at Junction City for their 2-1 start to the season. I'm not really feeling Smackover, right now. Hopefully, the Lady Bucks will get better.
So, what does all this mean for the season?
Nothing.
Who you beat and who you lose to in November and December mean nothing at the end of the year. The only thing that matters is how those early-season wins and losses help you later on.
He won't admit it, but I still firmly believe former Union coach Gary Don Smith lost a game on purpose in the SAU Tournament just to get his team's attention. Like I said, he would never admit it because coaches are paid to win games, not lose them.
But, he had said his girls were starting to think they were pretty darn good and were getting hard to coach. The Lady Cyclones lost to a team that shouldn't have beaten them, nearly self-destructed in the next practice.
That team went on to play in the state finals.
I tell this story because losses in December should make a team desperate not for the taste of victory but to avoid the bitter losses. In the end, I still think the best motivation isn't the promise of victory but the pain of a loss.
Losing hurts. Once it happens, you never want it to happen again.
Basketball is a long, grueling season. All these teams will win again and most will lose again, too. It's not who you beat or who beats you, but how you handle it that matters.
At the end of the season, the team that hates to lose the most will usually win.
Parkers Chapel jumped out to a 6-0 start but has dropped two of its last three, including one to Norphlet after handing the Lady Leopards their first two losses of the season.
El Dorado and Strong seem to be steady Eddie and congratulations to Henry Harrell at Junction City for their 2-1 start to the season. I'm not really feeling Smackover, right now. Hopefully, the Lady Bucks will get better.
So, what does all this mean for the season?
Nothing.
Who you beat and who you lose to in November and December mean nothing at the end of the year. The only thing that matters is how those early-season wins and losses help you later on.
He won't admit it, but I still firmly believe former Union coach Gary Don Smith lost a game on purpose in the SAU Tournament just to get his team's attention. Like I said, he would never admit it because coaches are paid to win games, not lose them.
But, he had said his girls were starting to think they were pretty darn good and were getting hard to coach. The Lady Cyclones lost to a team that shouldn't have beaten them, nearly self-destructed in the next practice.
That team went on to play in the state finals.
I tell this story because losses in December should make a team desperate not for the taste of victory but to avoid the bitter losses. In the end, I still think the best motivation isn't the promise of victory but the pain of a loss.
Losing hurts. Once it happens, you never want it to happen again.
Basketball is a long, grueling season. All these teams will win again and most will lose again, too. It's not who you beat or who beats you, but how you handle it that matters.
At the end of the season, the team that hates to lose the most will usually win.
posted by Tony at
7:55 AM
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