“Every time that I feel like I am falling…”
DATELINE: The Color Of Life
“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”
~Goethe
The final act of the play that we call sports is not the winning touchdown.
The final act is not the checkered flag. It is not 00:00 on the game clock.
The final act, most of you never see.
The final act of this play is a whisper.
It is silence.
It is listening.
The final act, is a head nod.
A deep breath.
A head bowed.
The final act is always done away from the cameras, away from the confetti, away from the game itself.
The final act transcends all that.
The curtain call to this play is the call home.
“…you give my life meaning…”
He paced up and down a small patch of concrete.
Dozens of anglers passed him; he noticed none.
Head down, he never saw the sunset behind him. A quick lean against a tree, a minute or two sit on the curb, but back up right away.
Seagulls overhead, ducks floating in the bay – all paid a never no mind.
And then he stops, suddenly turns to the Van Gogh painting in the sky, nods head, silence, nods head, silence, and then if you watch closely, his shoulders droop, his body relaxes, and he stands immobile for the first time in 5 minutes. If we humans could see these things, we could watch the tension flow out of his body.
The void is filled with inner peace.
“She told me she is so proud of me.”
And with that, for competitor Dan Miguel of Toronto, the Team Championship curtain comes down.
Dan just called home.
“…so I carry on and…”
You will know where the wives and the significant others sit, if you follow the athletes’ eyes.
The first look is never straight up to the heavens, the first look is always toward the box seats.
Those of us with the Press Pass hanging around our necks can get to a bunch of places during and after the game, but one place is off-limits. One place is sacred. That place is where athletes and family meet for the first time after the game.
There is no Press Pass for that, nor should there be.
When the Bassmaster Classic winner walks off the stage they walk down a long hall to a room where their family is waiting for them…and the door to that room is always locked for a few minutes.
Away from everyone – out on the water as they wait to dock, before anyone can get to them, the phones come out, the calls are made.
“I’m okay.”
“I’m safe.”
And then, silence…
“I told my wife Steph I came in 88th place … 88th place, and you know what she told me, you know what Steph said…”
Dan and Steph have been married for a year and a half. She is back home in Toronto where she works as a Public Health Nurse.
“…she said great, GREAT, she said out of 197 boats I did better than average, better than average.”
I didn’t know what she said but I knew when Dan’s shoulders dropped that whomever was on the other end of the call had said the right thing.
“What Steph said 100 percent made me feel amazing, she told me to be proud – be proud of what I accomplished to be here, be proud of what I did when I got here…”
Hey Steph…props to you, lady, props to you.
“…when I am weak…”
Encouragement is not weakness.
Encouragement is not the word equivalent of a Participation Trophy.
Encouragement.
Smack dab in the middle of that word, encouragement, you find courage.
Courage to help others, to put others before yourself.
Lack of this courage hurts others.
Have the courage to support others.
I saw Dan make the call home, I saw Dan end the call home. The Dan who called was not the Dan who ended it.
Encouragement leads to success, lack of it leads to failure.
“Steph believes in me, you know.”
Yes, I do.
And when others believe in you, it is much easier to believe in yourself as well.
I call home, too.
Many times I just listen, nod, walk around the hotel room. Just listen.
Barb is my wife, my lover, my friend…my coach.
Success for me began when I called home and we talked about the win, and not the losses.
Success came with positive conversations.
When the haters come, it is the lovers who blanket me with their courage to encourage me to go on.
Watch the eyes of the athletes.
When they point toward the crowd it is a salute to encouragement…
“When I talk with Steph after a tournament it makes me feel good, talking to her makes me feel good, makes it sort of all worth it.”
…a salute, to love.
“…I can hear your voice calling”.
Carry Me Home
Ronan Tynan
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
~Leo Buscaglia