My Two Cents: Wax On, Wax Off
“If you want to win, you’ve got to take what’s yours!”
I didn’t get the full meaning of this, the first time that I heard coach say it. And I really didn’t get at all how it would impact my life.
I remember, coach laying out what he expected of us. He was used to winning. He was accustomed to success, and his strategy was to transfer that experience to his players.
“If you want to win, you’ve got to take what’s yours!”
Running sprints or “suicides” as we called them, became part of our everyday life. This drill was designed to maximize your conditioning and instill discipline. Everyone was required to go all out and there would be no exceptions.
Everyday, every practice, that whistle would blow and coach would start yelling:
“If you want to win, you’ve got to take what’s yours!”
That drill went on and on for what seemed like forever; everyday, at every practice, we would run and run and run. And just when we knew we couldn’t run anymore, that whistle would blow – again -- and we would be expected to keep running.
“Suicides” became the core of our preparation and our work on the court; and after a while we were conditioned machines.
When it was game time, we were ready! We were ready to get on the court and play ALL OUT, from beginning to end. Fourth quarter would come and the opposing team would fall back but we would take a deep breath and blow right by them.
Consider that, in the game of your life, you have got to be prepared. You have got to do the work! You’ve got to do the daily, sometimes tedious, stuff that will discipline you and condition you for success.
Trying to be successful in any game you play, without doing the work, without practicing the fundamentals, without the discipline, without the commitment, without the sacrifice -- it’s just not going to happen!
You’ve got to take what’s yours!
Today, I have memories of coach shouting and now I know exactly what he meant, and I’ve gotten the benefit of that wisdom -- that discipline and doing the work, is a critical part of –
what it takes to win.
That’s my two cents (for whatever it’s worth),
Auguste Roc
auguste@danaroc.com
