Think different...Be different!

A couple of weeks ago I was at a year-end get together for the local high school girls lacrosse team and I was approached by a mom who asked me if I had heard the news. I hadn't. Well, it turns out the local boys lacrosse youth team (5/6th grade) won the year-end league championship tournament. Not necessarily GREAT news to me (I don't understand the point of 5/6 grade league championships) but, the good news was that this wasn't singularly THE news. THE NEWS was the team that won the championship was not an "A" team but instead a team that consisted of "A" AND "B" level players.

You see, it appears that, the adult leadership of this team or program decided to do things differently. They decided to just take the kids that signed up, make them a team and go play the season. And while I am sure they probably took a lot of heat for this decision, they went with it anyway. AND, it all turned out just fine.

I have heard a few people "qualify" the championship by saying the teams were re-seeded at the end of the year and this winning team was seeded in the lower tier of the tournament. But qualify it in any way you want. What I heard was this...all the kids played significantly during the season and in the championship game...the winning goal was scored by a kid who was relocating to CA at the end of the school year (what a great "going away present")...the kids had a ball! Am I missing something or is this what youth ball is ALL about? Or maybe better put...Is this what youth ball SHOULD be all about?

You see, IF what I have been told is accurate (and the story was confirmed by others), what qualification needs to be put on this success? It's not really about the championship. The championship just gave the team confirmation of what it already knew. They played hard, as a TEAM. They worked together, as a TEAM. They got better, as a TEAM. They were all individually required to give their best, for their TEAM. They won, as a TEAM.

The adult leadership on this team decided to THINK different (the rest of the program went the "A and B route"). More importantly, the adult leadership decided to BE different. And everything appears to have worked out just fine. And the kids (all of the kids) are better off for it. A big THANKS to the adult leadership because they realized that It's About the Kids...ALL of the kids.

Keep smiling!