Leading Winning Teams

9The Big Leap: Setback to Stardom

Get a Rainout

The famous movie Bull Durham reiterates the fatigue of a long baseball season, and on a long road trip, Crash Davis (played by Kevin Costner) states, “I can get us a rain out!” His fellow players are worn out and just need the slightest reprieve and a day off during the dog days of August.

The reality is that professional athletes—and those who are the best in the world at anything—are preparing to perform daily with practices and performances. And they have been at this torrid pace since they were 10 to 13 years old! Their talent was undeniable and so they were thrust into the limelight playing for the top teams and competing (or performing) for the best organizations. And when not on the rigid and demanding schedules of games or performances, the training remains a grind, with heavy workloads for continuous improvement.

That is, until an injury or break in our cycles of performance hinders us from competing. A setback occurs, and then what? Most athletes have never had six months off from playing in the last decade or two. And that becomes a major challenge as a spectrum of emotions are happening and flooding the brain.

Stardom

Several players have returned from injury and rose far above their projected potential. The setback proved to be the catalyst to increase the players' urgency and focus and gave them time to assess all that they were doing in the programs previously to get marked improvements. This made them stronger ...