My wonderful fiance and I recently went to the Banff Film Festival together here at Princeton. For those who don't know what the Banff Film Festival is, you can check it out here. The films show people doing amazing things like climbing up steep mountains or mountain biking from Alaska to Argentina. The one film that I really found amazing was of two Australian men who decided they were going to kayak across the Tasman sea from Australia to New Zealand. To put this quickly into perspective: they kayaked over 3,300 km and it took them 62 days. They accomplished this feat unassisted. You can read more about their trip at their website Crossing the Ditch.
The story is amazing but the lesson behind it is even greater. The idea of kayaking over 3,300 km in the open sea, with huge wave, sharks, and other dangers is just crazy. It seems impossible. But we know that it isn't. Throughout this journey, the two Australians encountered a lot of physical and mental fatigue. They persevered through it which is a testament to their mental toughness and strength.
If two guys from Australia can kayak across the Tasman sea, then it certainly is possible for any high school hockey or football team to beat any other high school team. It is possible for the underdogs to go all the way to top.
Everyone seems to start out the season with the belief that they'll win a state championship - or at least that is how I was raised to start out my seasons. But after a few loses and discouraging performances, most teams decide they won't win the championship. They re-adjust to more "ascertainable goals" like winning the next three games or going .500. Only a minority of teams stay the course through the tests and trials. Some teams lose and get back up with the same determination to win, others don't. Why is this?
We can talk about winning all we want and how badly we want to see it happen. That's the easy part. If you really want to find out the true answer, ask someone in the middle of a conditioning workout. Only in the dumps do you really find out if the team has what it takes. And even then, it is hard to mimic the mental toll losing can take.
Mental strength > physical strength.....plain and simple.
So why don't we train that?
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