It’s that time of year again. The fall sports season kicks off this coming Monday. For me that means girls volleyball starts. I am the head coach for our local high school girls team, Penn Hills. One of the toughest parts of coaching, most would agree, is making cuts. Yes, Michael Jordan didn’t make the varsity as a sophomore in high school and the coach was even mentioned in Jordan’s Hall of Fame induction speech. I think my personal favorite “cut” story is when I didn’t make (i.e. “got cut”) from the Indiana University golf team. I had worked super hard all summer, played the two best rounds of my life, came in 4th out of 34 guys trying out, and got cut. Incidentally, they only took one, cut him, and then won the Big Ten title with two guys from Sweden on the team (I may have been in a bit over my head). However, I did not look at it as failure. I had done the hard work, I had done my best, I achieved to as high a level as I ever had, and it was not good enough…and that was good enough for me. I had feared failure my whole life up to that moment. Now, I had failed…and it was ok.
On the other hand, not everyone that I have cut has taken it as well. We don’t always have to cut but when we do there are usually tears and very often a phone call from mom/dad/angry boyfriend (true story)/etc. When my assistant Todd Holler was with me for the first time I decided to make cuts face to face with the girls. I figured if I was going to do this, I had to be man enough and give them the respect of telling them face to face and explaining why they were cut. Todd nearly died that day. Emotionally he was in shock and physically he nearly sweated to the point of dehydration. Perhaps it was a bit much for his first week with the program. I digress, yet giggle at the memory of how uncomfortable he was.
Last spring, I came up with a brilliant truth and shared it with the junior high girls team. I told them that all of them are gifted and created to do something special. However, for many of them, athletics may not be their area of giftedness. Beyond that, if they are athletic, volleyball may not be the best way to use said athleticism. I went on to explain that I had coached for 17 years and over 40 seasons and had a pretty good idea who was and who wasn’t gifted in the game of volleyball. Therefor, if you are not going to be special in volleyball, why spend hours upon hours playing it? A better use of your time would be somewhere else finding that something special for you. Therefor, if you don’t make the team I am just encouraging you to go find where you are special, wherever that is.
Isn’t that true of all of us? I suppose that now is the time where I tell you to channel your inner Jon Acuff and quit your job and start doing whatever gives you pleasure and maximizes your skill set. Yeah, I’m not going to do that just now. There are few of us who can just up and turn our lives around in a complete opposite direction. However, it is important (and is my encouragement today) for you to be doing SOMETHING with what you are gifted. If you are not sure where you are gifted, do something in your life that you are passionate about. If you don’t know passionate, go with what you enjoy. If you don’t know what you enjoy, give me call. You, my friend, are dangerously burned out.
As it is, there comes a freedom and relief that comes with just dipping your toe in the pool of perfect expression. Simply getting to participate in something that you are passionate about, if but for a moment, will release so much pent up frustration, stagnation, and even depression that the quality of the rest of your activities will rise. It doesn’t have to be a career change, nor an entire vacation, not even a long weekend, minutes a day or even week is a great start.