Never underestimate the power of belief.
Belief can overcome a lot of things.
It can overpower strength.
It can outrun speed.
It can outperform talent.
In the micro it is but a flash in the thought process, but in the macro, it divides, conquers, and kills.
Religions are based on belief.
Governments are based on beliefs.
Even science, supposedly the most clinical arena of all, is based on certain beliefs, not facts.
You know what?
I believe they are ALL full of shit.
You were born with just as much knowledge of survival on planet Earth as they were.
Anything that divides, conquers or kills I believe to be anathema to a critical thinker.
Here’s a good example of belief.
I was coaching a girls’ youth soccer team and although it was only our fifth-year in the league, we were the surprising co-leaders in the standings at the season’s halfway mark.
Everyone was shocked.
Everyone but me.
I believed.
I know we were coming off three last-place finishes before I inherited the team by default, when their coach quit before the season began.
But I also knew the intense training I put the girls through to prepare for the season. They were in great shape and could run all day long without getting winded.
I was the only manager in the league who had any actual European game experience, so my arrogance led me to believe we held a “schematic advantage” over the other teams.
The team we shared the lead with were the perennial champions of the league and regular participants in the state tournament, having won it only three years ago.
They just so happened to be playing a match at a local high school field, so I decided to stop in and catch a few minutes of it before heading home from work. I saw them as they headed to the pitch from the locker room.
They were huge.
It looked like they were this troop of Amazon women in boots.
They made my little girls seem like well, little girls.
When they took to the pitch, they were fast.
Every single player.
You could see they had already learned the lessons I was teaching my team; they were light-years past my girls and although shaken, my belief was not completely crushed.
Even after I found out that this team, the Commanders, were from the nice part of town.
The real nice part.
Eight of their girls had professional athletes as fathers with one Stanley Cup, two All-pro NBA players, and a couple Arizona Cardinals between them.
The entire team had trained at the professional athlete sports complex in Scottsdale, Arizona which taught speed, strength, and conditioning.
Twice a year.
I still believed.
Only now, I had to change the beliefs somewhat.
I believed we could STILL win our important match with them.
Yes, I would have to prepare new tactics to accommodate our deficiencies in well, every area, but if we could just keep it close until the final minutes…
I thought If we can manage a late goal, who knows what could happen?…
And that’s what I kept telling my girls.
Our showdown came on a beautiful, sunny Arizona afternoon.
We were ready.
My girls were fired up.
I had whipped them into a sideline frenzy, and it was time…
AKT!
Ass-kicking time!
We got beat 6-0 and it might as well have been 28-0.
After the obligatory congratulations and handshaking, I made the long walk up to the high school locker room where my team awaited. I had coached a few youth teams so I knew there would be tears and silence when I opened the door.
I slowly opened the door and…
You would have thought it was New Year’s or the Super Bowl or some other great celebration instead of the losing locker room. Silly String, Coke bottles popped open, and raucous cheers from my girls who had LOST 6-2!
Misty Thompson, our diminutive goalie approached me and saw my confusion.
“Coach! Can you believe it? We only lost 6-2!”
Girls were smiling and high-fiving each other and I just sat shaking my head.
“I thought you girls believed we could win if we just kept it close like I told you.”
Callie Finch and Eva Rowe, my two strikers, flanked me and said, “Planet Earth to Coach: we lost every one of our first eight matches against them by at LEAST twenty goals! We’d never scored against them before!”
Ya gotta believe.
Stay well.
