I hated losing when I was a kid and it hasn’t changed now that I am an adult. But losing is a part of life and it is certainly a part of basketball. Without exception, every time two teams take the court, one of them will lose.
And this weekend, 48 mens teams lost in the NCAA Tournament, most (if not all) in heart-breaking fashion.
Remember, there are teachable moments in every aspect of basketball and every aspect of life.
How you handle defeat and how you carry yourself after a loss speaks volumes about who are you as a person. It reveals your true character… more so than winning does. Your true colors surface during adversity.
Don’t get it twisted, losing should hurt and you should feel disappointed. If it doesn’t hurt then it doesn’t matter, and if it doesn’t matter – why even play the game?
Allowing yourself to feel hurt and disappointed is OK. Don’t hide from your feelings and emotions. Sit in them for a short period of time. Embrace them. Then find a way to channel them into the fuel you need to get back to work. Losing, like failure, is never permanent.
But losing is never an excuse to show poor sportsmanship, to make excuses or to be a bad teammate. Don’t ever let losing define you – as a player or as a person.
Learning how to lose with class is a very, very difficult skill… but it is an essential one.
Time to get back to work,
