Baseball Widow

The Sports Widow Pep Talk

June 6, 2008 10:10 PM | 0 Comments

This morning, as I was conducting my usual sweep through two bedrooms to wake the 9AM elementary school contingent in my family (my sixth grader has a 6:15AM appointment, so she was long gone), I detected what I would describe as a "loss hangover." My lively renditions of "Good Mornin', Good Mornin" from Singing in the Rain and "Rise & Shine" from Girl Scout Camp at Camp Northern Hills in Wisconsin were surprisingly inadequate to wake the somber 10-year-old Austin. Instead, he lay motionless in his bed with tears ambling down his cheeks over last night's loss at the hand of the despicable Smelly Sweat Socks (in truth, it is possible my singing exacerbated the situation). Since the Boa Constrictors have been undefeated this season, Austin's feeling of loss was unfamiliar to him and paralyzing. As a lost, middle-management career person, I can relate to his angst. So, I, the Sports Widow who has never truly cared enough to care enough about losing a game, needed to find it in myself to deliver an inspiring pep talk.

I focused on the example of highly successful athletes. I said, "Do you know that even athletes like Michael Jordan have lost games and had to get up the next day and try again?" I urged him to use this loss as motivation to perform better in the next game, to channel his anger and frustration into pitching the best game he can and whacking the ball onto Bainbridge Island. Then, my sports fan husband Bryan reminded him to smile and have fun on the field. I concluded with a reminder to go for the proverbial jugular of his opponents - after all, that's what Boa Constrictors do, only not really because they squeeze their prey versus deliver a venom, but it's a decent metaphor.

At breakfast, Austin seemed to navigate through his emotions well enough to give his own version of the pep talk. He remembered, "We did beat them twice before. We can do it again." Yeah, that's the spirit. One of my homework assignments is to record some Coach Pep Talks and see what I can distill from them. I wish I could be fly on the fence when they have their post-game conferences. I'll let you know what I discover.

How do you manage the agony of defeat with your young players? What are your tips?
The Sports Widow
(aka Nan Hall)