In my previous post, I talked about the Netflix new documentary Swamp Kings, about the University of Florida’s American football team and their championship run in the mid to late 2000s.
The post was about the psychological differences between going towards something (play) and running away from something (fear).
It did, however, miss out on another huge part of the process. What is success?
As a former D1 athlete, I am aware of the NCAA’s idea of a student-athlete. We are meant to be students first and athletes second. Yet, with the amount of money generated, off the backs of primarily young black men, the idea that anyone cares about the student part is farcical.
What is Success?
Coach Meyers was charged with making the Florida Gators a winning team. And he did that. Winning multiple championships and coming close a couple of times should be seen as a huge success.
There was something else that the Florida football team was very good at. Getting arrested. The 2008 national championship team had 41 members of the team arrested.
One player went on to be arrested for murder.
This little bit of information was surprisingly absent from the documentary.
In 2005 they had 24 arrests. The University of Florida didn’t have a good record overall amongst all of its teams.
If the NCAA is meant to raise and create student-athletes and Coach Meyers is meant to shape productive young men, then they look like they both failed to protect and support the young men in their charge.
Long Term Process
The trouble with college sports is that the players, young men and women are only there for a short time and are pretty much disposable.
Likewise, in any work environment, people are going to constantly come and go.
You could choose to extract any value you can from someone and leave them a husk and then replace them.
Or you can choose to spend the time you have with them to help them be the best version of themselves.
This might mean you have to push them, it might mean you need to pull them along with you. It might mean you need to set hard boundaries and give them the hard word. It could mean that they need to have a kind word every once and a while.
Lead
We don’t get to choose how long someone is in our lives or in our charge. We do get to decide what we do with that time.
As the great Yoda said – We are what they grow beyond. That is the burden of all masters.
If your team members outgrow you, it is a beautiful expression that you have helped them be more than what they started and isn’t that the point.
Wouldn’t we all want this response from someone who we have supported?
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Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 