I had a dream about a soccer game last night, and when I woke up the dream reminded me of something. I began to remember one of the league games I had coached when my son Graham was younger. Our team was doing very well that year, and we had a big game to be played to place well in the upcoming tournament. There was one big problem, though. We had 6 players show up that weekend day and that was all. So we had about half a team, no substitutions, and the other team had a full crew. I debated whether we should forfeit the game or not, and I talked with our players and they decided they wanted to play though they knew they would have no rest for the entire game. I remember standing there at the beginning thinking, “this isn’t good. Our chances are not good at all" but I encouraged our team to go out there and have fun and play their best regardless of how it looked. They did just that and our team hung in there and they actually dominated the game. The key was that because of our limited number of players, we kept everyone pulled up to try and get as much pressure on the other goal as possible, and every time the other team got the ball, the other team went offsides thus giving the ball right back to us. So we kept possession of the ball most of the game and in fact we kept possession on the offensive side of the field and we won handily. The reason I’m writing about it in here is because I think there is a lesson here for my life (and hopefully for yours also). When the game of life seems very stacked against you, don’t give up. Just play. And play to score goals. Don’t sit back and be passive. Play to meet your goals no matter how difficult that seems, especially if it seems there are twice as many things against you as there are for you. Keep playing, and keep pressing after those goals, and you might just be very amazed that you not only win, but you win big. Have a great 2015!!
Duane
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