The Worst on the Team

Back in college, I was on the varsity Track and Field team. The school, St. Mary's College (Notre Dame, IN), is a small all-girls Division III school which competes with other small schools in the Midwest.

During my time on the team, there was one athlete who attended every practice, competed in several events, and always had a positive attitude. She was not very good but made many friends on the team. She even became friends with athletes from other schools we competed against at meets.

Other athletes liked her because she was no threat to them. The best she ever did was earning a 4th Place ribbon in the shot put. There were five competitors, one had a sprained wrist that day.

Other athletes liked her so much, they frequently gave her advice, so she could improve. She'd absorb the advice, and was often given extra tries because people liked to see her improvements themselves. Even the judges liked her spirit and attitude.

The athlete knew she was not good at the events. She was not embarrassing, just not at the performance level of college athletics. She knew it, and she did them anyway.

She did not mind being the worst on the team because she knew she had different talents.

She went on the graduate from St. Mary's, earn an MBA, become one of the youngest senior marketing analysts in town and the youngest speaker hired by the AMA. She implemented a cutting-edge training plan in the advertising industry and produced record-setting and award-winning results with her clients.

I am that athlete.

I was the worst one on the team.

Shot, discus, javelin, and long jump are not my gifts. Luckily, I knew I had other gifts.

Young people today often are not given the opportunity to figure out their gifts. With all the rules of everyone makes the team, plays the same amount of time, gets the same trophy, young people today do not learn that it is okay to be bad at something. It is okay for someone else to win, get a better trophy, celebrate victory.

In shielding kids from being the worst, parents, coaches, schools today are also preventing them from finding out what they are the best at. In over-protecting their kids from the brief moment of disappointment which comes when being cut from a team, parents are preventing their kids from knowing the feeling of triumph.

Triumph over adversity is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I hope all kids get to experience it, so they can also experience the joy and pride of knowing they have a different gift.

Allow others to triumph. It will work out okay for them if they are the worst on the team. Take it from someone who knows.