Crowd Goes Wild!

She touches the wall... Crowd Goes Wild! 

From USA Today, Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images file

This image is of Katie Ledecky winning a gold medal. Pic for attention (and credited in caption) but to talk about learning sportsmanship and the power of sports and competition to make people better people. My kids swam this summer, they have competed for several years now and both of them enjoy it in different ways and both take away different lessons... team work, value of working hard, importance of preparation, etc. 

As a competitive soccer player growing up I remember those lessons. It is why I have encouraged my kids to do sports even when they don't want to do them. 

This summer our swim team was missing one of my favorite swimmers. That swimmer reminded me just how awesome competition can be and the value of camaraderie. It also put achievement in perspective. 

Our swim team had a swimmer with different abilities. The swimmer normally came in last, sometimes behind by a lot, but never quit. What I love about swimming, and if you aren't familiar but you saw it in the Olympics, is that all swimmers wait in the pool until everyone is done. What I loved most about our team was that they would all be pool side cheering on their friend, clapping and encouraging, and when the swimmer touched the wall... crowd goes wild! First or last, they got cheers.

These life lessons are important, one for those with abilities to realize how privileged they are, and for those with different abilities to also know they fit in, just like they are, and we are all in this together. In a world that keeps trying to divide, make one better than the other, and push us to excel at the expense of others... I hope more people learn like my kids did, that where you finish will get recognized, but that finishing what you start, and doing your best, whatever your best may be, is more important. 

So many awesome olympic stories this summer reminded me of those, but those stories aren't all thousands of miles away, or require winning Olympic gold. Some of those stories are of a swimmer, swimming farther than they thought they could, completing something many others can't, and doing what many won't... pushing themselves to do something hard and getting to hear... Crowd Goes Wild! 

I am a competitive person. I like to win. I hope my kids know that I don't care where they place, but I care that they do what they said they would do, that they try their best, and that I want them to be able to look back at the end and say... I did my best, and for them to know I am proud regardless of where they placed. 

I want them to work hard, push themselves, encourage others and always have that feeling of when...

Crowd Goes Wild!