On Tuesday night, I headed down to the football field in Verdun, as I usually do, ready to coach the Bantam team that I have been coaching for the past 3 years. I am also coaching a Cadet football team at Loyola High School this season... Yep, I like football.
The thing is I truly did not experience any type of leisure at practice this night. Why not?? I am not really sure. Which led me to ask the question why do we not have leisure experiences every time we are doing something that we have enjoyed doing for so long?
On Saturday I was unable to make it to our 6th game because, as mentioned in an earlier blog, I had to attend the Hall of Recognition Ceremony as I do every year. We lost against a team that we had a chance to beat (yet again). Our record stands at 1-5. However, I know it's not the losing that is bugging me. I have had seasons while coaching and playing when our team did not even win a single game and I had a blast. What is so different this year??
I have been motivated all season, giving hours upon hours of voluntary time to try and make our team better - practice to practice, game to game. Nothing seems to be working, and the players don't seem to care. Maybe it is this lack of team spirit and team commitment that is holding me back from enjoying what I have been doing for the past 11 years (coaching football). I need to find ways to intrinsically motivate myself to keep going even though others aren't up to the task, as hard as that is.
I am reminded of what Terry Evanshen said this past Saturday... coming from a man with no recollection of the first 40 some odd years of his life, it's pretty powerful:
"Enjoy life and live life for today. The past is gone and tomorrow may never come. To be happy, is to be living now."
It's time to forget about last practice, and prepare for the next one...
