Thankfulness

Thanksgiving is coming up and it provides a great time for reflection.  It is so important to be thankful for all that we have (especially as Canadians).  So often we can get caught up in a cycle of complaining and negativity.  This cycle can sabotage an athlete's progress and be extremely detrimental for a team. 

Back when I was in University, our softball team took a spring trip to Cuba to play their national team for a week in preparation for our season.  I can remember how excited I was to play them as I had seen them a couple years earlier when they were playing at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.  They were very skilled and certainly know how to have a lot of fun...but the really remarkable thing is how they survive and excel with so little.

We played all of our games at their "National Training Centre" where all of their national team athletes from every sport train and many live there.  Although the setting was beautiful (ball diamond on the ocean) these players have little equipment or tools to help them perform and their training centre is arachaic and horribly run down.  About half of the team had cleats.  They only had a couple helmets and if they had 3 baserunners, one of them had to give their helmet to the batter.  They had the most ancient bats I've ever seen.  Their ball diamond was rough and there were more than a few holes in the field.  Yet they were so happy and upbeat and so skilled.  In spite of their lack of resources, Cuba still manages to compete on the international scene.

That trip was an incredibly impactful one for me.  It is so important for us to face every day with a grateful spirit and not give in to negative thoughts and feelings.  I see it far too often where athletes find excuses for why they can't attend training, why they can't train hard, why they can't hit the ball harder, why they can't dive or run hard, or why they don't have enough energy.   The list goes on and on.  The reality is that we live in such a priviledged nation and have so many opportunities and resources available to us.  Go out and seize them with a grateful heart!

~ H