Thursday, September 10, 2009
Don't Play Scared
I played football in high school, and truth be told, I still really miss it. It wasn't just that I loved to play, but I think football taught me more about life than just about anything else I have experienced in my life. It has such a profound affect on me that at one point in college I switched my major in order to be a football coach. I realized soon there were certain family sacrifices that go along with being a coach that I wasn't willing to make. But everything about the sport appeals to me on different levels (teamwork, motivation, responsibility, leadership, etc).
One of the largest lessons I learned from playing football was something referred to in sports as "Playing Scared".
For those who don't follow football or familiar with the Dallas Cowboys, above is a picture of cornerback Larry Brown. He was the MVP of Superbowl XXX in 1996. He was a 12th round draft pick for the Dallas Cowboys in 1990 (they only have 7 rounds now). He had little to no chance of making the team, much less being the starting corner on a 3 time superbowl team, much less the MVP of their last superbowl victory.
So, how did Larry Brown succeed with the Cowboys?
When Larry came into training camp before the season started, he knew he had little chance of making the team. After all, he was a 12th round draft pick, that no team cared about or thought very highly of. In fact, in the first week he actually walked out of camp and quit because he didn't feel like he was getting a chance.
However, when he came back to camp he decided that he now had nothing to lose. Any fear or insecurities he had were buried and he just played without fear. Low and behold he started making plays all over the field in practice. He could miraculously cover some of the best wide receivers on the team and in the league. He became a starter two games into the his rookie year, and went on to earn all rookie honors and nearly won rookie of the year. He played 7 seasons with the Cowboys and earned 3 superbowl rings as part of the team of the 90's.
For 6 of those years he played as if he had nothing to lose. But his 7th and final year with the Cowboys, they brought in Deion Sanders to play cornerback opposite Larry. Deion was flashy, and flamboyant and a fantastic player. This caused teams to start throwing the ball at Larry more often. Early in that final season Larry gave up a few long touchdowns to the opposing teams. It was obvious this affected his confidence, and you could see with each game he played more and more uptight. He was afraid of getting beat, and that caused him to play worse and actually get beat more often. For the rest of the season this sent him into a death spiral with his confidence and his play. He was playing scared.
His final game with the Cowboys, he caught 2 interceptions in Superbowl XXX to earn him MVP honors. It seemed for one game he was able to get his confidence back up enough to make those plays. Shortly after however, he signed a contract to play for the Oakland Raiders but never regained his confidence and played very poorly. He was out of the league in less than 2 years.
Larry Brown is a great example, and I saw it with teammates growing up playing football; those who played scared found ways to lose. They were so afraid of making a mistake they would either make more mistakes or even get themselves hurt from not going full speed.
When you aren't playing scared in life, you make decisions and conduct your life without fear of the mistakes you might make. You are playing to win, rather than playing to "not lose". And the simple fact you are working hard going 110mph, you can actually make a mistake and just as quickly correct it. It was that way in sports, and it is that way in life.
This is a very important principle and life lesson that I have to continually remind myself of. We only have one life, and to live it in fear or scared of making a mistake make it a sad life indeed.
God has given all of us strengths and weaknesses and the ability to reason. He has given us talents that He expects us to use, and use with boldness. Not cockiness, and not conceit...but with confidence in who we are and where it comes from.
I hope as I move forward with my career and my life that those words and are ever etched on my mind and heart...
Don't Play Scared.
posted by Bryan Engram # 2:13 AM 
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