top of page
Writer's pictureDr. Tunde Adelakun

Resilience on the Field and in Life: Lessons from the Football Dressing Room


You are playing a football match, pitted against a player who is much better than you, and your team is down 3-0 at half time. You’re in the dressing room wondering what the second half will be like. This guy outplayed you in that first half….and his team demolished you collectively. 


But there are still 45 minutes to play. And those 45 minutes have to be played. What do we do? What will the manager tell you guys to do? Sit back, soak the pressure and pray for the referee’s final whistle to come? Keep it tight so that the shoreline doesn’t get more embarrassing?


Or just go out and fight…..fight for dignity, fight that you will not be disgraced and that your fans will see that you put your best in. 


Where does that mindset come from? What can come out of that kind of mindset? 


This is where we come in…..to make you understand that as it is with the football team, so it is with everyone in all areas of endeavour. 


Down in the dumps, yet a necessity to get out there and fight. 


We saw the budget read to us. We saw that some aspects in the budget will have an effect, a challenging effect on our livelihood. That’s government putting us down 3-0 at half time. And we need to fight back, to be resilient and ensure that the terms and conditions of the said budget will not break us down. 


Somewhere within that resilient mode in that football team, there just might be a lifeline, and another lifeline - the first lifeline will be pulling one goal back, then you score another and suddenly its 3-2 (just one goal to level the scoreline) - your resilience will double. You will be ‘smelling blood’ and wanting to go for the jugular.


Likening your everyday endeavour to the situation on the football field is interesting. In the face of this ‘tighten your belt’ budget, we all need resilience. We need to push ourselves because…..we have no choice than to make success of what we do, of who we are and of what circumstances we are faced with. 


So Donald Trump won the American elections…big deal. Who’s holding their head in their hands wondering what might have been? Hopefully not you. We carry on. That’s who we’ve got. We have to make it work. With resilience, with determination and a mindset like the mindset of the footballers at the start of the second half of the 3-0 walloping - keep going, take the fight to the adversary and if you don’t make it, it won’t be because you didn’t have a go. And if you do make it, it will be a rewarding reward of your tenacity, hard work and resilience. 

コメント


コメント機能がオフになっています。
bottom of page