By Steve Mayer
It may be a little redundant by now, but certainly not without merit: A huge congratulations goes out to our Little League World Series Softball Champions! You have given all of us bragging rights and have shown us what it takes to be and act like a champion. If we are willing to pay attention, we all can learn from you.
There have been numerous articles documenting the swift and purposeful ways our young ladies dispensed of each opponent. They played small ball impeccably by pouncing on every opportunity to advance runners by hitting, sacrificing or forcing a walk. Even the casual baseball or softball fan could see how dedicated the team was to playing fundamental softball well.
Winning the championship was not merely a matter of luck, but rather it was the culmination of dedication, repetition and hard work. And yet both players and coaches appeared to be having the time of their lives. Through preparedness and attitude, our girls have shown us some amazing life skills.
Summer after summer and season after season, premiere softball players condition their bodies, minds and reflexes so that the game becomes automatic. By replaying every game scenario and practicing every possible maneuver in advance, softball IQ is elevated and so are the chances of winning. Our softball champions showed us what happens when talent is combined with hard work and dedication. The winning recipe is anchored in the amount of work and play that takes place in advance.
As we approach another school year, I am grateful to be able to write a few thoughts about school through the lens of our world champions. Nothing worthwhile comes without effort. And our best effort will almost always yield satisfying results.
Softball is hard. So is school. In school, we ask students to practice their reading and writing skills. We ask them to repeat math facts until they are automatic and then we have students use these skills to analyze and address real problems. “Practicing” school isn’t always fun, but it carries reward. As we devote ourselves to becoming stronger thinkers, problems solvers, and solution finders, we do so with the hope of being ready to become world class and world champion citizens.
In a world where tribal differences create intractable problems, we need citizens who are practiced at leveraging every opportunity in order to see things improve. In softball lingo, we need citizens who know how to play small ball and who are adept at finding small places to exert leverage. They understand that we don’t win all at once, but by taking small and purposeful steps along the way. Whether we use our insight to solve peer conflict at the lunch table or to help find a way to deliver clean drinking water to every part of the world, the result is the same—the world improves a little at a time. I believe that if we see the things we learn along the way as tools to a bigger and more robust goal, we will begin to see changes designed to address the most difficult problems faced by our world.
Congratulations again to our World Champs! This did not happen just because you showed up on the field at game time. It happened because you have been ruthlessly devoted to improving your game. Thank you for showing us the way of champions, a way in which hard work and clear focus knock down barriers to the impossible.
As we start the 2014-15 school year, I am eager to witness your winning spirit catch on throughout the Robbinsville Schools community.
Steve Mayer is superintendent of Robbinsville Schools.
