That's not to say that the time wasn't well spent. Earlier this fall a friend of mine asked a very relevant question: How do you stay motivated? It begs consideration. How does one get back on the rink day after day, year after year with joy in your heart and fire in your eyes? I guess the simple answer is that you don't. Passion is bound to wax and wane with time.
As of today Jet City is back from our two week holiday break. I've spent the time almost entirely off skates and instead spent time enjoying the holidays and binging on inspirational sports stuff. If you're struggling with the passion of the game then I highly recommend this course of action. If you're not struggling then I still highly recommend it. Inspiration is funny - I find that if I surround myself with things I find to be uplifting then it's not long before I drown it out in the everyday noise of life. Real inspiration comes from within, not my Facebook news feed. But every now and again an infusion is welcome and I recommend these:
Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
This is a book about basketball and small town Montana. You have to read about 50 or 60 pages before it gets any good so if you find yourself nodding off through the first little bit then stick with it. The book is not for hardened cynics or realists. You have to be open to inspiration if you ever hope for it to find you.
The setting is Willow Creek Montana, a place that hardly exists on the map and makes my hometown look like a modern metropolis. The wonderful thing that the book helps to capture is the nature of sports in small town America. Hollywood would have you believe that high school athletes across the country are put through rigorous training and selective cuts all so that they emerge with an unthinkable drive to win and the right to walk around town like gods.
But in small towns (and I mean really small towns) this isn't always true. Your team consists of whichever unlikely souls you can convince to play. The hope isn't to field a winning team but any sort of team at all. In Blind Your Ponies we are dared to believe that six boys can overcome their God given abilities to come together and find something great. That hard work, grit and fortitude mean more than numbers and training.
Rudy (1993)
Yes I know - Rudy makes a lot of top 10 sports movie lists. I wouldn't mention it except that it appears to have left me a sobbing, hiccuping mess on my sofa this weekend. In case you live under a rock - Rudy is the story of an unlikely hero who grows up as a huge Notre Dame fan. When his best friend dies he leave the factory where he works in order to attend school and play football for Notre Dame in spite of his poor academic record and lack of athletic talents.
My swim coach in high school (who is the coach we should all aspire to be) often referenced Rudy in our practices. At times in the move when all appears to be lost, Rudy goes to his priest and asks, "have I done all I can?" Since then I've made it my mantra as well. When I'm down, lost, discouraged or angry I find myself in the mirror looking up and asking "is this it? Have I done all I can?" The honest athlete knows there's always more and Rudy not only finds a place in his heart to keep going he touches every person in his life with his dogged perseverance.
These things inspire me because I identify with the underdog in sports. I believe that heart beats talent every day of the week and twice on Sundays. What I wish for you in this new year is that you find your own inspiration so that your passion may follow you in 2014 and beyond.
Happy New Year
<posted on 1.2.14>
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