To be LOYAL...Or not to be loyal?

Loyal. Merriam Webster defines this as:

  having or showing complete and constant support for someone or something

 I’d like to propose an addition to this:

  having or showing complete and constant support for someone or something especially when times get tough

Continuing from a previous post about why girls leave teams... Some people understand it, and some people don’t. It’s a shame that when things go bad, or at least they go bad in their eyes, their first instinct is to abandon ship and find the next “best” thing.

Like a relationship, it’s healthy to go through ups and downs, otherwise, things would be mundane and boring. Life is all about peaks and valleys, so why shouldn’t a relationship with a team be the same way? Things aren’t always going to go as planned. You’re not always going to win that tournament, or have the best game of your life. You’re not always going to play that position or bat in that order. Things change and they change for the betterment of each player and the overall betterment of the team. A team that doesn’t change things up a bit is not doing it right, especially at this age (12u).

Girls are still learning, still finding their groove. Sure, there are some girls who know that they want to play this position and that’s all they want to do. That’s fine and dandy and all, but is that the best option for that girl? Is that the best option for that team?

A great team will hold their heads up high after a loss. They will take that loss and dissect it to figure out what went wrong, and how to fix it. They will work with each girl to help them understand what happened and how they can improve for the next game.

It’s up to each athlete to be LOYAL. To understand that the struggle is real, and there will be bad times. But to have faith in your teammates. Have faith in your coaches. Have faith in yourself. With hard work and perseverance, it will get better and you will win that tournament. Heck, you might even win the whole National Championship! But if we can’t teach our kids to be loyal, then we are setting them up for a greater disaster in their life. They might leave a great job because of a hurdle that they don’t want to address. They might divorce when the rainbows and sunshine fade away. They might call it quits because it’s too hard and they’d rather do something easier.