This is my 10-year old son minutes after his team won their hockey tournament this past weekend. The victory was made all the sweeter because after moving up a level following a few initial wins, his team struggled and lost game after game right up until the end of the season. After a particularly difficult loss, their coach (actually my husband -- don't let this go to your head, honey) talked to the kids about putting the 14 losses behind them and making a fresh start. The idea of a "new season" clicked for these resilient kids and they went on to win their last 3 games and, to their parents' amazement and delight, went undefeated in 4 games to win 1st place in their tournament!
At one point during the final game while I was simultaneously cheering like a mad woman and praying my hardest that the kids would hold on to their lead, it occurred to me that maybe I was taking this all a little too seriously. After all, it was just a small invitational tournament, not the Olympics. But then I realized that for the kids (and their parents) the lessons were just the same: work hard, don't give up, believe in yourself and anything is possible. And as my husband told the kids: "It's not important how you begin the season, what's important is how you finish it."