Learning to Tie Your Shoes
When watching the ReCap show with Tobin Heath and Christen Press. I was particularly struck by the interview they conducted with Jill Ellis, their previous national team coach and winners of the 2015 and 2019 World Cup for the United States. Jill retired after 2019, and the team’s struggled ever since. Tobin Heath asked her what it was like to join the program as coach, what did she try to do at the outset. Jill reflected on the question for a second, and then talked about how good the team already was, and how she worried she would’t bring any big strategic ideas or significant break throughs during her tenure. So she instead made the decision to focus on the little things. “We’re going to make incremental improvement”, she recalled thinking. “We’re going to get a little better at everything we do, from nutrition to sleep to travel to on-field training. All of it.”
This morning, when reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, I came across a surprising reference to John Wooden, the winningest coach in the history of college basketball. What is college basketball doing in a book about creativity, I thought when I can across the passage? In the reference, Wooden talks about focusing on the details and the importance of creating good habits. “The first thing I would show players at our initial day of training was how to take a little extra time putting on their shoes and socks properly…. It’s the little details that make the big things come about.” This left me both dumbstruck and not surprised. Of course.
We don’t see these little things when we watch events like the current World Cup, we just see the ball ricochet off the post or wonder how a goalie made that save. But if you’ve been on a competitive team, any team, you know what they are each talking about. Start with the little things, and good things will follow.
I like these kinds of books, wether when learning the craft of writing, or reflecting on how certain teams and coaches come to their success. The Inner Game of Tennis the first book of it’s kind, but Values of the Game by Bill Bradley another I great one found filled with insight. For me, I’m no longer vying for national championships but instead focusing on writing. It’s a good feeling to think that all those years playing ultimate me help me with this next challenge. I again sight what one fan said to DoG as we filtered back from a halftime huddle during a National Championship final game, “it’s not desire, everybody wants to win, it’s will. Do you have the will to win?”
I didn’t process what he was saying until after the game, but now I understand. Do we have the strength of will? Did we do the work? There are no shortcuts. Both Jill Ellis and John Wooden suggest the same, even if it means having to relearn how tie our shoes.
Go Australia!
