Writing Our Story
During this time of political transition for our country, I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of belief. Specifically, I’ve been reflecting on the role that stories play in what people think about themselves and those around them. By stories I mean popular narratives that frame our perspective of the world. The tales we ingest often govern who and what we deem to be worthy or good as well as what we consider to be unworthy or bad. In short, we get our beliefs from the stories that become embedded in our minds and in our hearts.
It’s tempting, extremely popular, and somewhat comfortable to blindly follow any given narrative, whether it’s about an individual, a small group, or an entire nation. However, the hard reality is that in order to make substantive change we must do something all together different. We must, individually and collectively, be willing to challenge the stories we believe. This means we must be honest about what these narratives are, which requires us to be honest about who we are or rather who we think ourselves to be.
As in other aspects of life, belief plays a huge role in athletics. This may seem extremely obvious and yet when it comes to educating young people through sports we don’t pay nearly enough attention to what kids think and why they think that way. The biggest challenge when I’m working with a team on the soccer field isn’t how to help players control the ball better. It’s not how to improve their ability to defend or attack. The greatest challenge is to get them to believe.
A truly successful team environment includes a philosophy that each member of the group fully supports. In youth sports, just as in classroom learning, children must believe in their ability to improve and be successful, they must believe in one another, and they must believe that their coach believes in them. To accomplish all this, it might be necessary to re-write certain stories in their minds. This can be difficult but the task for any team is to craft their own story, an identity that everyone buys into. Essentially, the art of leadership involves tapping into systems of belief in order to encourage others to actively engage in a common purpose (the team identity).
Through the relentless pursuit of our ideals, The Rising Point is committed to changing certain narratives for the kids we work with. Certainly, this is a tall order and one that we take very seriously. If teaching is all about empowering others to reach excellence then a prerequisite to effective teaching is dealing with the stories (beliefs) that block our ability to learn and grow. The entire reason for this lies in the fact that true progress cannot be made without an appropriate response to failure or disappointment. Indeed, part of the mission behind our work is to reframe what ‘failure’ is so that every child can understand how they can truly be in charge of their learning.
The Rising Point has a culture in which our teaching promotes mistakes because they can help us improve. However, this only happens in an environment that is honest about what those mistakes are and where each mistake is made with the intention of solving problems. If errors are a product of a lack of intentionality (a lack of thought) then the opportunities for deep learning are compromised. On the other hand, if we can create a culture where we are intentional about what we believe (think), what we say, and what we do, then we will be able to develop young people who have the tools to be life long learners.
For us, the power is in three words: Engagement, Empowerment, and Excellence. At The Rising Point, we engage our players in order to empower them so that they can excel. We engage them with exercises and games that force them to think, to constantly be aware of the situation and their surroundings. We empower them by earnestly asking for their opinion and listening to what they have to say. They excel because we are intentional about providing an atmosphere where they feel safe to explore, to fail, and to discover. As our students are liberated from their fears of learning, their courage liberates us as teachers, driving us forward to serve even more.
I meet with people all the time who, in their own ways, often provide pearls of wisdom about what it means to start an organization and what the potential struggles and pitfalls are. Regardless of what people say and regardless of what the daunting circumstances are, I know that the biggest questions and hurdles exist in my mind. We can be held back from achieving great things because of fear. In the end, I believe it comes down to two very important questions: What do you want to achieve? What are you willing to go through to get there?
Of course, these are not easy questions to wrestle with. However, with a clear vision and a ton of work, anything is possible. I don’t live in a space of self-doubt anymore. There are too many examples of people who have done far more with much less. Just like we teach our players that they must take risks in order to score goals, so too must we step out of our comfort zones in order to excel. All of our experiences, every little victory, every conversation, and even the missteps are part of the story we are constantly writing. Believe.
