I love the Olympic Games! From the opening ceremonies to the closing ceremonies and all the competition in between. Being at our cottage means I’ve spent a bit too much time this summer of ‘24 in my “happy place,” parked in front of my TV watching the Paris Olympic Games, and as of this writing, the Paris Paralympics. In our house, I’m the sports fan, Darlene not as much. She’s truly logical about my getting all worked up watching my beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders play in the Canadian Football League. She loves to remind me, “It’s just a game…not life!” Which side of this idea do you land? While watching the Olympics, I couldn’t help but get quite emotional about the athletes and their stories. Not to disagree with my wife, but for these Olympians, their sport is “their life”… quite literally!
This blog had its inspiration a while back in August. I confess, I actually love every Olympic sport, though my verdict on breakdancing is still out! I was watching platform diving and astounded at the talent of these athletes. It gave me a serious flashback!
My son from my previous marriage came to live with Darlene and I when he was 8 years old. Vance seemed to possess so much born talent. When he was 3 years old, his grandpa, my dad, Jack Law, cut down an old golf club driver and after minimal instruction Vance drove the ball almost a hundred yards! But since Darlene and I didn’t golf, that became a very part time hobby for him. Typical of eight-year-olds, we gave him all sorts of options for his after-school activities, and this is kind of important: we had the resources to pay. I’ve often imagined how so many young people never get to discover excellence in sports because they come from circumstances that make it unaffordable. I digress.
We wanted Vance to learn to swim. I learned to swim when I was 12 years old. My family couldn’t afford swimming lessons so one memorable day while at our family cottage at Crystal Lake, Saskatchewan, my Dad and I were having a wee argument about the importance of knowing how to swim at a lake where I spent my summers. Frankly, I didn’t believe someone without arms could swim, but since the mantra in our home was “there’s no such word as can’t,” I was quite conflicted. But I found myself on our dock with my dad and with absolutely no warning, he proceeded to make a parental decision and pushed me off the dock into four feet of water!
(*Disclaimer: Not a recommended method of swimming instruction!)
I was not impressed, but who knew? I went to the bottom of the lake, was smart enough to hold my breath, and with no arms to help me surface, I pushed off the bottom with my very strong legs and shot to the surface! I kept holding my breath and much to my surprise, I floated! I heard my dad say: “Lay back and kick your feet and breath!” I momentarily forgot how mad I was at him, followed orders, and just like that I learned to swim.
But we wouldn’t be employing that method with Vance. We signed him up at arguably the best swim school in Regina, Saskatchewan, and he literally took to it like a duck to water. After just a couple of lessons, his instructor asked if he could chat with Darlene and I. We were worried because Vance could be difficult taking instructions at times. That wasn’t it at all. His instructor was also a diving coach with one of the most successful programs in Canada. He wanted to invite Vance to be one of his students and I am not making this up – he believed our son could win a medal at the Olympics some day! He wasn’t patronizing us. Wow!
Then came the reality check. He would be expecting Vance to be in the pool at 7am every morning five days a week for an hour before he went to school and an unknown number of hours on weekends. So, that meant, all three of us would be taking diving lessons for the rest of our immediate futures. The pool was at least a twenty-minute drive from our house. Darlene had a full-time job back then, so she had to be there around 7:30am. I was travelling a great deal for my speaking, so not there to help consistently. The “idea” of the Olympics sounded awesome, but what would it take to get there?
Yet, people do it all the time, don’t they? We would have figured it out, but what’s the elephant in the room for so many families? Does your child actually want to make such a mammoth commitment to themselves? Sorry, but too many parents forget – it’s not about you as much as it’s about them. When we sat down with Vance to talk about this, he was honest enough to say he would love to keep swimming, but the diving journey wasn’t for him.
So, Vance never took the diving lessons and he never made it to the Olympics. But I’ve always wandered… what if? Watching the Paris Games, I would regularly get tears of joy in my eyes when they would show the parents and family of an athlete. I would get very emotional when somebody won their competition and ran into the stands to embrace loved ones. Their commitment to their craft was and is truly inspiring. I may not have been an athlete, but sometimes people are surprised that I was ultra-competitive in my craft… music!
My story is well documented so no long history is necessary for this blog but where I was not an athlete, I would become a legitimate musician. And while I didn’t compete on a field, in a gym, or pool, my arena was the theater and rehearsal halls. I wore our band uniform with the same pride as any athlete and I became a fierce competitor. I wasn’t in it for token appearance ribbons.
I wanted to win.
I wanted to beat the other kids in my competitions at music festivals, and I did that quite often. I still have people come up to me and lament the day they lost to the kid with no arms!
The real bonus was: I wasn’t the only talented musician. Our bands and choirs were very successful and as they say about how playing sports is supposed to be fun, so was playing music for me. What it contributed to my self-esteem and confidence is incalculable and this is precisely my point of this particular blog.
During the closing ceremonies of the Paris Olympic Games, the President of the IOC said these words:
“You athletes showed us the greatness human beings are capable of.”
Indeed. When we recently trademarked the tagline: “Step Into Your GreatnessTM”, it was not only rooted in branding and marketing of my motivational speeches. It’s actually mostly rooted in me and my brand promise to others… that you can find your greatness, too.
The Olympics, or for me, playing music, was not just about the activity or being competitive. It was all about the habits required to succeed. The discipline, the commitment, the sacrifice.
Doesn’t this sound like a formula for life itself? Maybe that’s why I am so inspired watching the Olympics. It’s full of people, “everyday life people” (these folks aren’t born with a gold medal around their neck) who chose to not sit back and talk about how unfair the world is. They made a promise to themselves to explore the boundaries of what’s possible, did the work, and watched the results.
And of course, we all love to win.
I believe that winning is a metaphor for our existence.
What if you think of your own life as the Olympics? Are you doing what it takes to be the best “you”? Are you making your little corner of the planet a better place by what you contribute? Are you grateful, every single day, for the opportunity to explore your own greatness? It’s in there, you know – in all of you – in all of us