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From the Hip: Summer is about failure, and that's a good thing

06/13/2016, 10:30am CDT
By Travis Wilson

The following article was originally published in NOW Newspapers under the "State of Play" feature, a series of bi-weekly feature columns penned by WSN General Manager Travis Wilson.

Graduations have come and gone, spring sports are wrapping up, and many high school athletes are now on to summer. I'll leave the philosophical debates about how much high school athletes should be doing in the summer, how many leagues or camps they should play in, and how much contact coaches should have with them for another column.

For this column, I want to emphasize something else: summer is about failure.

For many people, including highly competitive athletes and coaches, failure is a four-letter word, to be avoided at all costs, carrying with it an incredibly negative stigma. And most of the time, I feel much the same way. I am a competitor, and hate losing more than I love winning. However, failure is not permanent, and is the path to improvement.

We must be bad at something before we can get good at it, it's just how things work. And the time to fail, for athletes and coaches alike, is in the off-season. Now is the time that players should be pushing themselves, trying new things, embracing new opportunities. And the truth is, they'll likely struggle at them to begin with. 

For a young basketball player, transitioning from a set shot to a jump shot will present some challenges. It may not go well at first. I know I struggled making that transition early in high school. For a baseball player it may be implementing a curveball or changeup into their arsenal. Whatever it may be, it will take some time to learn. But the summer is when those things should be tried out. 

For some athletes, it isn't so much a specific skill or physical attribute that needs work, but an attitude or mentality that needs adjusted. Not always because those things were bad previously, but because they aren't what the player and team need now. That player that was the seventh or eighth in the baseball or softball order will need to step into a prime 3 or 4 slot next year, and with that comes additional pressure and requires a different mindset. A hoops player that was the second or third player off the bench last year is likely to be a starter and need to become more aggressive offensively to create opportunities for themselves or teammates. That transition can often be more challenging than any skill development. 

It may result in errors, turnovers, and losses in summer leagues and tournaments, but it will build experience for those athletes and increase their comfort levels for when it really matters.

Just as players need to push their comfort levels in the summertime, coaches need to do the same. It is the time to try out new offenses, defenses, lineups, and philosophies. And just like with players, it likely won't work immediately. But it allows coaches to see things that may work and what can be incorporated during the season. 

It is often said that the most important job of a coach is to put their players in the best possible position to succeed. In the summer, it may be time to turn that around. Put players in positions and situations that make them uncomfortable. That challenge them to adjust, learn, and improve. For big guys to handle the ball more, for your second baseman to move over to third, for your linebacker to give running back a try.

Again, don't be afraid if they don't work out right away. Maybe they need a bit more time and experience for it to pay off. Or, maybe it turns out the move wasn't the right one to make. But now is the time to try it. Who cares if you go 4-0 or 1-3 in a weekend tournament during the summer? No one will be wearing those results on the back of a t-shirt, or printing them in the yearbook. Push the players, emphasize improvement, and worry not about summer records.

The other thing about summer, is it is when teams and players prepare to fail later in the year. Skipping lifting sessions or team events to go to the mall with your significant other, play video games, or just do nothing will lead to failure during the high school season. No team has ever gotten better or been successful by not working in the off-season. And it is a conscious decision. Hard work does not guarantee success, but a lack of hard work will guarantee a lack of success.

So for athletes and coaches over the next two months, do not be afraid of failure. Embrace it, improve from it. Because failing now will lead to success later on.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.

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