Results don’t Lie…
What can we say about our South African cricket side, the Proteas, after their recent defeat in the quarter final clash against the New Zealand Black Caps?
Are they Chokers, as many people are accusing them to be?
Here are some of my thoughts on the topic…
In sport, as in any area of our lives, we can have all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed (we can look good on the outside) but when the pressure is on, the REAL you is what comes out – and that person might not be as ‘dotted’ or ‘crossed’ as everyone would like them to be.
What went wrong for the Proteas?
On the “outside”, everything looked good – the build up was successful, the preparation was done- and yet, when the time to stay composed and produce the goods came along, the inability to do so was glaringly obvious to all.
Was it their coach’s fault, or their captain’s? Were they just having “one of those days”? After all what are the chances that Amla would be dismissed in such a freakish manner?!
I believe that when a player loses his cool (and at the same time his wickets), it says something about the internal psyche of that player and his supporting team.
When a boxer takes a blow and is unsteady he buys time.
He either holds the opponent or skips around out of harm’s way to recover his composure.
When a rugby team has conceded a few quick points, they slow the game down through fake injuries, collapsed scrums and slow walks to the line outs … which all serve as adequate disruptions to the oppositions flow, giving them time to plan a new strategy of attack!
The Proteas, with plenty of time and wickets in hand, simply needed to bide their time and follow the plan to systematically annihilate the Black Caps.
But I believe that there was a tiny little word that stood between them and victory.
It is the word that most often causes teams to become divided, great armies to be scattered and organisations to ultimately go belly up!
That word?
EGO.
When what I want to do becomes more important than what the Team requires of me ,then EGO has won the day!
I believe that the Proteas can and will be World Champions in the future, but they need to rule their own hearts before they can rule the cricket world.
If they ever want to step into greatness, they must seek to make each of their fellow team members look better than themselves. I believe that when they do this, our SA team will be unstoppable.
John Maxwell reminds us that ‘teamwork makes the dream work’.
Proteas, it’s time to set aside your individual agendas and discover the power of unity!
Sean Willard
Speaker, Coach & Author
