Excellence

My flight arrived in Indy a couple of hours before Tim was ready to be picked up (he decided to come home for the weekend). So I had time to kill, and decided to check out the NCAA Hall of Champions.

The place isn't really all that exciting. Two floors of mostly static exhibits, with about three different video presentations and a couple of basic interactive things. Plus a recreation of an old-time Indiana basketball (half) court where you can shoot some hoops.

I did it all. I watched all the videos, read all the exhibits, tried out the interactive stuff, and shot a few baskets. There was a local elementary school class finishing up a tour when I got there, but they were gone within a few minutes and I had the entire place to myself.

Although the museum itself was generally forgettable, reading and watching everything about college athletes did get me thinking. The idea of excellence, that if you are talented enough, smart enough, and work hard enough, you just might be able to become a champion in your sport and in your life.

There was a passing reference in the exhibits to the sort of sacrifice collegiate athletes make to be able to perform at a high level and still do well in their coursework. It's too bad about the fact that too many of the marquee athletes aren't really students at all, but just underpaid PR for the University giving them a free ride at the school but meaningless classes to keep them eligible.

Excellence isn't defined by the world-class basketball player who goes pro after 2 years in a college, where he still never learned to read or multiply two single-digit numbers. Instead, excellence is defined by the athlete in any sport who did all he or she could to help their team earn a national championship while pulling down good grades in a challenging academic program.

For myself, it is not without a little regret that I look back over a life that did not include much that could be called excellence. In high school, rather than making sure I got plenty of off-season workouts to gain strength and speed and endurance to make me a better football and basketball player, I would come home at the end of long summer days working for my Dad in construction and collapse. Or I would go out with friends looking for fun. When I should have been going to the summer conditioning program at the school, or down to the park to join the pick-up basketball games with the other members of the team.

When preseason two-a-days for football came around, I made sure I was around the middle of the pack in the constant 40-yard sprints. I cheated on the conditioning drills, resting when the coach wasn't watching, or lifting a lower weight to make things easier on myself. The attitude I held was that I needed to "pace myself" for a long conditioning session, so I still had something left in the tank by the end. I never took to heart the importance of conditioning, and in hindsight that's why I didn't achieve the success I wanted. The knee injuries that hampered my high school football career and ended my basketball career may have been prevented had I taken my conditioning more seriously.

There were the hours upon hours year-round that I spent on indoor and outdoor basketball courts trying to perfect my shooting touch. But even those hours were spent haphazardly, just shooting for enjoyment without a structured regimen that would really hone the ball-handling, agility, and footwork skills that the game requires.

The wisdom of age brings those regrets, not because I think I could have been some sort of superstar player; but because I cheated myself of what could be memories of a much more productive and satisfying experience. Plus, I have no doubt today that, had I been more focused back then, my class full of very talented basketball players could have gone much further in the state tournament my senior year. As it turned out, a tired group of my senior classmates lost in the sectional final to a less talented team after a huge but exhausting win over the third-ranked state power in the semifinal. I wasn't even on the team anymore, partly because of my knee injury, but mostly because I walked off the team out of frustration and dislike of the coach.

On to today, how can I apply what my aging wisdom and perspective has given me? I think at this point, I need to strive for excellence in everything I do. Being in business for myself, that approach may not bring immediate results, but should over time directly lead to greater success.

Who knows, maybe I can get back into decent enough shape to return to the game I love in a senior league. A good goal, I think, might be to actually join an old man's basketball team by next winter. As I consider the possibility, I almost get excited.

One day at a time. Lord willing, I may find excellence someday after all.