I recently had a parent of one of my student athlete’s say in response to my question about their weekend, that they didn’t have a tournament, so his daughter got a chance to go to a few things that his daughter normally has to miss because of games or practice.

I remember those days from when my kids played and instead of being able to RSVP they had to wait until the game schedule for that weekend came out and most of the time it was past the time they were supposed to let their friend know if they would be at the huge party. The worst was when they got back to school on Monday and heard from everyone who attended the shin ding, how fun it was and all the things they missed. They were out of the loop overnight. Or the worst was when they RSVP’d that they were not going to make it and due to a rainout the tournament was cancelled and they missed both and spent the weekend with nothing to do while their friends were off having fun at the place that was reserved for 20 kids and adding one more was harder than climbing mount Everest.

But here is what I know, my kid’s teammates became their friends, kids who were like them, who knew how to compete and work to achieve their dreams and goals. Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to ask yourself, what am I willing to sacrifice to get what I want.

I heard it said once by Darren Hardy that to really achieve success you have to ask yourself, “what do you want to suffer through to get what you want”.

When I look back on it now, me and the wife being division one athletes were able to help our kids understand that sometimes you have to suffer, choose pain and sacrifice to gain what you want. Choosing to be successful is only half of the equation, you have to choose how much suffering and sacrifice you will endure to determine how much success you will have.

” If there is no struggle, there is no progress”- Frederick Douglass