03/02/2021
Growing up with my dad as a high school basketball coach, I didn’t have much of a choice when it came to what extracurricular activities I would participate in – sports dominated my family’s life as soon as my brother and I could walk.
Thankfully, I grew to love basketball and played throughout high school and college. After graduating college I continued to coach select teams and play in leagues – I even joined our Sendero’s corporate challenge tournaments.
Although I may be just a bit washed up, I find myself applying an athlete’s mindset in my day-to-day work.
As an athlete, one of my favorite times of year is March Madness. In addition to the craziness of 16 games a day, one of the things I love about the NCAA tournament is the upsets – when you get to see “no-name” schools make runs deep into the tournament, destroying brackets everywhere. If you were to compare those teams side-by-side with the Gonzagas or the Villanovas of the world, you would never think they would be able to win a game based on talent. However, each year, schools like Loyola Chicago (remember Sister Jean, anyone?) win against higher-ranked opponents.
Although it may seem like these teams may have just gotten lucky, these groups put in work well before the post-season to get to the tournament. They used teamwork, discipline, and leadership throughout their entire season to achieve their goals.