Intention and Inspiration

I don't particularly like sports.  I rarely go to live sporting events.  I've taken in a Nationals game each of the last two summers, but before that it had been 23 years since I walked into a sports venue.  The time before that was another 20 years earlier. My alma mater played in the national championship football game a couple years ago before I even realized they had a winning season.  (That was a non-occurrence when I was there.)  I am personally active, although I've usually preferred solo sports--running, biking, hiking, and cross-country skiing--except for dance of course.

Yet there are two interesting curiosities about my relationship with sport: I love sports movies, and I love watching the Olympics, especially the Winter ones.  (This two weeks is nirvana.)  As I was hall-walking tonight, I played with those curiosities.  Why would someone who doesn't care about sports love sports movies and the Olympics?

I think the answer is that, at least to me, neither is really about sports.  Sports movies are inevitably either a David-and-Goliath story or about incredible obstacles that must be overcome--racial intolerance, gender bigotry, a poor, ill-equipped athletic department, or even an airplane disaster.  The team must totally focus their intention on what they know they can become, despite the odds. They not only face external obstacles but often self-doubt as well. Of course, they always win the big one, but then those who don't win the big one don't inspire movies. 

(I have to confess this passion for finding-your-passion-and-pursuing-it-against-all-odds stories is not limited to sport, unless you call spelling a sport: I loved "Akeelah and the Bee.")

Similarly, the Olympics are also hundreds of stories about personal passion, commitment, perseverance, and determination--intention turned to inspiration.   Once again, there are often incredible obstacles to be overcome. Speed skater Emily Scott's mother is "back" in prison. On food stamps, she couldn't afford to pursue her dream until she went to a crowd-funding site, where she found a bunch of strangers who believed in her dream enough to sponsor her. One skier wept openly remembering the recent death of his brother, while still another mourned the loss of his father--the man who got him into his sport. This is truly an inspirational lot of people.

Tonight, Lauryn Williams inspires me.  After the first two heats, she and her partner are in the top spot in women's two-person bobsled.  Williams already has a gold medal...from the summer Olympics in a track and field event--4 x 1000.  If she is successful in winning the gold in bobsled, she will be the first Olympian in 82 years to capture gold in both a winter and summer Olympics...and the first woman.

There are days when I think that I have persevered and have overcome incredible obstacles. Then I watch the Olympics or a sports movie, and that really puts things in perspective.  I wonder what my life could have been or maybe might still be if I had that kind of focus and fortitude. I like to tell myself that Olympians are cut from a different fabric, but are they? Or, are they just more willing to get up at 4 a.m. to train before the rest of their day or to train late at night after a day as a busy mom of two, like Noelle Pikus-Pace has done for the last two years? I don't want to diminish the natural talent that these athletes have, but talent alone would not have gotten them to the medals podium. Intention and hard work reveal that path.