Don't Be Afraid To Lose

ATHLETES:  Don't be afraid to lose.  If you want to accomplish anything great, you can't be so afraid to lose that you don't put yourself out there, that you don't try your hardest, or that you won't try that new move that coach has been teaching you.

You will lose.  
You will mess up.  
You will experience failure.  
It's just a part of sports and it's a part of life.

The key is how you approach losing and how you handle it.

Don't let losing break you.  Understand that losing just teaches you what you need to do to get better.  Learn how to learn and grow from your mistakes, failures, and losses.  

There are few things worse than athletes who hold themselves back because they are afraid to do their best or afraid of a challenge because they are too worried about losing.  Don't stay at the same gym or the same field where you are always the best just so you can win all of the time.  It won't make you better.  When you play against athletes that you are better than, you are holding back your growth and you are helping them get closer to you.  Every time you play them, they are getting better, but that doesn't always make you better.

Go find better, older players and play against them - a lot.  Go find players that can beat you and keep playing them until you get good enough to beat them.

PARENTS: If you want your kids to keep getting better, worry less about them winning and find players, teams, and situations that will push them.  Your athlete won't reach their highest potential playing in leagues where they always go undefeated and don't get challenged.  There is power in winning and developing a winning mindset.  Winning is fun and it keeps kids coming back.  But its important to learn how to lose too and how to overcome adversity.