We're All One

It was fun catching some of the Olympics last month. Did you get to see any of it? I thought NBC did a good job of covering the major events, and as one who’s done a few marathons in the past, I especially enjoyed watching every step of those two races.

The swimming was good too. The men’s 4x100 relay almost upstaged Michael Phelp’s historic medal haul. Remember it? The French team had talked smack going in, and it indeed looked like the US would finish in the silver with half a pool to go.

Until Jason Lezak of Irvine dug deep and pulled out a shocker. He covered the last leg of 100 meters in 46.06 seconds and nipped the Frenchman at the wall! Crazy!

The US Olympic coach said afterward, “That’s the kind of anchor you dream of. It shows what you can do when you don’t think about it, you just go.”

Just go. That’s good advice. But there was more to Lezak’s snatching victory from the mouth of defeat. It had to do with his and his teammate’s outlook. Despite training individually in different parts of the country, the foursome came together. Lezak said that before the race he got with the guys and said, “We’re not a 4-by-100 team. We’re all one.”

If you kids are wondering what makes me tick, what brings us coaches out to the sport, It’s that. There’s nothing more powerful than that attitude. We’re one. That’s why I’m a fan of team sports. That’s why I coach. That’s what brings me back every year … can we get that attitude this year? Can we achieve that unity? Can we see a bunch of individuals put selfish interests aside and work together for a common goal?

As I look back on 19 years of coaching XC, I can say with certainty that the one common denominator of the truly great teams I’ve been a part of was that they had that attitude. In some cases, their talent was secondary. They raced and trained as a unit. They weren’t a “seven-by-3 mile” team. They were one.