If your only goal is to have fun then go to the beach

Hanging out with friends is fun.  Attending a birthday party is fun.  Playing on the playground is fun. Playing a team sport can, at times, be fun. However, “fun” should not be the top priority.

I understand that statement may raise a few eyebrows.  I also understand that the younger the player is, the more fun it should be.  That being said, the priority of any team sport is to compete.  A player and a team competes so that they can hopefully put themselves into a position where they have a chance to win.

Notice how I said “chance to win.”  In many sports, particularly in baseball, winning has a lot to do with what the other team does.  Unfortunately, we have very little control over what the other team does.  We don’t control their lineup decisions.  We don’t control how they practice or what their philosophy is.  All we can focus on is what we do.  Do it well and you will have a “chance” to win.

Giving yourself a chance to win and competing means focussing on the process of winning rather than the win itself.  That means constantly assessing how you are doing in every area and what adjustments need to be made in order to give yourself a better chance at winning in the future.

This process of competing is hard.  It involves an endless amount of frustration with making mistakes and a desire to keep pushing through them anyway. It means never giving up even when your body is screaming to rest.  It means always searching for a better way and constantly challenging yourself to see just how good you can be.

To be honest, the process of becoming an elite baseball player is not fun.

I’m also being honest when I say that, for me and many elite players I have had conversations with, the game stopped being fun after Little League.  And that is perfectly fine.  It’s also a huge reason why elite players became “elite.”

That always surprises people when I say that but it is the reality for most higher level players.  The game is too hard to be fun.  It involves too much adversity to be fun.  Kids who expect to only have fun usually never make it out of Little League.  

That being said, there was no place I would have rather been than in the middle of that hard work, frustration, and adversity.  Embracing the hell that is the game of baseball and having “fun” are not the same thing.  I loved every single day I had a uniform on, whether I went 0-4 or 4-4.  Fun didn’t play a role.

To be elite, your top priority is to compete.  If you want to have fun then go to the beach.

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