This past Thursday, my friends and I blew a 5 point lead with 45 seconds left and lost a basketball game.We had 3 turnovers over that stretch and the opposing team scored 8 points to win by 3. Every quarter this year, we play in our schools Intramural basketball league. We aren’t the most talented team, but we play hard and have fun. Our best finish came last quarter when we lost in the first round of the playoffs. The top 3 teams out of 5 make the playoffs, and last quarter was our first playoff berth. That playoff loss was equally as tragic. I missed a three to win the game at the end of regulation that rattled in and out. We ended up losing in overtime. That loss still sticks with me because not only did I miss the game winner, but I was also ice cold from the field. Similarly, I only shot 6 for 16 for 14 points on Thursday. Not my best shooting performance to say the least. What was disappointing about this loss was that we had 3 turnovers in the last minute, and last one was especially painful. We were down 1 with 10 seconds left, and our point guard lost his dribble, and there was a loose ball that I dove for but I couldn’t corral it and the opposing went down the court and scored a layup. As I watched the other team score, my heart sank. It was a terrible way to lose. I can still clearly see this image today.
The immediate feeling after the loss was one of disbelief and disappointment. How could we have choked this away? We all felt terrible. Nobody ever likes losing, especially me. But how does one learn how to deal with losing? There are two different types of losers: a good loser and a bad loser. A good loser is one that doesn’t hold onto the loss. Instead, they analyze their mistakes, understand them, and try to learn from them. A good loser is also not discouraged, instead they are optimistic. They understand that life will have its ups and downs. They will try to use this loss to grow and work harder to achieve their goal. In short, a good loser will not give up, and learn from their mistakes in order to better themselves. A bad loser does the opposite. They let the loss dictate their life. They feel that the loss defines them, and start to lose confidence. They tend to have pessimistic outlook, and struggle to see the silver lining. Although difficult, one should try always strive to be a good loser.
In my case after our loss, I wrote down the areas where I felt I could have played better. To list a few: I need to play more aggressive, I need to drive more and not settle for perimeter shots when it is not falling, and I need to play better help defense. Honestly, this article was to help me cope with our loss. However, I think this simple lesson can easily be applied to people’s everyday life because losses will happen a lot in life, but the best part about is losing is that winning feels that much sweeter.
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Prabh
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