Enjoy the Ride

Now that I am old and crusty, I feel it my obligation to spew words of dated wisdom to my eldest niece, who is currently involved in an NCAA National tournament.  (How awesome is that? Rocking the N.C. Double A! Congratulations and good luck!) Now, I can pretend I actually know how exciting this might be, as I did attend a national-level tournament in college: our softball team went to the NAIA nationals in Texas.  Ah, the stories of the road trip--two white vans zipping down the highway, staying in Motel Sixes, getting slaughtered by giant women from Nebraska (corn fed farm girls with arms the size of tree trunks). We were in way over our head....this was the inaugural season for the college softball team.  (Lest you think I'm a softball goddess, let me assure you that I wasn't exactly tearing up the field and our team wasn't going around the Midwest crushing opponents--we were just good enough to squeak into the national tournament and I was good enough to be on the college team.) Despite our quick exit from the tournament, we found ourselves giggling into the wee hours, watching a team mate hang upside down off the balcony, eating chili before the 16 hour van ride....good times. Great times, actually. Thing is, all I have are the memories....I didn't have a camera (a real camera--the kind with actual film that you had to take somewhere to get developed).  Memories are nice, but photos would have been better.

Thankfully, we were too stupid (ignorant? naive?) to be nervous.  We had a really good time.  Sure, we were intimidated by the size of those Nebraskan corn-fed-giants, but we weren't freaked out, per se. Had I actually thought about what we were doing and that we were on the national level, I would probably have vomited on home plate and passed out as running to my position in the outfield.  We got one thing right on the trip: we had a really good time.

I will pass on recalling stories of our trip to national tournament two years later, as all stories would be too incriminating.

I hope that my niece can have half the fun we did.  The wife says, "we didn't realize the significance of the moment.  We were too busy having fun.  I guess that's good."  She adds, "even to this day, I don't think of that as a national tournament.  I think of it as a fun trip."  I think that's wonderful and the way it should be. When the wife and I talk about nationals, we don't talk about the games; we talk about the antics and the trip itself. Glorious!

It's a whole different world now.  Events are televised or streamed live on the Internet. Teams ride on buses or fly.  Pressure oozes from every corner of the collegiate sporting arenas.  There is potential to have all fun sucked right out of the journey.  College kids are too young for such nonsense.  College is supposed to be a psychological moratorium (Erikson's theory that young adults are actively involved in exploring different identities, given a break from the real world as they figure out who they are), not a time of such pressure.  Give me a bowl of chili and a bunch of farting athletes any day.  

If I were to spew words of wisdom to my NCAA-tournament niece, this is what I'd say to her:

1. No matter what, enjoy the ride. Enjoy yourself.  Don't get sucked in to nerves or doubts. This is supposed to be fun.  This is where you are supposed to be.  You made it this far, so you know you've earned the right to be there. You are making history--what a great ride to enjoy! You will look back at this with pride and wonder (I know I wonder about the whole national softball tournament!). 
2. Embrace the experience.  Embrace the bus ride, the food, the team, the hotel, the arena, the good shots, the bad shots, the missed shots, the amazing shots, the stupid comments, the compliments, the other teams, the crowd, the competition itself.  Embrace the entire experience as you enjoy the entire ride.  
3. Take photos.  LOTS of photos. In this day of digital photography and cell phone cameras, this should not be an issue.  You cannot take too many photos--you can delete what you don't want.  Trust me when I say you will wish you had photos of this event if you don't have any.  Photos.  Lots of photos.  
4. Breathe.  If doubt or anxiety or whatever creeps into your brain, your game, your being, just breathe.  You know how to do this.  Think of your shoe and the message to breathe.  
5. Look around.  See this great thing you are doing! Be in the here and now. 
6. Seize the moment! The wife, aka your sporty aunt, says "this is an opportunity of a moment to be seized." She should know.  She's seized many a sporting opportunity.  (I basically seized the moment to survive without injury.) Take an active role in this life event.  You'll have time to sleep and worry when you're old.  Who cares if you don't get as many hours of sleep as you usually do?

Good luck to you and your team. Be proud, do well, have fun....and, enjoy the ride.  May you leave no ten pin standing.