Resilience Through Sport

[Music]

i first thought of this topic in october

of 2019.

back then no one had heard of coven if

you were to mention it you would have

thought it was some bad rock band or

maybe a slang term

no one would have ever imagined it would

turn into what it is now here we are

starting october 2020

it is affecting billions worldwide and

has changed their society forever

i think to myself now what is one

attribute that’s extremely

important to help through uncertain

times resilience

i find this often overused and

misinterpreted day to day through the

media

personally i find many articles that

mention oh resilience is so important

and make sure your team at work has

resilience

but none of such articles really

describe the true meaning of the word

resilience

so just get it squared off straight

straight away i’m offering to you the

oxford languages definition

of the word resilience number one the

capacity to recover quickly from

difficulties

toughness number two the ability of a

substance or object to spring back into

shape elasticity

those are the definitions to which i

base off my use of the word resilience

why is this word important it’s because

it’s an attribute that’s crucial in

success

i’m only a kid but from what i’ve heard

is that in life you are met with

challenges and you’re not so simple to

overcome

when faced with adversity it’s critical

to recover through those challenges

and come out the other end otherwise

there’d be no successful outcomes that

for example you’re at work and something

comes in needs to be done by tonight and

you know it’s nearly impossible to do in

one night

but rather than sit there and dwell on

it or go complain to your boss that is

unfair you set your mind to it and get

it done

another example you’re at university and

one of your assignments doesn’t come

back as well as expected

easiest way out would be to feel sorry

for yourself go out and try to distract

yourself

that’s not really going to get you where

you want to be trust me

i’ve tried both ways and i can tell you

that turning away from the issue does

not fare too well in the final exam

rather face the issue head on and think

to yourself okay where was it that i

struggled so you can work on it for next

time continue on

by being resilient in overcoming

difficulties you’ll find the key to your

success

now we can understand my resilience is

important for resilience

we ourselves in society would never go

anywhere nothing good would ever follow

and nothing created

would ever be made we can’t live in a

society where people are afraid to take

risks we never get anywhere in life

that’s simply why resilience is

important on a day-to-day level

but it also becomes important during

events and yes events include a global

pandemic

following the pandemic resilience will

be insanely crucial anywhere from young

children seeking interaction from inside

their houses to adults figuring out how

to and maintaining a steady work pace

remotely

to the elderly being required to do

online banking these are the sorts of

things people will have learned to adapt

adaptations will be made individually

and as a society

during after and the years and years

following pandemic

life will be different no matter how

much or how little you want it to change

during the pandemic this is where

resilience will show it’ll be obvious

those of who have resilience

they’ll be able to overcome unplanned

events and those who are not resilient

that will get lost somewhere in between

it’s a survival of the fittest but where

does resilience come from

well people build up resilience in many

different ways i know for myself and for

some other kids

my age i built built up resilience

through sport

i’ve been in games provincial finals

where i had one chance of the game

one shot finished it off and there was

no way of pausing and coming back

this was my grade 9 provincial final

basketball game

we ended up losing by five i knew that

had i made another two threes or maybe

made that extra jumper

that the game would have turned around

but i didn’t

we ended up losing that game and i’ve

carried that with me since however

i didn’t just end my basketball career

there through losing that game and

knowing that i maybe could have done

something about it

it only made me stronger more anxious

for the next year

to perform better than i had even though

we lost that game

in the long run i came out of it

stronger than i was and stronger than i

would have been had we won

i now understood the significance of

game time decisions and the reality of

there being no do-overs

coming off our grade nine season we were

ready had worked incredibly hard the

entire season never losing a game until

those finals

continuing on to grade 10 the only game

my team had lost up until provincials

was one single exhibition game

seven of the eleven girls from that

junior team were also on the same grade

nine team that had lost in the finals

the previous year

evidently we went into the junior

provincial basketball championships

ready to take home gold

in the first games of the tournament we

had a certain mindset and we went

through every game with incredible

execution

we were focused we were out to do a job

and out to reach a goal

we got to the semi-final game as soon as

tip-off happened we were on fire

first shot first make of the game was my

three pointer and we were up twelve to

three

when i reached for the ball and

something went wrong with my hand and i

got the foul

okay well maybe i deserved the foul and

then my hands started to really hurt

i called for a sub high-fived my

teammate that was picking me out of the

game

and i sat down on the bench and that’s

when the pain really hit

turns out after all that hard work all

the steady marching and all the pushing

i had broken my left hand and i was out

for the game

the girls played incredibly well in that

semi-final game we were off to the final

the next day

before the game i tried doing my

dribbling warm up in the locker room

and this is when i knew there was

something really wrong with my hand

despite being told by doctors present at

the semi-final game that it was probably

nothing more than a minor dislocation or

maybe a little sprain

i knew myself and i knew that i was the

best judge of the pain

at this point in the locker room i knew

in the back of my mind that i would not

be able to play that final game

this devastated me but i didn’t want to

let the pain stop me

so during the final i tried for a shift

on the court i wanted to play so badly

but i just could not use my left hand

which suddenly made the game basketball

quite a challenge

the girls fought hard in that final game

and i cheered from the sidelines we

ended up taking home the silver medal

for the second year in a row

a lot of the girls from that team are

still playing a high level basketball

myself included and although we never

did bring home a provincial gold medal

we cherish every moment we shared

together throughout those seasons

and for me i consider those seasons a

success

i know for myself my hand injury has

made me mentally stronger and i’ve

worked hard recovering from that injury

i had surgery i cast for seven weeks and

it took months for rehabilitation

our school team continued on and played

the club season together and although i

didn’t get to play much during that club

season i came up to every practice and

every game to cheer on my teammates we

all kept an amazing bond throughout our

seasons together

it was evident to myself as well as to

my teammates that it wasn’t what

happened to us but it’s what we did with

it they made us stronger as a team and

as individuals

and adjusting a team after an injury is

an excellent demonstration of how

resilience gets developed

resilience is built like you build

muscle you work out your muscles get

tired and sore beat down a little bit

but then you actually build off that and

they come out stronger than they were

it’s no pain no gain in a sense in order

to build resilience there’s always

something that hurts you a little bit

but you build off that

and come out stronger than you are there

are a dozen other instances during which

i had experienced

or witnessed the resilience of my

teammates and my fellow athletes but you

can get the sense of how it develops

sport is only one example of a way to

gain resilience but there are so many

other methods

resilience isn’t all about toughing it

out though it shows different on

everyone

being aware of the situation and not

learning to acknowledge it is a way you

can develop resilience

embracing challenges throughout life and

recognizing that these are opportunities

to build our own resilience will help

make us stronger

more optimistic and positive for the

future especially in times of

uncertainty

it’s important to remember that through

every diff every difficulty you’ve made

it out the other end and likely even

stronger than you were

having resilience in the capacity to

recover quickly from difficulties

is what helps you to be successful in

the future so i challenge you to go out

there and try something new

try that sport go to that book club talk

to the person in the office next to you

and it’s okay if it doesn’t go exactly

to plan because in order to discover

success in the future

you need to have experienced things by

experiencing things sometimes greatness

and sometimes failure you will develop

resilience