What Is Success??

I shared these thoughts during my brief comments during last Thursday night's annual Gridiron Club banquet. It is quite a huge event, as over 400 MHS football players, cheerleaders, their families and friends, and coaches/support staff attend each year.

In the past year and a half I have faithfully read the work of Mike Hardman, who chronicles the ups and downs of Mansfield HS sports in the weekly Mansfield News. I really like his columns and articles, as he enthusiastically writes about our student athletes and frequently gives our school great publicity.

In his column entitled, "Something was Missing" of December 4, Hardman reflected on the football team's 36-0 dismantling of rival Foxboro on Thanksgiving day. Though it was a great victory, Hardman postulated that there was something hollow about it, as there was no possibility for a Hockomock championship or post-season play for the Hornets. He wrote:

"... this is Mansfield where seasons are rated on whether you won the
Super bowl or not.... Still, 9-2, which the Hornets finished at, is not
good enough to earn a postseason birth. With the way it is now, it's
basically perfection or bust. That's why on the perfect Thanksgiving,
there was something missing."

I took from this piece two main ideas: 1) that the current MIAA playoff system demands that a football team have a nearly perfect season since there is only one representative from the highly competitive Hockomock League, and 2) due to the unprecedented accomplishments the football team has enjoyed in recent years, the bar for measuring success is extremely high in Mansfield.

True, wins and losses on the playing field are important. However, they pale in comparison to the bigger picture of the successes that students enjoy just from the experience of playing a sport and being part of the team. I think of the approximately 150 young men who gained immeasurably from the tutelage of Coach Mike Redding and his assistant coaches this year. These students have learned skills such as: time management, balancing academics and athletics (as evidenced by typically 75% of the team achieving honor roll status), respect of self and others, camaraderie, perseverance, resiliency, sportsmanship, fair play, and winning and losing with class. These are all life-long lessons that will serve our students well beyond their four years at MHS. The true success of the MHS football program is not the many Hockmock and Super Bowl championships, but rather how well the above traits have been instilled in our student athletes. The same can be said for many other fine sports programs at MHS that have dedicated coaching staffs.

I believe we live in a sports-crazy society, where winning at all costs is often the bottom line. We have enjoyed much success in athletics at MHS, but making the postseason tournament is not what it's all about. True success may be measured by the qualities that our young men and women now possess as a result of competing. That's what our focus should and must be...