Overcoming Obstacles

How can you be in two places during the same weekend in different states nearly 350 miles apart (and not have your twin brother involved)?

These are the obstacles that I overcame to be able to coach both USTA woman’s tennis teams in the same weekend:

• Having one flight oversold from Phoenix to California and being on standby

• A change flight fee of $1,300.00

• Not having a major credit card handy for the car rental.

• One of our teammates not having a driver's license for the car rental.

• Renting the car successfully with 6 minutes to spare

• A seven-hour drive, overnight mind you

• No sleep during the drive (well, about 1 hour and 45 minutes in a lot)

• No phone or Navigation – limited use because of low cell phone battery

• Locating the actual court used for the Tucson, Arizona championships

These are a few of the obstacles I have overcome in order to accomplish my goal of being able to support both teams from our club that went to nationals. But when you achieve your goal, it makes it that much more rewarding knowing that you had many obstacles in your path. You don't focus on the obstacles. You focus on the solutions. Jim Lefebvre, a professional baseball coach and player, was quoted as saying "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal." You see what you focus your mind on.

See, when you are sufficiently motivated and inspired, you can accomplish anything. You can overcome any obstacles. Life is worth living and all the more rewarding when there are challenges and we certainly had our share of challenges this weekend.

Our 2.5 team was playing in Indian Wells, California, and our 3.0 team was playing in Tucson, Arizona, and the drive is close to seven hours. I know because at 11:00 PM on Saturday night, I rented a car and drove to Tucson to support our team and was able to arrive just when they were announcing the lineups to everyone – surprise, excitement and astonishment consumed the players. If that gave them encouragement and a little boost to place third in the country, then it was all worth it.

Ironically, it took a team effort for me to get me there because I didn't have my credit card with me because I'd recently lost it and the rental car company doesn't accept any other payment form when renting the car. Your credit card has to match your photo ID. One of our teammates went to the airport with me to help me rent the car with her credit card and her driver's license and me as secondary driver, and with six minutes left before the rental company closed at 11:00 PM that night, I was able to successfully rent the car. Now I had an address of one of the hotels and the only way to get there was with my navigation system, which is on my cell phone, and the battery was extremely low. So for about three hours, I would turn off my phone, drive the distance and direction that I remembered, turn it back on, tediously doing this throughout the night. I couldn't make it the whole night without stopping to sleep, so I pulled over into a restaurant parking lot and slept for just under two hours, from about 2:15 to about 4:00. When I awoke, I finished the journey. It was absolutely amazing considering the fact that the same road that I was following had no street lights! It was so difficult to stay awake at the wheel. To add insult to injury, my low gas light went on and there was no gas station within miles. When I finally found one just outside of Tucson I was driving on fumes.

I changed my flight by canceling the first leg of my flight so that I can fly out of Phoenix, Arizona, rather than having to make the drive back to California to catch a flight, because I wanted to make sure to be able to cheer on the team all the way through the final match and not be in a rush to leave the team. What is really encouraging to me is that everyone on the team prioritized the team and made sacrifices and came together as a team to accomplish something great.

The bigger the barriers, the larger the obstacles, the greater the reward, and seldom do we have great accomplishments in life without barriers. I stayed focused on my goal – which was to coach the 2.5 team until completion and then to support the 3.0 team in whatever way I could. I was fortunate enough to have the support of both teams to be able to do both.

It was a weekend I will never forget, and it was certainly an overnight drive I will never forget. I know that each and every team member was happy that I made the effort and touched by the fact that I was able to make it happen despite so many obstacles which they weren't even aware of.

My proudest moment was when our number two doubles team, who I helped with some mental toughness exercises prior to their final match, won 11-9 in the third set tiebreak to capture third place instead of fourth place, and experiencing the genuine joy of them winning. I proceeded to run out and give them both a bear hug as soon as the match ended. So the moral of the story is pressure is privilege and never let obstacles get in the way of your dreams.

Suggested Reading:
Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence - Gary Mack with David Casstevens