Create Your Own Story
“Players already have won before they even sit down at the table. They continuously spin a story that others get stuck in and every move becomes predictable that hey capitalize on. Don’t get sucked into someone else’s story. Play your own.”
This is a paraphrase from one of the rules on the “Tao of Poker” by Larry Phillips. If you are looking for a book, I highly suggest this as all of it translates into sports and life in general.
What we are talking about here is putting others on a pedestal and giving yourself no chance. They are better. It’s there game. I am just a pawn to make them look good. I am part of their legend.
“He’s committed to Boston College”.
“She has 40 goals in 20 games”
“No one can stop him 1:1”
“They dropped 120 points per game this year”
These are a few examples of the stories that are spread around that we all buy into which turns into “hype”.
Great example of Linsanity. Jeremy Lin was a no name point guard that had an unbelievable run for a few weeks in he NBA. He couldn’t do anything wrong. Little by little the hype grew and everyone bought in. Fans, players and opponents. They got caught up in the legend that was Linsanity. And they all fell victim to it. Until the inevitable happened, Lin became who Lin actually was. A mediocre point guard and a human. Things returned to the status quo.
What does this mean to you as a player coming up through the ranks? Every level of play has the kid who is committed early or the team from that town that never loses. Their story becomes our reality and we make them legends.
Don’t buy into it. Or you will never have a chance.
Create your own story. Play your game. Make them play on your terms. Create your own legend.
This can be a buy product of watching game film to understand what their tendencies are. Reading their story to exploit the holes and then executing that during competition. Maybe they don’t like going left or they have this tell when they are going to shoot. Now the story is how you are going to shut them down and holding them to a career low – not how they are going to drop 50 on you. See what we did there, bring them into your story line.
Some players are going to more skillful than the pack. They are going to adjust and find ways to get he job done. These players are the minority. The top 1% of the 1%. The rest is the buying into the hype, creating the legend. Everyone is human and everyone can be beaten.
Make everyone a character in your story. Write your own legend.
