What is a Champion?

Jun 23
17:09

2006

Bonnie Jean Schaefer

Bonnie Jean Schaefer

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The athlete in me defines a champion as a person or team who wins. Who conquers the competition. Who is the best. At least that’s what I used to see. Until I made the transition from athlete to coach and from jogger to marathoner.

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What image comes to mind when you hear the word “champion?”

The athlete in me sees an Olympic gold medalist.  Or the winners of the World Series.  Or a state championship team. 
 
In other words,What is a Champion? Articles the athlete in me sees a person or team who wins and experiences that intoxicating feeling of conquering the competition.  Of being the best.

At least that’s what I used to see.  Until I made the transition from athlete to coach and from jogger to marathoner.

When I first started coaching high school softball, I saw a team of athletes that I wanted to turn into champions.  To me, that meant beating the competition.  Winning games.

But I had a problem.  I saw them as athletes, competitors who wanted to be pushed to their limits to win games.  So I pushed them.  And they resisted.  Because I didn’t take the time to figure out who they were as people.  I didn’t take the time to figure out what they wanted to accomplish that season.

It was a frustrating, miserable, losing season at the end of which I decided I never wanted to coach again. 

Those girls didn’t become champions because I didn’t understand what a champion really is.

I stayed away from coaching high school for two years.

In the meantime, I ran a marathon.

Deciding to run the marathon was difficult because I knew with my super slow Schaefer speed that I had no chance of winning.  None.  Why would I want to compete in something where the chances of me winning were zero?  It didn’t make sense to me to want to run.  Because I wanted to be a champion.  I wanted to win.

Then at the end of one of my training runs, it hit me.  I wasn’t competing against the other runners.  I was competing against me.  As long as I finished that marathon, I would beat me.  Because 26.2 miles was a longer distance than I had ever run before.  And because it was a dream of mine. 

Therefore, a champion is someone who pursues a dream or goal or objective–no matter how big or how small.  A champion is someone who focuses on the process of becoming a winner rather than actually winning.