Risk and Baseball
By: Frank Moore
Every week we have a high performing employee run a motivational meeting for the rest of the team! This week, Frank Moore, had the opportunity to run the meeting! Here it is:
Back in High school, there was a critical moment in one of
the most important games I have played in my career. Our second basemen was injured, leaving one
of the most important positions in the infield open, and with no back up second
basemen to fill in, our team was very vulnerable. At that point, I decided that without any
risk, there can be no rewards and hesitantly stuck my hand out in the air to
prepare to play a position I have never played before, and knew nothing
about.
As the first inning drew to a close, a ball rolled right
threw my legs. At this point, I thought
I had one of two options, lose my attitude, give up and go back to a position I
was comfortable with, or push on and adapt on the fly as best I could. I never had a problem with offence and
luckily my bat kept us alive in that game as we pushed on towards the final
innings.
As I played on, my defense improved, and with that new found
confidence I quickly found myself playing the game of my life. It all came down to the final inning, and as
dramatically as possible the final swing with the bases loaded and the game all
tied up. If I had given up I would
never have had the opportunity to step up to the plate in the seventh and make
that game winning swing, (grand slam by the way).
And now we come to that pivotal point in any story, the
moral of course. Have you figured it out
by now? Well Just in case you haven’t,
there happen to be two underlying strengths that have been showcased during
that game. Without any risks in life, you
can never expect to receive any rewards, and just as importantly, to
consistently win, you must learn how to keep that attitude strong even when the
chips are down and all the cards are on the table. A winning attitude and just the right amount
of risks can make a loser a winner any day.