The Playing Field is Level – If You Decide

© 2002 Boaz Rauchwerger

Another article in this series was entitled “Every Day I Play Like a Champion.” It described an incredible little league baseball team in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, called TLC. The team is sponsored by a company called Tailored Logistics Corporation.

The team’s coach, Marty Maringer, did something different this year. He added a sign in the dugout that read: EVERY DAY I PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION! Everyone on the team, including the coach, was required to touch that sign before going onto the field.

I’m proud to tell you that that team has just won the District Championship game. They won 7-0 to become the best team out of 69 teams entering the tournament. Marty reports that the scores for the team’s last six games in the tournament were: 7-4, 12-3, 4-0, 6-0, 11-0 and 7-0. The team did not allow a single run in their last four games!

What’s even more impressive is that the players and the coaches were not surprised by the results – it was expected. Therein lies the lesson for this week. These youngsters could teach all of us adults a thing or two about leveling the playing field.

Because I agree with Marty Maringer that it’s amazing how much correlation there is between the winning attitude of this baseball team and attitudes that can be applied to the workplace, I’ll let Marty pick up the story from here…

“Last year our pitching was marginal and we identified it as an area for improvement. Through BEHAVIOR (kids willingly attended our own “pitching camp” last winter to work on balance, agility, and endurance exercises required to become better pitchers), ATTITUDE (during the camp, the kids set goals to accomplish, including winning the league and district championships – and they developed a strong belief that these goals would be accomplished), and TECHNIQUE (they practiced, practiced, practiced pitching), a previous weakness was transformed into a huge strength for this year’s team.

Then we met Boaz and the EVERY DAY I PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION sign he suggested became the final affirmation that made this team unbeatable. We simply did not allow the other teams to score! We came from behind many times and won our last 16 games overall.

It’s important to realize that about half of the kids on the team had never been on a championship team. I feel proud that they now have the experience of being champions twice (for our league and for the district) in the past three weeks.”

Thank you, Marty, for the valuable lessons that your winning team learned and put into practice. They found a way, with their attitudes, to level the playing field.

Too many times I see people of all ages walking away from their dreams because they don’t feel qualified, or special enough, or talented enough or because they feel they don’t have enough knowledge. In today’s world, the people making things happen aren’t especially gifted, or privileged, or well connected or financially strong. They simply had a dream and had the courage and the urgency to take action.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Marty’s players didn’t instantly win the championship. They took one step at a time and they believed – in fact, they EXPECTED to win.

So, the important question is this: What dreams should you dust off and bring into reality? Open your mind to the possibility that that which you have thought about for so long could possibly come to fruition. Visualize how it would be to accomplish that dream. Make a decision to take action and then take small steps every day.

In today’s economy, with the incredible technology we have, it has never been easier to create something new, to start a company, to partner with an existing company, to write a book, to start a trend. People just like you are doing just that every day. Marty Maringer’s team suggests you come up to bat. The playing field has been leveled. It’s your turn to PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION!

A Daily 'Field of Dreams' Affirmation

I have the faith to take small steps every day to accomplish my dream.