Every year a professional basketball team wins
the championship. Every year a college basketball team wins
the NCAA title. Every year the best high school team
wins the state crown. All these teams have one thing in
common. No matter how tough it became throughout their season
they did one thing--they held the rope.
What is holding the rope? Imagine that you
are hanging from the edge of a cliff with a drop of twenty thousand
feet. the only thing between you and a fall to your death is a
rope with the person of your choice on the other end. Who do
you know that has the guts to pull you to safety? Who will
hold the rope? Who do you know that is going to let that rope
burn their hand and not let go? How many people you know
are going to withstand the burning pain and watch the blood drip
from their hands for you?
If you can name two people that's not good enough
because those two people might not be around. The next time your
team is together look around and ask yourself, who could I trust to
hold the rope? Who is going to let their hands bleed for
me? When you can look at every member on your team and say to
yourself that they all would hold the rope you are destined to win a
lot of ball games. you see the team that holds the rope when
the going gets tough are winners. When you are down by four
points with thirty seconds to go don't give up. yell at your
teammates to hold the rope, let it burn, but don't let go.
Every year there are winners and losers in all
sports. Every year the winners hold the rope. You don't
have to be the best team on the floor to win the game. If you
play with poise and do what your coaches ask you and most of
all--hold the rope--you will be successful. No matter what
sport you play in order to win you have to have a commitment to your
team. If you are supposed to run three times per week do
it. If you have to lift weights three times per week don't
miss. Once you start letting up at practice or start missing
your workouts you've killed the team because you didn't hold the
rope.
DON'T LET YOUR
TEAM DOWN. YOU'VE GOT TO HOLD THE ROPE!
