REAL STRESS ???

This is from a note I wrote to the guy’s XC team last fall before districts with a few changes. I like the History Channel and am particularly fascinated by World War II stories. Perhaps it’s because my Dad was in World War II and I always expected him to turn up on a news reel. One night I was watching something about D Day. The retaking of France and the defeat of Germany had begun. The bay at Normandy was full of ships and many of them were unloading items such as tanks, supplies, and men by using amphibious vehicles. The camera panned into one of these vehicles loaded with men and I was amazed to see something familiar. Their job was to storm the beach at Normandy. To do so, they would be left wide open to enemy fire. They knew they were headed for possible death or maiming and one could see the fear in their eyes. Every single one of them had that look. I had seen that look before, but couldn’t quite place it. Several days later, at a track meet, I gazed into to the eyes of one of my runners preparing to race and there was that look. This was puzzling to me because I knew no one was going to die, but yet there was that look.
There is real stress in this world. The stress of racing is way down on the list. However, it is a chance to practice facing stress and to defeat it. Every time you race and look stress in the eye and defeat it you grow stronger as a person. If you begin to feel stressed before a race, smile and say to yourself, “I am in charge and I refuse to be intimidated.” You cannot control what the other athletes in the race are going to do, but you have control over you.
So, defeat stress and race hard! It will be a double victory for you.

Coach Miller