My last post reminded me of my sports days. Today is no different. Today I want to tell you about the Gorilla. The Gorilla was a senior in high school who was a hairy dude. He was so hairy, everyone referred to him as the Gorilla. Everyone even called him that in the halls between classes. Ironically, he also swam on the swim team. He was fast. He broke a lot of records while he was there. He was also one of those people you didn’t want to compete with. When you were in a competition with him, he’d look very intimidating. He was 6′3” and all muscle.
Before every competition, in the locker room, the coach would gather the team around and give a motivating speech. By the end of the coach’s speech, the team would be yelling and jumping up and down. The team was ready to go. Then, coach would turn to the Gorilla, the team captain, and say, you have anything you want to add? The Gorilla would lean in to the team and quietly and deliberately say, “You gotta want it and you gotta want it bad.” The team, still excited from the coach’s talk repeated the Gorilla, “You gotta want it and you gotta want it bad.” The team and the Gorilla repeated this over and over again, getting louder and louder each time. ”You gotta want it and you gotta want it bad. You gotta want it and you gotta want it bad! YOU GOTTA WANT IT AND YOU GOTTA WANT IT BAD! YOU GOTTA WANT IT AND YOU GOTTA WANT IT BAD!!!!” The team took to the pool. Each week this happened. Each week, the team won the meet.
I share this story because I found that the Gorilla was right. In swimming, and in everything in life, you do have to want it bad enough to go get it. Last week, I shared with you that your body follows your head. The Gorilla knew this and put the heads of the team into the right mode: WE ARE GOING TO WIN! While this borders on having the right attitude, it also reinforces that you have to be in the right frame of mind. How do you get your frame of mind corrected when you just don’t feel like you can get there? If you don’t have a way, get a friend, coach, family member you can call to get your mind in the right frame to be successful.
Remember, no matter what anyone tells you, if you want it, you can get it. And as the Gorilla would say, “YOU GOTTA WANT IT AND YOU GOTTA WANT IT BAD!!!!”
