You often hear these feel-good stories about celebrities overcoming adversity. Almost every documentary about an athlete, actor, world leader, etc. involves them overcoming something.
It appears cliché but there is a reason for that. We all face adversity in some form.
I once watched a clip somewhere on the internet of Dan Gable talking about adversity. For those of you who don’t know, Dan Gable (1972 un-scored-upon Olympic Gold Medalist) is arguably the greatest American freestyle (real wrestling) wrestler in history.
What’s much less arguable is that he is the greatest coach in American sports history. Gable built a dynasty at the University of Iowa.
From 1976-1997 Iowa compiled a 355-21-5 record with Gable as head coach. In that stretch, they won 21 Big Ten titles and 15 NCAA titles.
He was also head coach of the 1980 (boycott), 1984 and 2000 US Olympic freestyle wrestling teams. You could say John Wooden (UCLA legend) is the Dan Gable of basketball.
Gable was known as a fierce competitor and absolutely unmatched when it came to outworking his opponents. Yes, I guess I have a man-crush on this guy.
Gable often points to his childhood adversity as a driving force in his success. His sister was brutally murdered in the family home while they were away. This caused tremendous strain on the family and molded Gable’s drive.
In that video I saw, Gable talks very simply but effectively about adversity. I am paraphrasing but he essentially says: “when you see adversity, take it on. But the more prepared you are the less adversity you will face.”
That makes sense. And that adversity doesn’t have to be the murder of a loved one. We are faced with small adversities almost everyday.
Maybe one day you don’t have the energy to go to the gym after work because you stayed up too late watching Yankees-Red Sox on ESPN Sunday Night Ball’s kick in the nuts to the fans.
Fatigue when trying to accomplish something can really add to your load. Something as simple as a good night’s sleep is preparation which eliminates the adversity of fatigue.
Some adversities create fear and anxiety or depression. This is where we learn a lot about ourselves.
Here is an personal example (small but significant at the time). I was pretty much a runt as a kid. On top of that I was a very slow runner.
So I’m small and slow but I loved sports. I was pretty coachable, so using correct technique allowed me to be serviceable in baseball and football.
I was far from a star, but I wasn’t a bench warmer either. However as adolescents came everyone was outgrowing me.
My town was a perennial state power in baseball and on it’s way to the same in football. I wasn’t big or fast enough for football anymore and I couldn’t get around on fastballs.
I don’t play instruments and I was not a criminal. I was lost!
A friend of mine talked me into coming out for the wrestling team because they needed little guys. They needed them so badly I was quickly on varsity as a freshman barely knowing how to even execute a sit-out.
I got flattened match after match. As the losses piled up, so did the ridicule from teammates (accept when I was congratulated the one time I managed not to get pinned).
The worst ridicule came from our senior heavyweight captain. Many heavyweight high school wrestlers are fat and goofy.
Ours was heavy but strong, tough and athletic; he was one of our best guys. The mental and occasionally physical bullying I received was constant and took its toll.
Sometimes I went home and cried in my bed. But like the guy in An Officer and a Gentleman says to the drill sergeant who wants to make him quit, “I had no place else to go”.
So I could run from adversity and quit or I could take on that adversity and endure/belong. My desperation made me chose the latter.
In the coming years I learned how to work hard (Gable says “Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy.”), stay off my back and eventually became competent. My body just wasn’t yet ready to bare the fruits of my labor.
If you want to hear about a 98 lb. weakling becoming champ go watch the Karate Kid. This is real life.
I trained like a champion but my talent level and physicality only allowed me to be competitive and have my moments.
But those ass-kickings and some minor family adversity drove me. After high school my body finally popped (I only have an above-average physique, nothing spectacular). I became more confident to take on other challenges. I got very strong in the weight room.
I even mixed it up in a local boxing gym. For those of you who don’t know, it’s scary jumping in the ring and swapping punches; there’s no hiding from hard truths.
Very few people I encounter out-work me in any capacity if my heart is invested. Adversity became my best friend.
I have even become friendly with that heavyweight from high school. He recently told me he can’t believe how big I got (again it’s in contrast to being abnormally thin; I’m nothing that would turn your head on the sidewalk).
I told him it was because of him and thanked him for riding my ass all the time. I wasn’t being sarcastic; I mean it. If I could relive those days, the only thing I’d change is I would be a little tougher mentally.
There are numerous clichés about adversity/sacrifice. No pain/no gain…iron sharpens iron. They all boil down to dealing with adversity and facing fear.
When we run from adversity/fear it haunts us and will break us. When we run to adversity/fear well prepared it’s empowering.
Win or lose you come out the other side stronger. The things you wanted to avoid might just become your greatest treasures if you take them on with a little preparation. Talk soon.
-Marksman
PS: I encourage all my readers to watch some Youtube videos about Dan Gable. They are guaranteed to inspire. Whenever I don’t feel like doing something tough, I ask myself “what would Gable do?”.