For the love of the battle

Failure: every athlete's greatest fear. In fact, it's every student at this school's greatest fear. I frequently hear people complain about how stressed they are for their midterms or research papers. And yes, I fall into this category as well.

I'm pretty sure the only Imagina vocabulary word I remembered for my Spanish test last week was "bajar presion." I'm not saying it's a bad thing that half the school is crammed into B1 on Sunday night, hunched over their laptops and medium light roasts, but it's important to make sure we aren't feeling the pressure to do well just for a letter grade.

We stressed students can learn a lot from athletes. Sports psychologist Jim Loehr has analyzed the ways athletes react to pressure.

The first way to respond is through anger. The frustrated athlete loses his or her cool in the face of pressure.

The second way is to tank. The tanker realizes he or she is going to lose, and then deliberately doesn't try. The tanker is afraid of trying his or her best and still failing.

The third way is to choke. Under pressure, the choker becomes so nervous that he or she is afraid to take a risk and plays it safe. The choker then loses the game as a result of wanting it too much.

Finally, athletes who respond positively to pressure are those who "love the battle." The athlete who loves the battle fights back when losing and fights harder when winning. The battler is not afraid of failure; he or she embraces failure because failure makes us stronger, better and ultimately leads to future successes.

The men's basketball team recently provided an excellent example of how to "love the battle" in their historic journey to the University of Richmond's second Sweet 16 appearance. Each game was more challenging than the last, and the Spiders did not back down to No. 1 seed Kansas last week. Taking on a challenge increases the likelihood of failure, yet it also increases the possibility of greatness.

Why all this talk about failure? Truth be told, I was a little scared of failing when I realized I had to write this column. "What if it's terrible? What if no one likes it?" I kept thinking. Then I realized I had to love the battle. Writing is somewhat of a battle in itself. It's a never-ending process of writer's block, frustration and revision, revision, revision.

One of the greats, John Wooden, said: "Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts." Maybe this column will be the best I write this year, it may be the worst. But it's important to treat failure and success the same and always try to make the next attempt even better.

My final advice to you B1-ers is to have the courage to love the battle. Don't get angry, don't give up because you think you're going to make a poor grade anyway, don't want the A so much that you choke, but DO love the battle and challenge yourself for the sake of the challenge.

Contact staff writer Avery Shackelford at avery.shackelford@richmond.edu