Jun
9
Rocky Balboa & F.F.B.S.
Filed Under Entrepreneurism, Leadership, Management
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Rocky doesn't like F.F.P.S.
Every suburban American parent suffers the moment when we believe the secret to parenting is in getting our kid in competitive sports; right behind fishing or piano. Soccer, of course, seems the most innocuous; so, despite the fact that most people can’t name one professional American soccer team, we enroll our kids in soccer at or around age 7.
A few years back, a new program erupted on the angst-ridden parenting scene, and it was greeted with great fanfare and excitement as a Revolutionary new program called Fun Fair Positive Soccer or F.F.P.S.
Ever since, F.F.P.S. has been All-The-Rage!! Basically, it has no score, n0 winners, no losers; everyone gets a trophy, and everyone gets a cool-ass jersey… even that kid that picked his nose the entire game.
So what Gene: ‘Why is it wrong that everyone gets a trophy?’Because the good people at F.F.P.S are trying to equalize out the fact that life isn’t fair. Some kids are more athletic. Some have more drive. Who cares?!?! In F.F.P.S., everyone is equal; Losers and Winners alike!
The problem is, well…um, that ain’t L.I.F.E. my friend. This attitude, taught to kids now at an early age, doesn’t prepare children to be either effective or self-aware adults. In fact, it is actually robbing children of a crucial message: Life Is Not fair.
Thanks to F.F.P.S., and other equalizing programs, our society is full of goofy people who think showing up and picking daisies, or each other’s noses, is sufficient to engender a reward.
As adults, the same kids that got trophies for “not-losing,” go on to ask for pay raises and promotions despite the fact that they have done nothing to improve their skills or enhance their marketplace value. They, of course, get really mad; Tweeting, and Facebook-ing, and Yelp-ing about the insensitivity of their employer for not recognizing their daily attendance (productivity notwithstanding).
However, maybe if they had learned the proper lessons earlier in life, they would understand that rewards go to the players who Win and who Contribute. Other people have run the field hard, learned new skills and steadily increased their responsibilities; subsequently earning pay raises and promotions. These people understand the ball doesn’t come to you, you run after the ball, and KICK it as hard as possible!
So, here are a few lessons I hope to teach to my three awesome kids, as I watch them run the ball of life:
1) Don’t worry about your resume – Worry about the profits, efficiency and success of the team. Resume enhancement comes from success. Success comes from adding value. Adding value comes from chasing the ball with all your might. WIN !!!
2) Absorb the beauty of a WIN, and the bitter pill of a LOSS – Only then can you strive and learn and grow. A trophy for losing is like a raise for tenure: Fool’s Gold. Oftentimes, the bitter pain of regret, loss and/or losing something of value is exactly what you need to make you get up and run Harder next time. How many entrepreneurs fail and then, armed with new learning experiences, succeed later in life? All of them.
Soccer players that expect success from just chasing the more athletic and skilled people around the field, or for simply showing up, are kidding themselves and being lazy.
Winners get trophies. Losers get learning opportunities. And DAMN-IT, that’s A-OK and exactly what each of them need and deserve!
If you are wondering why you haven’t gotten a pay raise lately? It’s because you haven’t added enough value to the team. You’ve been running around the field, chasing the athletic kids, wiping your nose on the daisies and the dandelions.
OK…What does it take to get recognition? Easy:
1st – Hard effort.
2nd – Win.
3rd – Trophy.
In that order.
Winning isn’t bad; it’s awesome. Losing isn’t bad either; it’s awesome. With each Winner comes a Loser.
Rocky. Aliens. Mighty Ducks. Cool Runnings. Transformers. ~ These movies have Winners and Losers. Which is why we cheer!! YAY!!! The Winner’s Won!!!
In the immortal words of Ricky Bobby: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
Rewarding someone for NOT evolving is a travesty of nature, a two-headed animal, and most two-headed animals die.
F.F.P.S. should be called F.F.B.S..
And people who demand “More” from life, yet refuse to run after the ball, should be called “Losers.”
Don’t be a Loser. Run Forrest Run!!
Go for the Gold. IT IS IN YOU!
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3 Responses to “Rocky Balboa & F.F.B.S.”
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Rocky 4 scene;
Adriane ~ “You CAN’T WIN!.. Why don’t you change your thinking?? everybody else does!”
Rocky ~ “Because I’m a fighter! That’s who I am.. that’s who you married. We can’t change who we are! All we can do is fight with heart, and fight to WIN. No matter what the odds”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwPb7g_BlXQ
Great article Gene. So true. Amazing how many people can’t see this. Common sense is not so common, unfortunately. I also like the title of your blog.
Your not entirely correct on how FFPS works. FFPS’s goal is not to teach kids “life is not fair”, it is to get kids of all ages and skill levels to enjoy sports and fair play.
In FFPS the kids keep score, they do make individual goals/points and they know who won or loss each game and who made the most goals. The great thing about FFPS, is it keeps parents in check and lets young kids be kids and play a game, without witnessing unsportsmanlike behavior from parents and coaches. It uses a team balancing approach so that each team has as close a level playing field as possible, so the fun factor is there for the kids each season. Which is why you don’t have the same team dominate year after year, like you see in other youth sports leagues.
Every parent wants their kid to be a winner and a competitor. However, I also want them to learn sportsmanship, teamwork and fair play. Even FFPS can’t take the drive or competitiveness out of children, nor does it attempt to. It simple lets girls and boys enjoy a game of fair play for 1hr on a Saturday morning together, without parents ruining it for everyone with poor behavior or projecting their weak egos on little kids just trying to learn and play a game of soccer.
Kids will have plenty of other opportunities to learn “life is not fair” and “its a dog eat dog world”. So I see nothing wrong with showing them an opposing view and alternative in the mix of life’s lessons.
My kids have enjoyed FFPS as well as other regular sports leagues, and the lessons each gives.
*Disclaimer: I was a long time parent volunteer/coach with FFPS. I also have participated in other competitive sports leagues with my kids, as a father of 4 girls and 1 boy.