{"id":808,"date":"2017-10-05T11:39:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T16:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/what-makes-champion\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:11:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:11:08","slug":"what-makes-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=808","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Champion?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I guess it was my 13-year old grandson\u2019s love for baseball, that drew me into watching the Little League World Series on TV a few weeks ago. The team from Lufkin, TX won the National games and went on to the World Series.<\/p>\n

All teams, at that level, were great, but I was particularly impressed at the excellence and respect displayed by the Tokyo, Japan team. In the finals, they beat Lufkin 12-2. It was the 4th year for the Tokyo team to win the World Series. Here was what set them apart from the U.S. teams. They practice more than any other team — 11 months out of the year. They play only one sport \u2013 baseball. On game day, they practice 4 hours before the game. As reported, \u201cThey have the marathon versus sprint mindset. Everyone else HOPES and DREAMS to get to the World Series. The Japanese kids EXPECT to get there.” When the Japanese coach was asked if his kids were genius, he replied \u201cNo \u2013 they and their families just single-heartedly give everything they\u2019ve got to get here.\u201d I watched with amazement as they had such great respect for the umpires, opponents, elders and when they came onto the field, they stood in a line and bowed to the American fans. There was so much attention to detail, even after the win. They ran to stand in line, left to right, from the shortest player to the tallest. They bowed to the American team and fans. You could tell they had rehearsed the win, because they knew exactly what to do when they won.<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t profess to know it all about the Tokyo players or their game, but I must have been impressed enough to take notes about what I saw to share with you. An attitude of \u201cexpecting\u201d to win so much so that they are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure it happens. That was a lesson for me, for sure \u2013 getting my “expector” up on whatever I\u2019m attempting to conquer and win at. But, more than their excellent game play, I was taken with their team spirit, their manners and respect. I\u2019ll admit it gave me pause to think how wonderful it would be to see such behavior by our U.S. teams that extends to their homes and lives, In fact I started thinking how we could ALL step it up in respect with each other.<\/p>\n

I remember being \u201ccoached\u201d by my parents to say \u201cplease\u201d and \u201cthank you\u201d, \u201cyes, sir\u201d and yes, m\u2019am\u201d and I think it stuck, because, unconsciously, I\u2019ll say those words even at my ripe age today. We are the best role models for our children. When they see us respectful and honorable, they’ll pick up on it.
\nWhen they see us slamming\u201d and \u201cdegrading\u201d others, it carries over to our children and their respect for others deteriorates. By our modelling respect, our our children gain the confidence that comes from knowing the right thing to do. That respect for others isn\u2019t just the right way to act, but respect and good manners will set our children up for a lifetime of success with others.<\/p>\n

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Maybe I’m “old school”, but I admire seeing a child, when introduced to someone, reach out his\/her hand and say, \u201cIt\u2019s nice to meet you!\u201d I appreciate it when a man, woman or child, opens the door for me. It wasn’t that long ago that men respected a woman enough to get up from the table and pull out her chair for her. If a woman was standing on a bus or event, a man or even a boy would give her their seat. I realize we live in a much more casual society today than when I was growing up, but, it seems we need to revive the spirit of respect, honor, dignity and appreciation for our fellow man and woman.<\/p>\n

I think those Japanese kids had learned the Golden Rule, \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do unto you.\u201d That means, for all of us, to treat others as we would like to be treated, to be a good sport, to say “please and thank you”, to ask before taking, to not talk with food in our mouths, to not take bites that make us look like we\u2019re stashing away for the winter, to not make fun of others, to be compassionate, helpful, and when we say \u201csorry\u201d, we really, really mean it. In no way am I suggesting that we “Bring back the good old days!” I love these days, but I think it’s time to step up our “game” in being the best WE that we can possibly be.<\/p>\n

THE END of this Nana\u2019s \u201cThe Making of a Champ\u201d post, but I hope and pray it\u2019s the beginning of a \u201cOnce upon a time\u201d a champion was created. That champion isn’t only our children — it’s the making of a champion in you and me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess it was my 13-year old grandson\u2019s love for baseball, that drew me into watching the Little League World Series on TV a few weeks ago. The team from Lufkin, TX won the National games and went on to the World Series. All teams, at that level, were great, but I was particularly impressed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4719,4720,4721,4722,4723,1774,4724,3200,1102,774,4725,4726],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-baseball","tag-champion","tag-excellence","tag-japanese-expect","tag-little-league-world-series","tag-manners","tag-please","tag-practice","tag-respect","tag-thank-you","tag-tokyo","tag-what-makes-a-champion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7383,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions\/7383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}