Weakness

Since I was the only parent who showed up at my son's first lacrosse practice with my own lacrosse stick the coach promptly recruited me as an assistant coach.

I glanced around at the three boys awaiting assignments for the next drill. "Ok, you're the attacker, you're the midfielder, and you're the defender." Two of the boys trotted off to begin the drill. The boy I had just designated as the defender hanged back and looked up sheepishly from under his helmet. "Hey coach, I'm really not good at defense." "That's why your defense for this drill" I replied.

This particular boy has a great shot, is fast, and catches the ball well. He's a good attacker once he has the ball. He's right though. He's not good at defense. He's not good at finding and passing to the open man. He's not good at getting out of a jam. In a nutshell he's not balanced.

When I first came to triathlon I was a cyclist. My running was mediochre and my swimming was, well, I just plain sucked at swimming. For triathlon I was totally overspecialized. Totally unbalanced. In order to get balanced I had to work hard on my weaknesses. By making my biggest weakness (swimming) my top training priority I was able to balance things out. Yes, the cycling has definitely suffered, but if I look at my comparative splits for events I typically fall around the top 25% for swim, bike, and run. I'm more balanced and enjoy the sport that much more.

He struggled through the drill. The next go I put him on attack. The next two after that I put him back on defense. He frowned each time I put him on defense but he improved and I let him know it. "By working on your weaknesses you'll become stronger. You'll become a better overall player." He nodded, he got it. Mission accomplished. The seriousness of the moment was suddenly broken when another boy piped up "That's that parental wisdom stuff isn't it?" and the whole group cracked up.

A serious message chased by a dose of humor. Now that's balance.