As a passionate sports fan, I love the idea of different themes and events that take place to motivate fans to watch, cheer, and celebrate teams on television or in person at arenas. From sports such as Baseball, Football, Soccer, and a wide range of different sports groups, it’s great to see passionate people work hard to watch their favorite players and teams become successful. With all the different themes in sports (Being The Underdog, Making History, Redemption, Ambition, and other themes seen in the world of sports and competition) being some of the many common stories we see from sports stars and media networks, I wanted to talk about the strength it takes to overcome issue and  Student Affairs leaders have a lot in common with sports stars.  As role models for different and oftentimes younger people, the pressure, attention, and decisions that sports stars and student affairs representatives make can affect how they view themselves in the public light. Despite being respected and often challenged, I wanted to make this writing piece reflect why overcoming hardship and embracing challenges makes both sports stars and student affairs representatives successful but most importantly, human.

Sometimes, We Win From Losing

Serena Williams is the perfect example of what it means to be a classy, respectful, hardworking, and accomplished champion. As a strong female leader and amazing player, Serena is often viewed to be one of the best tennis stars in both the male and female division. She had a chance to make history this month by winning the US Open and becoming one of the most historic and successful tennis champions of all time. Despite the world rooting her on, she lost to a player ranked outside of the top 15 in her division named Belinda Bencic who surprised the entire world by beating the queen of tennis. With this loss, Serena could have held her head down and felt as if she wasn’t the best because of her ambition to be great, however, she has a lot to be proud of . There will be other wins, moments of her accomplished past, and her drive to overcome this barrier that will make her become stronger as a leader. As Student Affairs leaders, it’s important to let ourselves and the students we work with everyday know that setbacks are steps for major comeback and that their passion to keep working hard matters. Serena, just like many successful people, will bounce back from this and achieve – which is a lesson that we can all use for moments of lost or disappointment. Remember that each day is a new day to be successful and accomplish your goals.

Each day Is A New Season For Success

This lesson, I compare to football season as the 2015 NFL season kicks off with new and exciting story-lines. From the Superbowl last year, the Settle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots after Russell Wilson threw an Interception at the one yard line for the Patriots to win. Starting this new season, Wilson and his team were questioned about the decision since last spring and the team had a hard time reflecting on the call losing a chance at a back to back victory. If the Seahawks let that defeat haunt them, they wouldn’t be a successful team for the future seasons and would lose confidence in their ability as players. The lesson from this example is to learn from setback of the past and to not let them effect your future. It could be a small mistake like making a typo, to forgetting a date for an important event- just understand that those moments do not define you. Your path to success is defined by how far you want to go, so any trips along the way shouldn’t stop your drive for accomplishments.

You Make A Difference

Just know that you make someone’s day by being yourself and overcoming issues and conflicts makes you a stronger, wiser, and confident. Good luck on your future goals and remember some of our big role models face struggles as well. Believe in yourself and work to stay happy, humble, and determined to make a difference.

“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”-Michael Jordan