I miss "it"

I am a member of NOVA SHRM which is an HR group in NOVA that gets together to network and have speakers on topics in HR. About a month ago I got an email saying Jim Larranaga was coming to the next meeting to speak about "The Art of Retaining, Developing, and Recruiting Talent," needless to say I signed up right away. Coach L is the coach of the George Mason Men's Basketball team, who in 2006 led Mason on a Cinderella story to the final four of the NCAA tournament. A basketball coach talking about recruiting, right up my alley!

I got home from this meeting about 5 seconds ago and had to start writing so I can always remember how I am feeling. Jim blew my expectations out of the water, he is an amazing speaker. He is enthusiastic, optimistic, competitive, hilarious, inspirational, motivational, and a really nice guy. He started the presentation off with a video, none other than "One Shining Moment" (the song they play at the end of the NCAA tournament) to clips of Mason's trip to the Final Four. What is it that gives me chills and makes my arm hair stand up during a video like this? Why doesn't it happen to everyone else? What is it???

Coach L went on to spend him time talking about the 8 C's to building a successful team and he grouped them together into 4 combinations. Character and Competitiveness, you must find good people with good morals and they must be competitive and always want to be the best. Competency and Consistency, they have to have the skills to get the job done and bring their very best every single day. Cohesiveness and Commitment, they must be able to work with others and make sacrifices to make the team better, someone that is optimistic and believes in what they are doing and willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goals. Communication and Confidence, you must be able to deliver messages and listen, 93% of communication is non-verbal. You have to believe in you or no one else will. While Coach was up there talking my head was spinning, everything he said took me to a memory of my days as an athlete. Although I will always say I am still an athlete when the circumstance presents itself, adult sports just aren't the same, they don't have "it."

I miss "it." I miss my teams, I miss running out of the locker room to a packed high school gym of 1200 fans to watch us play the big game, I miss hitting the last second shot to win the tournament, I miss winning championships, I miss the free kick from 35 yards out to win the game against your rivals, I miss team dinners and sleepovers, I miss wearing warm ups to school on game days with cute burgundy and gold ribbons, I miss the last night of try outs and finding out you made the team, I miss traveling all over the country just to play the game, I miss winning the big one, I miss painting our nails alternating team colors and wearing matching scrunchies, I miss it all. I miss digging down so deep for my team because it means that much, I miss winning, I even miss losing, I miss the butterflies you feel on game day (which for me usually resulted in my throwing up), I miss the superstition of having game day underwear (yes Debs washed it) and pregame routine (1 snickers bar and 1 Gatorade in locker room, chew gum during warm ups), I miss looking up to the older classes and then being the older class and having younger players looking up to me, I miss being a captain, and most of all I just miss "it." What is "it?" A feeling? A desire? Adrenaline? Really really wanting to win? Or really really really not wanting to lose? For me I think it is a combination of all of those. Tonight was amazing, I brought back so many memories of when I felt"it." I experienced all emotions during the presentation. I am thankful to have felt "it," said it's over, hopeful it will come again, and optimistic I can get my girls team to a place where they themselves can feel it and maybe I will again as a coach? I don't know...

What a great/amazing/indescribable feeling "it" is, wow I miss it!!