Optimism | Talent | Passion | Leadership | Selflessness | Encouragement

Some of you know that one of my favorite hobbies is playing flag football. I’m the Quarterback of a team that plays in a competitive league in Waterford. It’s intense fun!

I was reflecting on our game the other night. We had a rough start with the first couple drives. The other team had the ball first and scored way too easily on us. We began our counter drive with a couple completions for a quick first down and then I made a weak pass that got intercepted with a return that put them in place to score on the following play. Not good!

Often this is when teams will crumble apart. Not this time, however...

The team received my apology about the bad pass and told me to shake it off. Furthermore, the team owned our collective errors (particularly on defense) and we all resolved together to play catch up on offense and lock down on defense. I was particularly appreciative of my friend Mickey. He supported me with full confidence and was an incredible support with passion for calling our team to be one in mission and attitude… The whole team was great. I would have a hard time imagining better guys to have wearing the same jersey.

We began by driving down the field and scoring - down 1 score. Unfortunately, we did not stop them on their next drive - back down 2. Then we couldn’t quite score before the end of the half - Down 7-18 - could’ve been worse; needs to get way better. We reviewed our team goals and started strong the next half…Long story short, we won! 21-18

I’ve talked before about the idea of a "first follower" - a leader isn’t leading unless people are following. The key point of momentum is not the leader’s speech, but rather the first person following. That’s when everyone else will join in the march. That first follower is as (if not more so) crucial to the leadership as the original leader.

Another thing I really appreciate about him that he displayed the other night is his selflessness and value for seeing the ball moved down the field even if it means he never catches a pass. He easily could be the top WR - or at least could warrant being cocky enough to ask for the ball to be passed to him more than others. Instead, he takes pride in drawing coverage to open his teammates up - a pump fake to him followed by a toss to a wide open other player. I love team football!
Hats off to my friend Mickey. I’m greateful for who he is and how he helped lead our team to embody the spirit I want us to always carry ourselves with.