Where is your will going to take you?

 "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi

We are coming up on football season quicker than you realize, pros open camp soon, colleges and high schools in August. Many places have double sessions in the dog days of summer, to test your mettle, to forge a group of strangers into a team. If you’re a fan of football we hear about the physical benchmarks as well as the aptitude testing that goes into selecting an NFL draft pick. You also know about the guys who slip through the cracks, and think how did they miss that player. One big thing you cannot measure at the combine or with the Wonderlic test, Mike Mayock or Mel Kiper will miss on tape is will or heart. That is what we are looking at today, the will to win, the will to succeed and the will to live. I love that quote by Lombardi and find that it applies to just about all pursuits.  This article will contain instances in three lives that demonstrate the will to win, the will to succeed and the will to live even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. 

The first person on the list is the greatest basketball player ever Michael Jordan. I will accept no arguments on that, because it is a fact. Sorry Lebron fans and apologists. As a kid I hated him because he always beat the Knicks, and the announcers praised him non-stop. Truth be told we were watching greatness, and the praise was deserved. The first time I took note of his will was during one of  the playoffs against the pistons, they  bounced him on his head, it was more an assault then a basketball game. He did not quit, he did not go into a shell, he got up and kept playing like it was nothing. The next season I noticed he got bigger like he was creating armor, putting the league on notice you will not stop me.  Jordan hired a trainer worked on his craft on the basketball court and in the gym. It was not instant success, that came later after he got some help and the right coach.  One of my favorite games is the flu game in the 1997 Finals versus the Jazz, playing with extreme nausea in Utah he dominated scoring 38 points. Whats the four letter word that fits here? The six letter word that describes this killer? Will and Desire! How bad do you want it? Be honest with yourself.  Do you need it ? How hard are you willing to work for it? Jordan’s motivation was that he believed his father loved his brother Larry more than him. This has made him always try to prove himself to others, it has fueled his need to attack, dominate and ultimately win. 

Next up is the will to succeed. This guy is one of the best football players in the game, he is a perennial all pro, every year in the playoffs, a record maker and breaker.  We are talking about Tom Brady or The Great Tom Brady as one of my friends named him. He was not

always lauded as a great player, many teams passed on him. The only team that called the Michigan about Brady was the Pats. At Michigan he started out as the backup to Drew Henson, this taught him about competition, and competing every day for your job. He did not deal with this easily and often times Brady found himself frustrated to the point he wanted to leave for the University of California. He did not quit, he hired a sports psychologist, learned ways to handle difficult situations, and learned to thrive in that type of environment. In his first year as a starter at Michigan he set record for pass completions, earned All Big Ten honorable mention and was named captain in his Senior year. In 1998 he led the Wolverines to a win of Arkansas in the Citrus Bowl and in 1999 they beat Alabama where he threw for 369 yards and 4 touchdowns. He did not wow the scouts at the combine he was slow in the 40 yard dash, had a bad vertical, did not rep in the bench, but he scored a 33 out of 50 in the Woderlic test. This all converged for Brady to be drafted at 199. It did not dent his confidence, when he met Robert Kraft the Patriots owner Brady told him “I’m the best decision the organization ever made.”.  He also told one of his Michigan teammates he would take the starting job from Drew Bledsoe. In his rookie year he came in had a great training camp with a better preseason than Bledsoe. During  his second season Bledsoe was knocked out of the game by Moe Lewis , Brady took over and never looked back. They went on to win the first of three Super Bowls with Tom Brady at the helm. He took not getting drafted higher personally, but did not let it take away from his confidence or his abilities. It allowed him to elevate his game to a level it may have not reached otherwise. It was his will to succeed that has carried him through, that innate desire to keep go when others would have taken their ball and went home. In his story we find desire, will, and the belief in oneself and in our abilities are needed to succeed.

That is Irene in the front on the left. 

Lastly a story that is close to my heart, a story of a family member who left us in August of 2008.  This is the story of Irene Napoli, and really the story of most of the people in my family. She had been diagnosed with COPD and had it for a few years, COPD is Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disorder. The COPD was a complication of smoking cigarettes, and a further complication showed up in March of 2008 when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer.  The cancer spread into her bones, her brain and into her stomach. They did not tell her how long she had to live, it was not a like movie. The writing was on the wall, and Irene had to choose how to proceed for herself and her family.  She had two choices either get treatment that will make you sick and possibly kill you or let nature take its course. In all honesty there were voices on both sides of the argument in my family, but Irene only had one choice in mind. That was to go for the treatment fight to prove the doctors wrong, fight for her family, and really fight to live. The story of my family is that we are all fighters, it came from my Grandmother Elizabeth Castaldo. Irene had rounds of Chemotherapy, and radiation which took a lot out of her. The treatment took its toll she went from being a healthy, smart, energetic woman in the prime of her life to not being able to care for herself. I give her all the credit in the world she fought and fought willing herself to live another six months. Six months does not sound like much, I know many people in that situation who would have folded like a house of cards.  Irene did not give in, would not give in and she gutted out the treatments because she wanted to live. This has shown me that even in the face of insurmountable odds there is a ray of light, you have to stand and fight even if the victory is for six months its still a victory. 

Someone once asked me how I pick the subjects I write about. In this case, it was a memory that stuck with me or an unseen connection that was not evident before.  You hear it every year someone is a workout warrior or he looks like Tarzan plays like Jane. Then a guy like Tom Brady comes along and the analysts are scrambling thinking how did we miss this guy. I used the athletes as their stories are well known, the mythology is built into the story. This was ended with Irene’s story as it is in my heart, and in many ways shaped who I have become. The connection here is they were either proving themselves to someone or proving someone wrong.   Where is your will going to take you? 

Where is your will going to take you?

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