(S48) PT #3 - When The Going Gets Tough

[bfry]

Stone Wall does not take losing well.  He grew up winning a lot because he was bigger than most of the other kids.  So usually he keeps to himself after a loss and will likely hit the gym really hard.  So in a way, you could say that he quietly leads his team to get better each and every day so that they are on a constant journey to improvement.  The more he spends time in there the more he realizes that the journey will never end.  You can always be one percent better each and every day and if you embrace that mindset then you will be able to grow exponentially.  The trick is to not think of it as work but to see it as a way of living.  He has spoken to the handful of teammates that have asked him why he does things the way he does and the more they ask the more he realizes why he got promoted to offensive captain this season.

[Brad Woof]

Brad Woof is a professional at dealing with losses because, well, he's never known anything else. He's played in 39 games so far in his pro football career and only won a whopping 7 of them. But that doesn't get him down because he knows the future is bright. Hanging out in the locker room, talking with his teammates, Brad takes solace in the fact that even though they're losing now, they're going to be really good soon. The main way he deals with losses is to look forward to all the things he and his team are doing right, and how they're going to pay off in the future. Brad's still a young player so he hasn't really developed enough of a presence in the locker room to be a leader yet, but he hopes that his positivity about his and the team's future is at least a little contagious. And even in the future when things get better, losses will be easier to deal with because Brad will know that they've done things right.

[caleb.grim]

Carter Goad has had the benefit of playing on some pretty good teams so far in his career. Every season has included a trip to the playoffs. However, his team has gone 0-5 in the playoffs and thus has ended every season with a loss. This has left a sour taste for Carter every offseason. Those losses stay with you longer than the blips in season.

Those mid season losses you can shrug off pretty well. You never have to wait more than a few days and you’re right back at it. There is almost no time to contemplate the loss as another game takes priority. It’s those season ending losses that really eat away at the team psyche.

So what has Goad done about it? He definitely internalizes the loss and it makes work even harder. Seeing a big jump in skill level after every offseason is a direct result of making up for the loss.

[Tylertokesome04]

Josh Patterson has had his share of days in the loss column on ISFL Sunday. He has known hard times as a QB and in those hard times he has found the best way to right the ship through very careful trial and error, in his early years, after a tough loss, Patterson would suggest a team movie night to build chemistry, he'd rent out a local movie theater and the team would enjoy the latest comedy to raise their spirits. As he's gotten older and become a veteran, the movie nights have gone to the wayside. Now he views each loss more as a learning opportunity, the comedies have been replaced by game footage on the big screen, the laughs replaced with full concentration on how best to fix previous mistakes and take advantage of the next weeks opponent. Sure it's not as fun, and there aren't as many laughs as there used to be, but winning always improves moods.

[Bayley]

SHL PT

[PMoney]

Losses have been an unfortunate part of Speed Hawk's career so far in New York. Through 8 games, Hawk has had to pick himself up 6 times already which is a big change from the rest of his career to date. While it's a team game and everyone has to play their part, Speed Hawk knows that as a rookie, he has a lot of improving to do on his own game. After each game week, he has made sure to get back in the training room to improve his own stats as there is lots of improvement to do. Thankfully he has motivation from linebacker teammate Perry Passiveman. Perry is a more veteran LB but still on the upwards trajectory of his career that Speed Hawk wants to follow so he takes great inspiration from learning from Perry and the drills he runs, as well as how he runs them.

[DocLars]

After a loss, the most important thing is to never accept any responsibility for what happened. It doesn’t matter how much you lost by or how good the other team was. There is always one, sole reason for the loss: Wolverine Studios. With that in mind, my strategy after a loss is just to pop into the locker room and say “sim gonna sim” and then go about my day. It’s clear that my team deserved to win and that I was the best one on the field, but sometimes the sim gods just don’t want you to win (unless you’re Arizona, but that’s a whole different topic).

While some might argue there is always room to improve, I am always looking for new ways to blame the developers of the game. Grinding film consists of looking for plays where the sim did something a normal person would not. That’s all the evidence I need to show that the game was unfair and that we can’t take the results seriously. When you lose confidence in yourself, you lose your edge. Go Ducks.

[roquefort]

Grit and determination? That's loser speak. You can't win them all? Why the hell not. "Helping boost the team's morale" - UNECESSARY. THE HONOLULU HAHALUA CANNOT LOSE. We are mentally undefeated. I couldn't fathom this question for the last week. I've been sat here staring at this PT trying to figure out a way to answer it - and that's when I realized I shouldn't. My team is the greatest. The players the best, the icon the coolest, the GMs the handsomest. I mean - have you SEEN @LtHudz - thats a guy right there. Don't even get me started on @IceBear32he hangs out with the coolest dudes and looks great in his cross-country uniform. Can't lose with a team like this. Our morale is at an all time high, and we aren't even on our fifth consecutive Ulti win *yet*. I don't need to focus on improving myself because I can't get better. My teammates don't need a pep talk because they love themselves. Couldn't imagine it any other stinking way.

[Dev0]

When a team is recovering from a loss, generally you need to consider a couple things. Firstly each team member handles losing differently, so before anything you should consider how it may effect each member. Generally I would talk to the person who needs the 1 on 1 quiet conversation to help them get their mind right, after that you would address the team in general. No matter what you could have taken that team but it just wasn't the right night, bounces didn't go your way, refs had their favorite whatever combination of cliché reasons why you lost. After that it is leading by example with hard work, this has always been more of my strong suite because I always took practice as serious as a game in fact I would say more seriously. Playing was always more of a fun thing because the work was already done, you just had to execute and have fun.

[yosh]

SHL PT