I wanted to share this with you. My basketball team had a setback this week on the day of our season opener. Several players made several poor choices that meant we had to forfeit our first game because we couldn't dress 5 players. They wrote a heartfelt letter of apology to all parties concerned and then they have rallied together to ensure the same thing doesn't happen again for Friday's game or in the future. Real work got done this week and below you will find the team captain's response to an assignment they were asked to complete about success based on Will Smith's comments about success. It's a little long but a great read. Enjoy because I'm inspired in this moment!
What does Will Smith say about success?
"When my father got out of the Air Force, he started his own refrigeration business. I might have been 12 and my brother nine when one day, he decided he wanted a new front wall at his shop. He tore the old one down; it was probably 16 feet high and 40 feet long. And he told us that this was going to be our gig over the summer. We were standing there thinking, ‘There will never, ever, be a wall here again.’ We went brick by brick for the entire summer and into winter and then back into spring. One day, there was a wall there again. I know my dad had been planning this for a long time. He said, 'Now, don't you all ever tell me there's something you can't do.' And he walked into the shop. The thing I connect to is: I do not have to build a perfect wall today. I just have to lay a perfect brick."
The assignment: In a reflection (at least one page but don't limit yourself), based on the events of yesterday, how does Will Smith's quote apply to you and the Woodroffe basketball team? What message do you get from this quote?
What does Will Smith say about success?
"When my father got out of the Air Force, he started his own refrigeration business. I might have been 12 and my brother nine when one day, he decided he wanted a new front wall at his shop. He tore the old one down; it was probably 16 feet high and 40 feet long. And he told us that this was going to be our gig over the summer. We were standing there thinking, ‘There will never, ever, be a wall here again.’ We went brick by brick for the entire summer and into winter and then back into spring. One day, there was a wall there again. I know my dad had been planning this for a long time. He said, 'Now, don't you all ever tell me there's something you can't do.' And he walked into the shop. The thing I connect to is: I do not have to build a perfect wall today. I just have to lay a perfect brick."
The assignment: In a reflection (at least one page but don't limit yourself), based on the events of yesterday, how does Will Smith's quote apply to you and the Woodroffe basketball team? What message do you get from this quote?
We, the wall by Nick Boon
We will be Will Smith’s wall. We, the Senior Boys Woodroffe Basketball Team, will be Will Smith’s wall. And each and every one of us is a brick. As Will Smith says, ‘I do not have to build a perfect wall today. I just have to lay a perfect brick.’ Each and every one of us, the players and pieces of this team and organization, is a brick. And collectively, we are the wall. But we do not have to be that perfect wall - especially not today. We can strive to be that perfect wall today all we want, but it cannot be expected of us and we should not expect it of ourselves. However, we must each, individually, strive to be that perfect brick so as to contribute to that perfect wall. We must strive to be that perfect wall later, not now. We must be patient, and realize that success will come from, and directly because of, each of our work and time put into becoming our own perfect brick, a piece to that perfect wall. But at the same time we cannot simply work on ourselves personally, nor can we work only on our personal games. We need to realize that we are a team. We need to realize that we must work on ourselves WITHIN our team. It is our responsibility to improve ourselves, as people, as students, as players, but it is also our responsibility to work on our performance as a part of this team: as a part of this wall.
Every day, every practice, and every game is a brick. Every day, every practice, and every game is a piece to the puzzle that is this team. Every day, every practice, and every game needs to be treated as if it is a NECESSARY piece to our wall, to our team. Our wall cannot be complete with gaping holes where our bricks should be. And the more perfect every day, every practice, and every game is, the more perfect our wall will be. The more perfectly placed bricks, the better the wall can, and will, be.
The perfect wall will not crumble. The perfect wall will not crack. Neither pressure nor time will break down the perfect wall. And why? Because it’s perfect. Perfection does not crumble. Perfection does not crack. Perfection will not succumb to wear and tear. Perfection will not succumb to pressure or time. It is perfect.
This perfect wall must be what we strive for. Not now, not next week, not even next month. But we should want, and should strive to be, the perfect wall by season’s end. To become that perfect wall, that perfect team, we need to begin laying the bricks now. Each day, each practice, each game, and each player is a brick in our wall. The more perfect each piece is the more perfect the final product will be. Is it so unreasonable that each of us works to make each day a perfect brick? Is it so unreasonable that each of us works to make each practice a perfect brick? Is it so unreasonable that each of us works to make each game a perfect brick? Is it so unreasonable that each of us works to make each of us a perfect brick? Absolutely not. Why wouldn’t each of us want to be perfect? Why wouldn’t each of us want this team to be perfect? We should WANT perfection. Is that not what we strive for in so many other areas of our life?
Will Smith doubted that his wall would ever be complete. He did not believe, at the beginning, that this wall would ever become a reality. It’s natural to doubt yourself in the face of a challenge. But you cannot allow this doubt to hold you back from achieving that challenge, from overcoming the sense that the task at hand is anything but impossible. And it took months, the better part of a year, for Will Smith and his brother to complete their wall. We must look at it the same way. We must realize the difficulty of the challenge that faces us and we must realize that we can only defeat this challenge by tackling it one day at a time. We can do that. One day at a time, we can build our perfect wall.
