Training Adversity

I got to announce my first College Football game this weekend at Wheeling University for the Cardinal football team.  The game ended up in defeat for the Cardinals 7-23 against the Lake Erie Storm, but it was the actual storm that overtook the field that caused the real chaos.  That was an interesting thing to observe as the team that was able to handle the adversity of the situation was going to be in better shape to win the actual game, and it made me think of Bob Bowman the coach of Michael Phelps that would intentionally put him through adverse situations in order to prepare him for chaos.  He would step on his goggles right before a meet, or have the driver show up late to force a rushed warm up prior to a competition, all in the belief that this preparation would prepare him to win a gold medal when things were falling apart around him.  And it worked.  In the 2008 Beijing Olympics Phelps was going to go for 8 gold medal across 8 separate events and in one of these events his goggles would leak through and he would have to race essentially blind to the lines on the pool or where his competitors were.  He was able to do this because he had trained for it and when the lights went out, he simply counted his strokes and trusted his practice work and never panicked in the moment.  He ended up not only winning the race, but he set a WR in the process.  You can read more here.   So while I was observing a start delay for the game, and then 2 in-game lightening delays I also observed the teams. Who would relish in the chaos, and who would try and get as close to their normal routine as possible.  I think the Storm ironically embraced the stormy conditions a little more.  Not to say the Wheeling did bad, even with a minute left they had managed to make it into scoring position and if not for a holding penalty that took a TD off the board the could have cut it to one score.  But alas it was not to be and the final offensive play for the home team was an interception at the 6 yard line.  I also announced the men's soccer game the next night and similar lightening delay happened again, this time resulting in a 2 hour delay after only playing for 10 minutes.  With so little time played, it would basically come down to who could refocus and perform at 10 o'clock at night.  I don't know that either team liked the conditions, and neither coach was extremely excited about playing that late and the official also didn't not want to continue, but in that instance I think the first advantage a team can get is to say to themselves they are better prepared for that moment.  Even if they aren't they need to believe that the other team is taken completely out of their element and at a distinct disadvantage.  Basically don't just accept the chaos, welcome it with open arms. Want to be out of sequence with the events that are supposed to take place and embrace the time frame when they are actually taking place.  Believe that this creates an unfair advantage for you, not for them.  They are struggling with the adversity.  Sure if things go off at a normal time, great, but going off later, or even after a delay is much much better for the team that is just willing to deal with adversity.  I feel like I have seen this in other instances as well.  I remember a cross country race at Cambridge and the UL bus had broke down on the way there, but because the teams leave so early they were able to get another bus and get there prior to the meet.  Unfortunately they didn't have time to complete their warm-up as normal, but there was like a heightened sense of focus from dealing with the adversity and as a team I think it was one of their better races.  In team sports I believe it is called Trauma Bonding, but I think if you can build some of that in your practices and training and be successful in the small things, when the big delays come in on game day, the team that is more equipped for the chaos will win the game.