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FROM GOOD OLE UNCLE VICNovember 2007
Hello, everyone, how are you? Happy Halloween. The leaves are turning. It is getting dark earlier. The World Series is over and college football is winding down. Can basketball be far behind?
The answer to last month’s quiz, how many men did the United States have in the active army at the start of World War II. We had 800,000 reservists and we had registered 1.2 million men for the draft, if necessary, but we only had 270,000 in the active army. By the end of the war, we had 15 million men and women in uniform. Seems I stumped everyone on that one. First time ever.
This month’s quiz, what is the largest indoor tennis facility in the East Coast? Turn your answers in to Jami at Jami.Mignogna@BrickBodies.com.
In October Vicki had the unbelievable experience of playing for the Filipino Women’s National Basketball Team in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association tournament in Phuket, Thailand. My mother is Filipino and married my dad, an American serviceman, shortly after World War II and that link to the Philippines is how she qualified for Filipino citizenship. The other teams in the tournament were Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The Philippines upset Thailand in the first game, went undefeated in pool play and won the semi-final before losing the rematch with Thailand for the championship. Vicki played very well and, all-in-all, it was a very rewarding experience.
The night before the championship they had a farewell party with dinner and, of all things, a beauty pageant. Two players from each team were entered in the pageant and, after dinner, they came out of a side room, one by one, walked across the stage, answered a few questions posed to them by one of the event organizers and then were voted on by the captains of each team and a few members of the media. Players, coaches, team sponsors and others associated with each team attended the event.
In between the question and answer session and the voting one of the beauty contestants from Singapore, wearing traditional Singapore attire, got up on stage and entertained the crowd by singing a popular Thailand song, in Thai! Now, just because all the countries are from the same part of the world does not mean they all speak the same language. How many of you speak fluent Spanish?
Anyway, seems this song is very popular in that part of the world. So popular that everyone, and I mean everyone, started signing. Players, coaches, trainers, members of teams that were competing fiercely against each other on the court all singing together. And swaying in unison. And smiling. And genuinely having a good time.
Now, here I was videoing this phenomenon and it suddenly hit me. This is what sports are all about. These girls were just as competitive as any American athlete, representing their countries and trying to win a championship, but they had a genuine respect and appreciation for each other. They really embodied the words of Baron Pierre de Couberton, the founder of the modern Olympics, when he said, "The important thing is not in the winning, but in the taking part!"
Not in the winning but in the taking part. I had to come half-way round the world to learn that lesson, from a young lady in traditional Singapore attire signing a song in a language I could not understand. But I can tell you, I may not have understood the words but I felt the camaraderie in the room. And it brought a tear to my eye.
I have always been one focused on the winning. Beat the opposition at all costs. No prisoners. Both in sports and in business. Forget the journey. It is all about the destination. But that young lady showed me I was wrong. It really is about the journey. It really is about the taking part. All those girls were winners. And, years from now, many will not even remember who won or who lost. But they will remember that camaraderie. And that song.
"Not in the winning. But in the taking part."
Oh, by the way, the girl from Singapore won the beauty contest. And rightfully so!
Yours in Health and Fitness,
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