I watched the first half of the Iowa vs UConn Women’s Final Four last night. I had to watch these highlights to know more about how the game ended. Worth a watch if you like tight basketball thrillers. I tuned in because a co-worker told me about the game and how good it was going to be. She was right.

I wanted to check out Caitlin Clark. I love watching how the best athletes approach their craft. She taught me two things watching her compete  in the first half and these highlights.

She was focused last night. She showed some frustration in the first half cause they were losing and she didn’t have a great start but through the whole game you could see it on her face and with the plays she was making. She was locked in. There’s a lot of value in bringing focus to your craft.

The second thing I learned is confidence through the highs and lows, especially when things aren’t going your way. She had a pretty rough first half. Something like 0/5 from three pointer or maybe she made one. Also a few turnovers. She could have lost confidence and stopped shooting the ball. She kept shooting. Eventually her shots dropped. She didn’t let the cold start rock her confidence. I love that.

With NC State playing in the final four this weekend, I heard the name Jimmy V a few times. That prompted me to watch his 1993 Espy speech. He had cancer at the time of this and passed away shortly after. He shared some powerful lessons and stories in this speech that I always find heartfelt and uplifting. 

You can tell he loved coaching. He also loved experiencing life for all it had to offer. He’s got a funny story about his first team speech. He also has a famous reminder that a full day means you’ve laughed, you’ve cried, and you’ve thought. 

What a profound statement.

I connected with someone at my company yesterday as part of a peer networking program that we’re trying in 2024. I found it fun and refreshing to have a conversation with someone in my company world but has a very different remit. We connected on a few things: coaching, team building, values are a few. At the end, he asked an interesting question which was, “when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?” 

I recently read a book that argues against asking this question to kids since it sets expectations and boxes them in. I love that. But as an adult, I also enjoy thinking back on the question. 

I wanted to play professional hockey. When I was 5, I went to my first NHL game. Not in Boston but in Hartford, CT where the Whalers played.  They happened to be playing the Bruins that day. My dad took me, and he knew someone who worked for the Whalers so we got to go to the locker room for autographs. That was my intro to the NHL. From there, I played the sport for about 20 years. I loved playing street hockey and mini hockey in the basement as a kid. Then when I became a teenager, I started to put more serious time in with coaches one on one. In high school it helped me build discipline that serves me today. 

The NHL dream never faded but of course was less and less a reality over time in high school. I learned about division III athletics from a family friend. I was very interested in being able to play competitively but also pursuing academics and having more of a social experience.

That’s what I got to do at Skidmore College. I couldn’t have been happier with that decision. As the academic pursuit led me to what I do today for work.  

The NHL dream lives on. I gave up hockey for 10 years after college for a few reasons but one had to do with the dream never becoming a reality. It hurt a bit for sure. I started playing again and am loving it. Just needed a little time away after it being such an important part of my life for 10 years. 

I think the value of this question in part lies in how you are applying that dream of what you wanted to be to your life today. Is it that you do the activity tied to that professional to still scratch the itch? Do you exhibit qualities and characteristics needed for that profession somewhere else in life? Are you fully at peace with that professional dream fading and don’t care at all? That is okay too.  

Where and how do we find sparks? Sparks are interests, activities, passions, and people that you find in life where when you find them you truly love doing them or spending time with them. Time goes away and you are in pure flow and joy. Sometimes sparks fade or stay going a long time.

I have 2 kids that are one and three, so I think about finding sparks for them a lot. At this age, it’s pretty easy. A truck, a doll, a playground have all acted as sparks for them. My oldest is now loving swim class but it took a few months and wasn’t a spark from the beginning.

This passed week, I donated to the high school I spent two years at to support a fundraiser. I was happy to do this because I was reminded of the sparks that school gave me at a crucial time in my life from seventeen to nineteen years old. Some small and big sparks I found there.

• Got to pursue hockey at a high level and connected me to new friends and the college I went to.
• Got to develop tighter relationships with teachers since they lived on campus.
• One teacher gave me some of my favorite books today.
• Took a current events class on the 2008 presidential election and got to write about it.
• Developed my writing skills in classes that were challenging for me.
• Got to be part of a tight community that I wasn’t feeling in my first high school.

This is a quick list of things that gave me a spark during my time at Lawrence Academy. I think the main gist is know your current sparks and make time for them. Find new sparks too. For parents, be patient and observe so you don’t miss when your kids have found a spark or when you can nudge them to things that might become sparks.