It’s a whole new week for the Warhorses

For those that went to last week’s Owen football game, it is easy to get caught up in what went wrong.

The defense struggled to stop the Tuscola offense from start to finish.

Mistakes in key situations caused the offense, which was impressive at times, to stall.

There were turnovers. And dropped passes too did not really help much either.

By the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, players on the sideline looked frustrated, and some even disappointed.

It certainly wasn’t the result Coach Nathan Padgett was looking for in his first home game at the helm.

But the thing about sports is that there is never time to mourn a loss.

As time expired at last week’s game, players and coaches were already thinking about how to improve.

Coach Padgett was probably thinking about what worked and what didn’t work against Tuscola.

Offensive coordinator Anthony Lee was pondering why certain plays did and didn’t work in situations.

Football is a game of preparation. You play on Friday night, and start getting ready for the team you are playing next week.

You have to have a short memory if you want to excel on the football field.

If you throw a pick don’t get too down on yourself. You will have a chance to make it right when you are back on the field.

The same is true with defense.

If your man gets by you for a touchdown on one play, keep him from doing it again when you see him the next time.

As I drove home from last week’s 49-27 loss against Tuscola, my car was silent. At first I felt bad for the Warhorses for not being able to win their opening home game.

Then I started to think about the lessons we can learn from sports.

What if we all pursued the things in life that we love the most with the tenacity and passion that athletes who pursue their craft do?

What if we were all able to immediately forget about our mistakes and focus on doing better the next time?

What if when our “teammates” stumbled in life, we were there to pull them up off of the ground and say “Don’t worry, I’ve got you”?

As the game wrapped up last week I saw a lot of disappointed faces, some grimaces and a good amount of head shaking.

But what I didn’t see was finger-pointing.

I heard supportive words from teammate to teammate.

So this week, when your workday feels long and your patience is low, tell a coworker “good job” and give your boss a high five.

If you make a mistake with an assignment, commit yourself to doing better the next time.

Then go out there with your team and get ready for the next play.