This is it. The National Championship. The World Cup. The World Series. The Super Bowl. Whether you're a coach or a player, this is the end. What is really at stake? Your reputation as head coach, and this is your last game with your team? Or are you a senior and this is your last game you'll ever play with your team? Did your team go undefeated into this championship? Or did your team survive the playoffs and make it this far? Despite the hours of training, two-a-days, devastating defeats, and memorable victories, you made it here. You're well aware that both teams want this victory. Winning is an honor that is glorified to those who receive it and will always be remembered. However, if defeat is what's given to you, will you be ready to accept it? Will the pain of defeat tear you apart and stay with you forever? Will your final game with your brothers or sisters on the team remind you that everything is going to be alright? Are you going to be ready to lose?

As head coach, you trust your team with all your heart. You've coached for more than 20 years and have won several championships, awards, and coached amazing players who now play at the professional level. This is your last game before you retire and you want to have a great ending with one final victory. Your team admires you and with an amazing legacy as head coach, you are the heart and soul of your school's team. As your team is playing hard in the field or on the court, they score first or pull ahead by several points. Feeling reassured, you keep giving your team confidence and tell them to keep fighting because the game isn't over. In the second half, the game continues to go well, but the other team scores and decreases the margin progressively. Soon your own team starts making little mistakes, which begin to add up, and before you know it, your team is now losing the game. With less than a minute to go in the game, you call your final timeout and huddle together with your starting lineup. You look them all in the eyes and tell them to finish this last game with all the heart they have and that it has been an honor to coach them over the years.

You send your team back out onto the field or court for the last effort to win the game. As you watch them give all they have, you too remember your passion for the game. The love you have for the sport and how you use to play it with your teammates when you were younger is played in your mind. As the final seconds go to zero, across the field, the other team jumps up and down and cheers as they hug their teammates. You drop your head in defeat and congratulate the other team and their coaches. You call your team together by the corner of the field or court. They all have tears in their eyes and are trying to comfort each other from the loss. Not only did they lose their last game of the season in the championship game, but they let you down as a coach in your final game. This was your last game and it ended with a loss. In small tears of your own, you look at each of your players and other coaches and smile at them. While this game would have given you a great ending to a coaching legacy, the journey is what you’ll remember. This loss will hurt for a while, but the joy from past victories and love for your team as a whole will heal the pain. You accepted the loss and are now ready to keep on living life past this moment. While it has played a major part in your life, it isn’t everything. As a coach, you have your family now and can enjoy retirement while still sharing the relationships with your past players and coaches. You as a head coach, were ready to lose.

You as a player are ready for this game. All that stands between you and victory is one final game. You rally your teammates and walk onto the field for the opening kickoff, tip off, or pitch. The whistle blows and the game begins. In a matter of a few minutes you score the first points of the game. You run to celebrate with your team and they congratulate you. You smile with confidence as the game is going your way. As it continues, the opposing team finds a lucky break through a mistake on your team and responds with a goal or touchdown. You look at your teammates and remind them that the game is nowhere near being over. As you walk back out onto the field or court for the second half, you remember that this is the last time you will ever play this game for this team. The whistle blows again and the second half begins.

At the end of regulation, the game is tied and the only way to settle it is in overtime. Now you feel exhausted, but you know what’s at stake. Again you rally your teammates and continue to fight hard. As overtime continues, both teams are exhausted and you are gasping for breath, but you still continue to fight. This sport is your passion and you’ve loved it ever since you could walk. Soon, overtime is over and there’s still a draw. Now the game must end in penalty kicks, shoot outs, extra innings, or another set of overtime. Your coach gives the lineup of who will shoot and you’re ready. Penalty kicks or a chip shot between the uprights are easy for you. Now it's your turn. In the blink of an eye, you take your kick or shot and it goes in. You have helped your team and now you can watch and hope. As the kicks, shots, or overtimes continue, little mistakes are made and you find your team holding on to one final moment. Your teammate must make the final kick to win the game or your defense must hold the other team from scoring. You watch what happens, lower your head, and tears begins to fall from your face. Your team lost the game and now watch the other team rejoice with winning the championship. You fall to your knees and wipe the tears from your face with your jersey that’s drenched in sweat. You go to your teammates and hug them. Through the tears and sadness comes love from your teammates. You stand by your team and watch as the other team receives the championship trophy and while defeated, your team stands strong holding onto each other. This brief moment standing with your brothers or sisters on the team is what you will really remember. With this you, as a player, were ready to lose.

For many players and coaches, the final defeat may not be what they want. However, the true heart of honor in any athlete comes when they get knocked down. When there is loss, a fine line between denial and acceptance emerges. What you choose to do in that moment, defines if you were ready to lose or not. Now it’s all over, but is it really over? The game is over, the coaching legacy is over, but you still love this game. It brings you so much joy and happiness to play it or coach it. That’s what makes it fun for you and that’s what makes you love it. Follow your passion for whatever it is you love. Whether it's in music, athletics, academics, or art, there will be defeat, failure, and loss. What you choose to do with that loss, will help bring you to your ultimate victory.

“Losing is only temporary and not all encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.” -- John Wooden

“That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.” -- Richard Bach

“What makes a legacy? Is it what someone did when they were alive or how they were remembered when they died?” -- Jake Fischer, "The Guardian"