KT Man,
Your life was mostly sports: The center piece revolving around a ball. Soccer, basketball, and baseball, then football and golf. Other sports on occasion for pick up with others. The powerlifting to get better with balls. The whittling down a result of making the team? Honing the skill? Achieving accomplishment? Not sure, but in the end it was clear: Two sports at play and all sports in view: following them on networks and through tournaments. Each sport defined with a broad field of athletes initially and all eliminated over time until one was left. So different than your life with you being eliminated and all of us left on the field. Way too early.
But lessons learned. In each game’s aftertalk, the focus was always on replays and attention to details. What can be done better next time? How can plays and moves be refined? How do teams work together better? The replays of analysis. The focus on improvement.
Well, buddy, we’re doing the same with you. The ‘what ifs’ are endless so we change the questions to improve with you as a lead. What have we learned from you that we should continue to analyze in honor of your brief life with us? How can we take your spirit and move us forward? Without these questions to guide the aftertalk, life has little purpose. Though we all answer them differently, privately, you are the thread.
So, it’s your attribute of competition that’s being honored in today’s letter: ‘Competition is not (just) about winning, it’s about being on your game’. Your drive to play fair and be the best you can. Work with others. Practice. Help out. Show up and play hard. Do what’s needed regardless the outcome.
And in the end, live with the outcome and then replay the game with an aftertalk. Wins still need analysis, not just losses. Sometimes, breaks spell the difference as random events so take them when you can. Sometimes, everything is exactly dialed in as it could be: Beautiful, soak up the moment. Sometimes, everything is exactly wrong with nothing but stumbles: Unfortunate, so live with it and move on to be better next time.
This spirit is what we will live with: You leading the aftertalk. Helping us analyze all the good things in life that you represented and now use this to be on our game. In the event. Getting better every day. Being with you.
We love you.
JT Man