Self-development Insights from a Story about Carli Lloyd

Nearly 27 million people watched the final game of the Women’s World Cup. The star of this soccer (football) match was Carli Lloyd.  The July 25, 2015, issue of Sports Illustrated had a good article, “Aye, Carli,” by Grant Wahl. Wahl shared parts of Lloyd’s story. Here are my take-aways from Lloyd’s story as related by Wahl.

• Never give up on what you love. 

After Lloyd was cut from the U.S. under-21 team, she nearly “quit the sport for good.” James Galanis, professional player from Australia living in New Jersey, rekindled her desire to succeed at the highest levels of soccer. She did not give up but committed fully to being the best she could be. 

• Listen to those who encourage you -- and then make your decision. 
  

It was Lloyd’s dad who contacted Galanis. It was her dad who encouraged her “just to give it one more shot.”

• Commit fully if you are to achieve excellence.

Galanis insisted she make no excuses and commit to making soccer “the No. 1 priority in her life.”  He talked about commitment and that training had to take a place above everything else. In the off-season, she trained twice a day everyday of the week.

• Work harder on self-development than others.
  

Galanis told Lloyd the great athletes, such as Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, “trained when nobody was watching."  And she trained even on holidays because the competition wasn’t.

• Be ready to take advantage of opportunities when they come your way.

When Lloyd was moved forward on the field where she could create more scoring opportunities, she responded with six goals in the last four games of the World Cup.

• Be courageous.

In the championship game of the World Cup, she found herself at midfield and launched a shot high and over the goalkeeper, who tipped it, but the ball fell into the net – a rare goal from midfield on her sport’s biggest stage – a shot she had worked on, had practiced, for years.

Congratulations to Carli Lloyd and her magnificent teammates. Well done.
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© John Ballard, PhD,  2015. All rights reserved.
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Wahl, G. (2015, July 20). Aye, Carli. Sports Illustrated. 

Image, "Carli Lloyd on the Ball" by Noah Salzman from 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carli_Lloyd_on_the_ball.jpg
Used with permission Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
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