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Don’t Learn How to Lose
Learn to win, right now
After the great hockey coach Herb Brooks led the U.S. Hockey Team to win the Olympic gold medal in 1980 and accomplish the “miracle on ice,” he coached the NHL’s New York Rangers for a few years. After his NHL stint, he took a step back and started coaching amateur hockey in Minnesota. He went from the greatest hockey coaching job of all time to the NHL — and then back to coaching high schoolers.
But the brilliant coach still knew how to win. And he still knew how to teach others how to win.
Over-matched with No One Watching
One night his Minnesota high school team was playing a Michigan team loaded with future professionals. It was ugly. The score was 7 to 1 after the first period. His team was over-matched. John Gilbert described the intermission in his book about Herb Brooks.
One player recalled, “When it’s 7–1, you look at each other and wonder how soon you can get it over and get out of there.”
But Herb Brooks didn’t care about winning or losing. He wanted to teach the boys how to play. He walked into the locker room and started talking to his team.
“Look guys. I’m not nervous. We didn’t beat ourselves. They made some great plays, and we should shake their hands. But they can’t do that…
