Hoping to Win

Two students taking a tennis class.

Bob wants to win tournaments, loves playing tennis, and likes learning new ways to be a better hitter.

Chip needs credit for a sports class, and wants to get a decent grade, maybe a B-. He likes the fresh air and tennis is kind of fun, but he tries to do a good job and not lose too badly to

everyone.

They find out that a retired tennis star is coming to help with giving pointers, when the teacher is out for a day.

The retired star even works with each student personally for a while, and they talk about it afterwards.

Chip wasn't so happy. "Ugh! Everything I did, he had something to say about it. I never knew just hitting the ball could be so complicated! I couldn't do anything good enough, it was always needing to be something else. My feet feel like pretzels. Such a hard-edged teacher! I hope Mr. Fernworth comes back tomorrow."

Bob is like, "It was amazing! He showed me so many secrets of how to swing better, where the ball is going, how to move my feet faster. I'm going to win all my games now! What a privilege, to work with this absolute legend. I'll have to practice these new techniques he showed me. How nice of him to come and talk to us random students here!"

What Chip wants is just not to fail too bad, and what Bob wants is to keep winning more. So they hear the exact same words in very different ways.

Being afraid of failure is not quite the same as hoping to win.

It is better to be excited about what we can learn and do, even if it's taking time to get it right. We don't have to be afraid of failure, we can keep looking ahead.