In third grade basketball we started playing against the handful of teams from towns that were near by. And we were a good team. We always beat Wadena, Park Rapids, Pillager and the others…but Pequot Lakes…they always beat us.
So many second place ribbons from tournaments because of them.
Season after season…We knew they were good. We knew we were good. We knew we’d never beaten them before and it was going to be a close game every time. We just couldn’t make it out on top…yet.
Then…Star of The North tournament. Summer after seventh grade.
We won.
And as it turned out, all the way through high school, we never lost to them again.
We always knew we could beat them but after we did, we had proof of concept. Which did prove to be beneficial.
But as much as we had elevated confidence from proof of concept…I think once we beat Pequot Lakes, they accepted losing to us as the new ‘way it is’…and the way it is is perhaps even more powerful than proof of concept.
