A little metaphor here, perhaps, to teach us all about leadership and, sacrifice and teamwork.
I hope my facts are correct, but if they're not, just imagine they are. It works for this exercise.
I was scrolling through the newspaper, as I do most days now, looking for things of interest, trying to keep abreast of whatever was happening, and there was an article about the former England goalkeeper, Mary Earps. A controversial figure, to say the least, charismatic, unforgettable, massive achievements with the England football team and others.
The article explained the fact that Earps had decided to retire from English football because she had not been picked as the number one goalkeeper in the upcoming European Championships. There is a new young superstar who's taken her place some time ago, and the story retold by the journalist suggested that she had been brought in to discuss things with Sarina Wiegman, the England manager, who'd offered her the chance to be the number 2 and a mentor to the younger players.
For whatever reason, for Earps, this was not enough, and she decided it was time to retire, number one or nothing, apparently.
This is the same Mary Earps who, when the gloves were first taken away, and she was put in 2nd place, decided to take herself up out of the dugout in the middle of a game unbidden and warm up behind the goal in front of the fans.
No one has ever really done that before as a goalkeeper, and it does appear, at least on the face of it, that this was someone who wanted the attention and to take the attention away from the people who are now in the position she wanted to be in.
She also had the infamous spat with Nike, and you may agree or not agree, but it was certainly controversial and certainly visible.
Interestingly, Mary Earps visited the West Bridgford Colts, which is the club that we support and that I have been a coach at for many years, and the feedback from people involved in that session was not glowing at all.
And so, I was fascinated to see this response to somebody who was having her starlight taken away and decided that the response was to run away.
All of a sudden, I was reminded of Geordan Murphy.
By hook or by crook, we were introduced to Geordan Murphy, who is or was at that time the most decorated Premiership rugby player of all time, and he came and did a lecture and a podcast for us. The podcast is quite stunning, and it's linked here; it's one of the best we ever did.
The thing about Geordan Murphy was that when he came to the end of his career, he had one last shot at playing at Twickenham in the grand final, but he had a player in his team injured in the lead-up to this, and he was not the most suitable player to retain in the squad. The management came to discuss with him the possibility that he might not play in the game, which was to be his retirement swansong, but they were letting him decide because he was such an institution of the club.
Putting someone else in would be more versatile and give them more options during the game because of the player who was injured. Geordan went home, spoke to his wife and decided not to play in the game; his only request was that he be appointed the water boy on the sideline so that he could get onto the pitch and be involved with the players in the middle of the Twickenham noise.
Maybe these stories are embellished, and maybe they're not true (but I suspect they are), but the message is the same, isn't it?
If you're in a team, you are in the team, and you are the team, and the team is not bigger than you, and you are not bigger than the team.
Understanding the importance of how to build teams and understanding (for all of us) that there will come a time when our only value is to pass our experience on to people who are younger and better than us is a release and a gift that we can give to ourselves every single day.
If I am not already there, I am fast heading towards that direction, and I'm embracing the fact that being able to give people nuggets of information, help, or advice is a joy and a privilege.
Perhaps it's something that Mary Earps might have considered because I wonder when she gets older, whether she'll wish she went to that European Championship after all.
Blog Post Number - 4186
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