What Does It Mean To Be "Elite"?
One interesting observation I've noticed in the past few years about club ball, travel ball, summer ball, or whatever you want to call it... is the way these teams are named. Have you noticed the increasing number of teams that have, somewhere in their name, the word "elite?" It's like it is no longer good enough to have a mascot represent your team, you must also add the word "Elite" in order to really stand out.
One of the first travel baseball organizations in our state to do this was Ohio Elite. The Ohio Elite Baseball organization was founded in 2009 and has maintained a philosophy of creating an opportunity for some of the top level baseball players in our state to be part of a team that focuses on development and showcasing skills and talents to college and professional scouts. Admittedly, the Ohio Elite Baseball program has done a nice job of accomplishing this goal. Since 2009 they have had over 300 college commitments and as many 16 players who have been selected in the MLB draft.
Suffice it to say, the Ohio Elite organization has lived up to its name, but it appears that its name has also, perhaps, sparked an interesting phenomenon in the world of club ball. In the past few years we've seen a number of teams add the word "Elite" to the identity of their team. The question this begs to answer is, are they all truly living up to the name?
What does ELITE mean? Are these teams and players truly ELITE, or is it just something that has been cleverly thrown into a team name to make it sound good or to try to communicate the level of player you hope to be able to attract? Words matter. Using a term like "elite" to identify a group of people or a team has become trendy. But it has caused me to pause and ponder what it means to truly be elite, and are all these teams (and people) who are wearing the name ELITE actually accomplishing that endeavor?
The Dictionary defines ELITE in these ways:
(noun)
the choice or best of anything considered collectively
persons of the highest class
a group of persons exercising the major share of authority or influence within a larger group
(adjective)
representing the most choice or select; best
Let's think of elite in terms of persons, individually... and even more specifically, every day behavior. What does elite look like, every day? What distinguishes a person from being average to being elite? There is average, and there is exceptional. How can we know if we are just cruising in the day-to-day autopilot behaviors that make a person average, or if we are being intentional about representing the most choice or select version of every aspect of who we are; the best of who we are?
That's a great definition of "elite" (and I can't take credit for it; I am borrowing it from Tim and Brian Kight and the Focus3 Group). To put it in very personal terms, ELITE means this: be the best version of you.
Do you know what the best version of you looks like? I can tell you this, it is NOT found by comparing yourself to anyone else. We may not actually know what the best version of me looks like, but we can know how to get on the path to elite. Let me say that again... we CAN know how to get on the PATH to elite.
That path and journeying every day on that path, looks like this: be better today than you were yesterday, and be better tomorrow than you are today. Just a little bit. Just 1% if it helps to think that way.
This is incredibly motivating to me. To know that I have what it takes within myself to be ELITE... because elite is defined as best. NOT "the best" in comparison to others, but the best version of ME that I am capable of being... this way of thinking about being elite is incredibly motivating.
Here's why it is motivating. If we don't actually know what the best version of ourselves looks like, then that means we are capable of achieving things that we are not even aware of yet. It means there are accomplishments and successes in our future that we would never have imagined we are capable of achieving. But those will only come if we take the path to elite; if we choose our behaviors and our words and our responses to circumstances with discipline rather than with knee-jerk, autopilot reactions... or rather than because it's the easy choice, or the common choice, or the choice that feels good at the moment, or the choice that the majority of the crowd is going with.
The majority of the crowd in this world is not on the path to elite. The majority of the crowd in this world... in any given organization... is just fine with the comfort of the path to average. In school, there are lots of students who could do a lot better, but they are okay with average. They literally do not have to stay in the realm of average. They may never finish at the top of their class, but they most certainly could work at a more elite level for themselves. Yet, they choose the easy path.
There is comfort in average. There is comfort in being in the middle. It's where most people live, and so it's easy to just settle in and assume that's where we belong. Mediocrity. Basically, just place life on autopilot and do what you know you can do, what you're used to, in every given moment, rather than seeking to do what you don't even realize you are capable of doing. It takes courage to step up and choose the path to elite. But the more you do... in small ways, becoming 1% better every day... the easier it gets, because you are building new habits. The kinds of habits that only the elite are characterized by.
NO ONE belongs in mediocrity. No one belongs in average. It's where most people end up, unfortunately. But it is not where you belong. Get that out of your head right now. You CAN get onto the path to elite. If you're a coach and you want your team to truly be ELITE, not just in name but in action and behavior, it can be. It won't be, however, if you are not taking steps on the path yourself. That's why I focused this post in a more personal, individual direction. Because something all elite teams, organizations, or groups share is that their leaders are elite in their behaviors, choices, and attitudes.
There is a way to be elite, and it is not just by putting the name on your jersey. Sure, Southeast Prospects Elite might sound nice as a team name, but is your team doing what it takes every day to be the best version of your team that it is capable of becoming? Are your players doing what it takes every day to be the best versions of themselves that they are capable of becoming? Are you and the coaches doing everything you can to be the best version of you that you are capable of becoming?
If not, then please take the word "elite" off your jersey.
If you are not sure whether or not this describes you or your team but you truly want to be on the path to elite, here is a brief word about how to begin. It starts with checking your mindset. The one thing you can always choose (whether you believe it or not) is your mindset.
While the average mind says it is too hard to make sure you are getting plenty of sleep (an average of 8-9 hours/day) in order to function at your very best every day, the elite mind says, yeah it may be hard but it is possible, and here is how I am going to arrange my time in order to make it happen.
While the average mind says it is more fun to eat and drink sugary sweets and more convenient to eat junk food, the elite mind says, yeah I know those foods taste delicious and it takes preparation and discipline to be able to eat healthier, but food and drink isn't just for pleasure. Food and drink is the fuel of the body, and my body is going to benefit or suffer depending on and directly relating to what I am fueling it with. Therefore I will be more intentional about what I choose to put into my body.
While the average mind says I deserve a break and I have earned the right to "veg out" and binge watch Netflix or do something mindless for hours such as video games or TV, the elite mind says I can be so much more useful with my time and still get as much enjoyment out of it... by reading, listening to a podcast, exercising, doing some act of service for someone else (mow lawn, rake leaves, wash dishes), or practice a skill in something that I want to be "ELITE" in... such as baseball, perhaps.
There is a reason why the people who are at the top of their field, their game, their life... are there. It's because they are doing NOT what the average person does in any given scenario, but they are choosing the more difficult, uncommon practices of the elite. It's not that they don't know that all those average choices are options, it's just that they prefer to not automatically choose those things the average person chooses. They choose to change their mindset from the AVERAGE way of thinking to the ELITE way of thinking.
You can do it. Honestly, most people will not do it. I guess there is a reason why we even have a word like "elite." Because if most people chose the elite path then it would no longer be elite... it would be the common way of life.
But I write this to offer encouragement and hopefully some excitement about the possibility that each one of us does have what it takes to be elite. We have the choice. Actually, I should say CHOICES, because it's not just one choice at one point in time. No one just chooses one day, "I'm going to be elite," and then they are! Screen print it on a jersey... see, I am elite! No, sorry, it doesn't work that way. It's not something you are. It is something you become. And the "becoming" occurs little by little, every day, as you get better at making those elite choices over the average choices.
For those who are coaches of athletic teams and you come to this blog for inspiration or information about coaching, this directly applies. When we teach our kids, our players, the value of choosing the elite path over the average path in their daily living... just watch and see how it begins to translate on the playing field. These players are not just machines that are out there performing a skill in hopes to win a contest. They are human beings who are holistic, which means every aspect of their lives affects the other.
When our coaching not only understands this, but reflects it, then we will begin to see our teams taking the shape of elite... and it won't matter whether it's printed on our jerseys or not.