I could be your dream coach!

Easily one of my favourite set of items in the yearly calendar is the annual "Battle Royale" of international rugby between New Zealand, Australia South Africa, and Argentina called The Rugby Championship. At the risk of putting off many European-centered rugby enthusiasts, I prefer the Southern Hemisphere brand, watching as many of the games as I can find. In fact, I am such a massive fan these days that I have successfully convinced Joyce that a "tour" of NZ, with at least a couple of live All Blacks test matches, is on the retirement Bucket List.

Now that's dreaming BIG!

Recently, Joyce and I were out for a walk on a gorgeous autumn day, and passing a convenience store's window advertisement that the LottoMax was now 50 million, we started to discuss how we would go about dealing with a windfall that large. What would we treat ourselves to first? Whose lives would we alter with the sharing of our windfall? It was a very entertaining 20 minute discussion!

Early in our marriage, Joyce was inflicted with a steady stream of basketball related feeds since my passion was definitely focused on hoops. When I made the transition to secondary and started to help Ron Andrews with the Sr Boy's Rugby Team, I quickly found that there was something about the game that resonated with me. Although I remained actively involved with basketball, I found my focus was slowly morphing into a new passion.

Fast forward to 2020 and I can confidently state that my passion for basketball is taken a serious blow, with NCAA/CIS being my go-to hoops fix. I can certainly appreciate the NBA's incredible athleticism and skill, but the revolving door that are team rosters these days makes being a life-long Lakers fan anti-climatic. Yes, I am well aware that they won the bastardized version that 2020 offered, but that was with a host of "new" Lakers, all signed in the past 2-3 years. Gone are the days when I rabidly devoured what the Lakers offered as the roster stayed relatively unchanged for a series of years, and fans were rewarded for their passion with consistency ... and regular championships. Case in point, look what happened in Toronto! The Raptors could have arguably challenged for a 2nd straight title if they were successful in keeping the team together.

It has not escaped my understanding that my "switching of gears" between hoops and rugby is logical since the latter gave birth to American Football, the sport that occupied much of my formative years. I would enjoy an energetic debate with anyone interested about its off-the-chart athleticism, augmented by a raw physicality, and topped with a sauce of relentless action. One of the main tenets of play in rugby is the concept of "advantage" allowing the referee to let play continue despite a rule violation or infraction, ensuring that the non-offending team be afforded the chance to use the situation to score without being awarded a penalty. 

Fun Factoid: The term Fan is a shortened form of the original term used to describe a person that passionately supported a particular team, club or organization ... FANATIC. 

I can whole-heartedly admit that I am an All Blacks FANATIC! Regardless of the sport, those that choose to follow it are given a smorgasbord of styles to choose from when it comes to attacking, defending, or sequencing styles of play. This allows people who endear themselves to any particular trait to passionately support teams that exemplify that trait, regardless of geography. That's how a little ol' "cornpoke" like me fell for the All Blacks way of doing business ... and it didn't hurt one little bit that their way of doing business has been Uber successful over the years that I have been avidly following professional rugby. Had I been raised in a different time, I may have fallen hard for England, Australia or South Africa ... likely not South Africa, though, since I can respect their incredible abilities but I'm not at all a fan of the way they do their business.

One thing I will say about South Africa is how badly I feel for their players following the decision to decline the invitation to participate in the 2020 Rugby Championships due to the ramifications that Covid-19 has presented to their country. With such a long lasting and heated rivalries, the absence of South Africa will be felt by Australia and New Zealand alike. 

What are you passionate about? It doesn't have to be a sport. Whatever it is, if you find yourself with a new opportunity to explore that passion and you're struggling with Dreams that are big enough, feel free to reach out.

I am really good at BIG Dreams!
Maybe I can help?