Risk Taking

For all the risk takers out there, take note:

Sometimes, being a risk taker means you've got to just go for it, even if your legs are too short to actually extend across a giant, water squirting beach ball. It also helps to close your eyes really tightly and pray that maybe today, maybe today, you will sprout wings.

Taking risks means trying something new, even if it does leave you a bit, well, stuck. Closing your eyes helps in giving you the illusion that nobody else actually sees you in the predicament you were hoping to avoid.

Taking risks means, well, danger could be involved. This may include a head concussion if your arms aren't quite strong enough to support the downward thrust of your body due to the slickness of the ball and gravity's undeniable force.

Risk taking means maybe looking a little different than everybody else. It may even go so far as to make you appear to have grown a rather long, green tail. Trust me, risk takers will make heads turn.

Sometimes, taking risks may be painful. And surprising. You may just push your body a little beyond what you realized it could do. But that may entail pain. Lots of it. But the rush of the accomplishment, well, there's nothing like it.

Taking risks may require a team effort, even if it does leave one of you plastered onto the ground after a zealous, but maybe overly confident attempt. Making fierce faces definitely helps ease the let down though.

After much risk taking, you may be tired, exhausted even. You may want to give up. You may not have it in you to take one more step. But risk taker, you must press on even if it means all you can do is hike one leg half way up an ever deflating, water squirting beach ball. Risk takers, well, they never give up.

And, if you are tired and aren't too sure if you can accomplish the task at hand, at least look cool while you try. Most risk takers, well, they have the cool factor going for them. What they lack in execution they make up for in looking the part. You get so distracted by their undeniable coolness that you forget they are actually failing miserably.

Case in point, you totally don't realize Hannah is in no way jumping OVER the ball because well, it looks like she's flying...flying right past the ball she was trying to jump OVER. Coolness. Get it. Own it.

Oh and Grant, yeah, canon ball OVER the beach ball? Nope. But he looks cool. Diversion. Again.

And sometimes risk takers go beyond exhaustion to extreme mental fatigue. A fatigue that can only explain why in the world one might hold her nose while running PAST a simple spray of water with no intention of diving into a deep body of water. Beware risk takers. Keep your minds sharp. This may mean doing some Sudoku off the training field.

And finally, risk takers, remember you are role models for the younger generation. So if you are pulling more stunts out of exhaustion than strength, well, you may want to rethink your plan because they are watching and they will model what you teach...including jumping past a beach ball instead of actually over it. 

May these pointers serve you well on your journey of taking risks.