.png)
La Victoria trova cento padri….
Hey–how about that…a little bit of Italian for ya. It’s important it’s in Italian because if you go looking around the internet, you’ll find that the quote igets attributed to John F. Kennedy. It’s not. The Italian is the real deal and the full quote is “La Victoria trova cento padri, a nessuno vuole riconoscere l’insuccesso.” It was written in 1942 by Galeazzo Ciano, Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law and foreign minister at the time.
In English, it translates to: “Victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
In context, Ciano was talking about Italy’s performance and fate during World War Two, but it’s a quote that can help inform people with coaching, as a guide and warning.
The ‘hundred fathers’ referred to the fact that with a military victory, there was no shortage of officers and politicians willing to claim credit for the victory–Mussolini, his general staff, the commanders at the front as well as their subordinate commanders. Confronted with defeat, you get the ‘orphan’–blame shifted between levels with Mussolini blaming his generals, the generals blaming the soldiers, the soldiers blaming the politicians and officers.
You know how this immediately transfers to coaching–when there is success, the team owner, the coach, the stars all immediately take credit, wanting the glory and profit. If the team loses, the athletic director fires the coach to save her own job, the coach pulls scholarships, and athletes transfer schools or go become free agents. All of those “We’re #1!” fingers pointing in the air–they now start pointing at other people–“Your fault!”
But Ciano’s quote doesn’t have to be a total negative. How can you use it to improve yourself/your team?
The first thing is–check your ego at the door! Team success is not about you. It’s about your players. Rather than be reactive and let everyone else claim credit for the success, pass credit on to others yourself: “Thanks for saying I had a great game plan tonight, but it was the girls who carried it out. Beth and Jody did a great job on defense, that let Katie run the offense and distribute the ball wherever she wanted. It also helped we had so many students follow us on the trip–it made it feel like this was a home game rather than being on the road.”
You aren’t lessened by passing credit on to others and acknowledging what they did. If anything, it enhances your true credibility as a coach.
The back end of the quote, defeat and orphans? It’s the same principle. The quote is about passing the buck and avoiding responsibility, so let’s reverse it, not quote to being an ‘orphan’, just to a ‘single parent’. “It was a tough loss tonight, hard to take because we got dominated on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. I’d love to blame Johnny for going 12-40 with 50 yards passing, but I called the plays. He did what was asked, but when you give the wrong orders, you’re putting a kid like Johnny in a bad spot. He’ll try and tell you he could play better, but that’s him being a great kid. The fault’s all mine. We get back on to the field Monday, but between now and then, I’ve got a couple days to fix the game plan so I can put the guys in a position to succeed.”
Instead of avoiding responsibility, this coach is taking it. More important, he’s shifting it away from a player who didn’t do well. The truth is–Johnny may have sucked with 15 ‘u’ in the spelling, but throwing him under the bus to the local paper doesn’t do any good, especially for a young person. You may have had a great plan, but the kids didn’t execute. No matter, you’re the coach–own the defeat, absorb the negative blows so that your athletes can thrive.
They’ll likely respect you for it because they know when they did well or not. They’ll know why you are shifting the blame on to yourself. With most kids, doing that will add to their commitment to the program and your long-term goals for it.
Comments