In London England the 30th Olympic Games are in full swing with athletes from all over the globe competing in a wide variety of this, that, and another thing. Olympic athletes always amaze me. Not just for their talent and skill but more so for the extreme dedication they have made to their sport or event of choice. Copious hours, day in and day out, year after year they bust their hump striving for perfection, striving to be the best they can be.

Practicing, working, and hoping that their best comes through during these few summer days during the Olympic Games. The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius was proposed by Pierre de Coubetin when the International Olympic Committee was created in 1894. For those of you that are a bit rusty on you Latin it means “Faster, Higher, Stronger.”

Bill Bowerman, the legendary track and field coach at Oregon State University and inventor of the Nike kicks we like to swaddle or feet in once said that “Faster, Higher, Stronger” did not necessarily mean that you should just strive to run faster, jump higher, and be stronger than your opponent but to ultimately strive to always push yourself to run faster, jump higher, and be as strong as you can be.

As is the case in many areas of life, not just sports, we cannot control nor should we fret about the prowess of our opponent or fellow competitors but rather concern ourselves only with controlling that which is within our reach to control. These “controllables” amount to a pretty short list but if you can focus on that short list you will most likely be successful in being the best you can be. Sometimes the best you can be ends up besting everyone and you stroll home a hero with a gold medal hanging around your neck and get to gaze at yourself on a Wheaties box every morning at breakfast.

Even though many of these Olympic athletes will go home without the weight of a medal swaying from the nape of their neck they had the opportunity, they gave it their all, and they will forever be an Olympian which is more than many can ever post on their Facebook page.

Could you dedicate the prime of your life to being an Olympic badminton player? I taught badminton when I was in graduate school but I don’t think anyone in my class ever had aspirations of whacking a birdie for the U. S. of A. Maybe some of them had the potential but I lacked the trained eye of an Olympic badminton scout and they fell through the cracks.

I knew very little about the game and had a hard time saying “shuttle cock” without smirking so when I went to my advisor and told him I wasn’t sure if I was the man to teach the class he dug around his cluttered office, tossed me a book on badminton and said, “Read up…class starts next week.” I couldn’t control the fact that 30 college students had signed up for the course, some actually expecting to learn something, but I could control how much I knew about it, and how well I could teach it so I quit whining and did the best I could do.

So as you watch the summer Olympics you will see for some “the best they could do” earned them a medal and for others their best earned them a pat on the back and a picture of themselves in front of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

Until next time…control what you can control, do what you can do, and infallibly the rest will take care of itself…if you’re in the neighborhood swing by for a rousing game of badminton. Loser mows the yard and gives foot rubs…in that order.