When I look at toughness I look at those who are willing to not let any challenge knock you down or even things that get in your way let it stop you from pushing farther. Somebody who fires back and talks with so much energy and even determination and shows you that they can hang with the big boys or even the MAN! is a huge proof of toughness. Like in football where you break tackles, or even Hockey where you withstand hard hits as well, or even in Amateur wrestling where you overcome your biggest challenge and make the big challenge challenge you. Well I usually explain my personal analogy but I wanted to explain where I am coming from first well a late wrestling teammate of mine and he weighed at almost 184 or around that weight, and for him to really take on heavyweight wrestlers I was like wow he is a phenomenon and to see him step up and do whatever is requested from the coach it is really fun and interested to watch. On top of that I remembered practicing with him and even with wrestlers taller than him and even in scrimmage exhibition where he end up getting a technical fall in the most dominant fashion in amateur wrestling which i feel was very phenomenal and outstanding and it is very inspirational to watch. Well for me seeing him work hard and just be driven and deliver the same energy in practice gives me a reminder of how I need to persevere even when as punishment we had to do extra strength conditioning where we did 4 sets of 25 push ups. Surprisingly I pushed through all those push ups, and even was able to do the final one and it realized how much hard work it is to get in shape and build endurance and even work out the right way with energy and intensity. Seeing and understand what toughness means even when going back to when I did the paper route with my brother and on top of that learning what real consequences are and what real rewards are as well, with hard work and mainly toughness seeing the late wrestler Josh Newman succeed as number 4 in the state, even wrestling against the number one wrestler in the state was a challenge for him but really seemed like he was really up for it and it was really impressing. It seems like I typed a lot about that but I had to honor meeting him and being impressed with what he did.
Seeing wrestling does contain endurance and strength as well which combines for toughness. But another sport that does require toughness or can include toughness is Basketball and looking back one of the toughest NBA players that was short for his position but overcame players that were taller than him and even matched up well against them. The player that I'm talking about that made such an impact mainly on defense and sometimes on his scoring is Ben Wallace, the man in a popular draft class in 1996 and was not drafted instead was signed as a free agent. He first played on the Washington Wizards didn't put up a lot of numbers but eventually played well on the Orlando Magics, then eventually made massive improvement playing for the Detroit Pistons, and becoming one of the Most deadly Centers even though he was short for a big man position like the Center, and made quite a few accomplishments.
Ben Wallace massively improved on the court and thanks to his work ethic not just on the court but in the gym as well. One of them which is working on upper body strength and even some agility as well. Seeing him on even big stars, matching up with star tall, big men like Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnet, and even mainly Shaquielle O'neal to name a few. Seeing his development in the game who was undrafted and probably counted out and didn't even think he was going to excel like how he did was impressive leading him to an NBA Champion where he excelled and stood out in one of the biggest moments in the new millennium for the Detroit Pistons, also another moment in his career was his biggest block on Shaq, even though Shaq said it was foul but it was still very outstanding to see a tough guy overcome one of the biggest accomplishments alongside his NBA Championship. Learning from what Ben Wallace accomplished and even how he had to start from the bottom it seems like from my observation is always work hard to get better and even stronger, which really can develop your definition of toughness and "KNOCK THE THINGS THAT'S TRYING TO KNOCK YOU DOWN." To see him even on other teams after the Pistons continue to Excel it has been a major privilege to see a player like him continue to shine in his craft and even in a gritty work ethic like he did.
I am planning to do a 2 part posts on the Definition of toughness and one of the biggest part of toughness is try to push through and become tougher than tour obstacles, and even be tougher than your criticism and even be tougher than your bullies. Be stronger and push away all the strong issues and drama that is standing right in front of you. And also be tougher than all the tough drama and even tough issues. You complain and don't like how things are going and you hear somebody say "Well Tough luck, or just Tough." Well that's where you stand up or get up and stand face to face with those issues you don't like because complaining without taking any action will not lead you to any accomplishment, and even laziness or just being a straight up quitter will not get you where you want to go. Well it probably sounds obvious but another obvious term is: It is easier said than done. That is the part on what I am working on which is taking initiative and not be lazy while I complained so I can't say I am a master at it because I am making improvement because there is always room for improvement in life and ourselves.
So a little over a year ago The NBA basketball team The Portland Trail Blazers got eliminated from the playoffs as a 3rd Seed by the 6th Seed New Orleans Pelicans, in 4 games, YES in 4 games the high seeded team was swept by a lower seeded team? and the major question is how did they respond to that situation, the reason it is a major question is because They had a very big successful season with a very strong finish in which I, myself did not expect Portland to have such an explosive finish and finish how they did last year. For them to finish how they finish I'm sure there were high expectations, especially against a New Orleans team who was shorthanded of a big Player in Demarcus Cousins. So seeing the games and seeing how Portland did try to win and end up falling short in all the 4 games and got sent home in the first round I was very surprised to see that even happen and even where I was listening to songs from Dame D.O.L.L.A and seemed like I had high expectations from them, and was expecting hype from them, and even succeed in the playoffs with a ton of drive, and make it far in the playoffs and unfortunately that didn't happen and it seemed like the real journey began was when they began the off season and then where the long season on the journey to the playoffs.
On a podcast I heard from Trail Blazers basketball player CJ McCollum where he interviewed his teammate Damian Lillard on how he responded to the loss of getting swept well they used the off season to learn how to work harder and even work better. The way to work harder and better from what Damian Lillard said and I'll summarize it he had to look at why he got swept and he looked at himself and his team on what went wrong and what we can do better, and it even led to what he said in and interview and even in the old link where he said, "It's not like you can go back and play the series over again" which pertains to how to move on and use that to learn how to get better instead of letting the pain of the loss tear you down and end up feeling sorry for yourself and it really showed the reason why there is always another season there. Seeing how Damian Lillard moved on and really lived in the next season and focused on this years playoffs and really define what the battle for redemption is, and even displayed it. Seeing the turn around he made and even addressing it in the press conference was worth listening to.
The word Revamp was a big word I feel really resonates with me, because when I heard the Pull Up Podcast It is very interesting on how stoic and poised they were on how they are going to rebound from an embarrassing playoff elimination. It can be really hard to let that sit with you over the year but the thing I also learned is when they go through a painful experience, they try to build from it and even understand the experience of what it feels like to be on the toughest part of the journey. Those Parts I really listen to really shows why they continue to get back into the playoffs and continue to function as a strong team and even in the toughest conference which is the western conference. For them to display so much energy and resilient and fight really displays that they continue to work harder. How the team functions and the dedication to rebound next year and really work hard on what they want and focus on continuing what they want and not what they fail that last year and really channel that really values what you are continuing to fight for.
To talk about my experience well I remember back in 2009 when I gave a lousy research paper and man it just showed with all the help I had and resources I could've used but I was really honestly very lazy and didn't apply myself at all. I was very mad I got a bad grade and really hurt my grade in English class and I had to deal with the consequence of failing to meet the negotiation that my brother and I had, and apparently I reflected on that even now which it has been 10 years ago, and I looked back and I asked myself, "Why did I not put in any effort and take advantage of opportunity to get the help and resource you need when it knocks?" So a year later when I moved to LA, and I only spent a semester in High School and already started college, and when I was assigned a research paper and ironically I end up devoting more time doing the research paper, and even attending the workshops and taking advantage of the opportunities that was there to do better on the paper. Luckily enough I got my resources whether it was book or internet articles, it was quite an awesome experience just really rebounding from what I did last year to just taking more advantage and even getting a better grade than the paper I got last year which was just really applying yourself to get what you want and even what you are striving for.
So the reason I brought that up is instead of being mad of what has been done before and what you failed to do always strive to do better than what you did last year.
