Excellence: The Theory

See? Bowl cut.

I was born in the 80's, but I'm really a product of the 1990's. Saved by the Bell and Full House were my bread and butter, growing up. I somehow acquired the practice of wearing baggy, cut-off, denim shorts (stolen from my dad's closet) and a huge Chicago Bulls T-shirt. I had a bowl cut. And my tween years fell just after "radical" fell out of common parlance, but before "cool" became the word of the culture. I grew up saying "Excellent!" to anything my tweenage brain found worthwhile. (Yes, I also said "Psych!" and "Duh.")

Fifteen years later, I've changed my perspective on what constitutes excellence. For example, Full House and Saved by the Bell? Not excellent. Pretty mediocre, actually. No longer can I apply the word "excellent" to anything that I find pleasing. In order for something to be excellent, it needs to be extremely good. Outstanding. It needs to be first-rate.

That's how I feel about rugby, and that's what this blog is about. You and I may never represent our respective nations in a World Cup, but that doesn't mean we can't be excellent ruggers. If you can make every pass, every kick, every scrum, every hit a little bit better than the last one you performed; if you can take feedback from your coaches and teammates (whether it's constructive or not) and incorporate into your next effort; if you can observe the results of each action you take on the field, and use those results to make your next action even more effective . . .

Then you will become excellent.