We Need A Good Halftime Speech...

The importance of community for regaining momentum

The Kansas Jayhawks 2022 Men’s Basketball team, the 2017 New England Patriots team, and the 2008 Boston Celtics team all found a way to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. (I feel that it is important to add that my inclusion of them in this post is not indicative of my support or fandom of these teams, in full transparency, I don’t care for any of them, lol.) My personal biases aside, each of these teams became champions by overcoming some seemingly insurmountable deficit in the 2nd half of a game against a team favored to beat them that day.

As a member of several sports teams throughout my life, I have had the opportunity to be in locker rooms when everything was going poorly in the first half of a game and we had to summon the collective will to do something about it. That space is so delicate. Resolve is shaken. Fortitude is tested. The will to win hangs in the balance of whatever happens at halftime in most cases. In the locker rooms of the championship teams mentioned above, I have wondered what those halftime speeches were like. Who spoke up? What did they say? At what point did hope and belief begin to be more convincing than their present circumstance?

We may never know what was said or done in those locker rooms at halftime, but we do know the result. We do know they were together; no one player won the day alone.

Back in my team sports days, the circumstance would have been a large deficit at halftime. These days the circumstance is most likely a lack of motivation at work after years of service or a lack of progress with a personal goal after time sticking to solid gameplan. Either way, a halftime speech is needed and often the best halftime speeches come from others.

This is why we need each other. Life and leadership are team sports; no one player wins the day alone.

In times past, I have found myself in situations like what I’ve described above. Waking up every day, going about the game plan of my workday as it was predetermined, coming home and realizing that the day was now done then closing my eyes for the night resigned to copy and paste the same experience the next day. What was once anticipation for everything that might be ahead of me would give way to surrendering hope and belief for what was to come.

What has helped me most frequently to get out of that unfortunate space is a great halftime speech, practically in the form of connection and community. As is often case, God often makes himself known to me through the people that He has placed in my life.

By way of keeping this sports metaphor alive, there are several things I experience when I make way for connection and community with those who care about me:

1. They remind me that we are on the same team. Sometimes I have needed the reminder that I am not out there alone and on my own.

2. They make me look at the scoreboard. When I think I am losing in life or leadership, the last thing I want to do is check the score. A good teammate or coach encourages me to do so because no one drifts into excellence or joy; we can only reach these goals intentionally. Knowing the score helps you make adjustments.

3. They show me that there is still time on the clock. Fortunately, the game is never over at halftime. We may feel that a deficit is too insurmountable but as long as we have breath there is hope.

4. They know how to get me going. The great thing about people that you allow to know you is that they know which buttons to press. We most often think of this negatively, but some buttons that need pressing are very positive.

There are many other benefits to healthy connection and community when things are tough, but my primary hope in writing this is that you seek it if you find yourself lacking. If you already have access to strong community I would encourage you to commit to making space for it, especially when the scoreboard is not in your favor.

I would love to hear from you! What is your best “halftime speech” moment?

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