What CUE’s Thunder learned through losing
Winners get the spotlight.
But, what about those who lose? The teams where every dive or spike triggered a sense of dread. Their hard work during practices did not translate on court CUE’s very own Men’s Volleyball team experienced this; with a 2-17 season loss. Despite the scores, the Thunder team learned a lot through their games and practices.
“It takes a lot more beyond just winning to create an excellent team,” says Liam Frost, an Education student who has been with the Thunder volleyball team for two years. “To the public eye, the failure is that we lost all of our games. But the mentality and the work ethics behind our pursuit was actually the biggest victory.”
The team had a tremendous amount of stress on their backs, from the athletes should be warriors mindset to a losing streak. The question comes down to: what went wrong this season?
“It was definitely a mindset thing,” says Noah Michalczuk, who has been part of the CUE Volleyball team for three years, “Losing is almost expected, it’s hard to get out of that mindset. You’re obviously hoping to win everything but I think we went into most of the games expecting to lose.”
They watched plays disintegrate before even taking off. At times, it felt like the ball was out of reach, metaphorically because the desire to win was knocked out before the whistle blew. From the sidelines, there were moments that players’ feet remained firmly planted, weighed down by a season that had already determined its own conclusion.
“We couldn’t translate our skills we obtained in practice into games,” says Michalczuk. “Some of it was lack of preparation, some of it was inefficient use of our time, some of it was that we hadn’t developed a competitive mindset.”
The losses encouraged the players to keep playing, to fight for their teammates, and to not quit at every whiff or shank they encountered. Rather than continue to have a losing mindset, they continued to work on overcoming the losing mindset.
“We did a lot of work behind the scenes, in the gym, late nights, early mornings, weekends, together as a group to establish the culture and the community that we wanted to build. To be able to develop into a team that wins games,” says Frost. “We became extremely effective in our language to one another. We also grew a general understanding that the core of the team must come before the individual.”
Through the losses, it becomes vitally important to constantly improve. Some improvements are through self-reflection or improving their skill level, and for others it’s allowing for life to exist outside of volleyball.
. “If volleyball just consumed me, it would expire. And then after the season’s done, then who is Liam Frost?” says Frost. “I’m proud to be a volleyball player at CUE. I’m also proud to be a grandson, proud to be a cousin, proud to be a pre-service teacher. But those all require a level of commitment.”
This balance extends past letting the loss of a game consume a player, for Michalczuk, it’s also important to enjoy playing the game: “I enjoy the practice… I feel good when I’m in practice”
“There are always moments in each practice when I make a play and think ‘wow, I couldn’t do that before.’”
As the Thunder team wrapped up their season, they were asked what advice they would give to the students who will carry on the legends of their jersey number.
“Athletes should approach collegiate sports more like they would approach signing up for a degree program,” says Frost. “How can I grow? How can I get better? [This is] the mindset we should be going into volleyball with.”
Thunder men’s volleyball might not have the trophies, but they’ve improved as a team and as individuals: “Character over talent,” says Frost. “We can train people to be good volleyball players, but it’s harder to train them to be good people.”
“We train people to get better, to challenge their thinking, to challenge their approach, their point of view revolving around volleyball but consequently affecting their entire lives.”
The CUE Men’s Volleyball team were as dedicated, mostly determined, and took time out of their loaded lives to carry the Thunder name. Winning is not the only achievement that can come from being a part of a team — The Thunder men created unbreakable bonds and learned hard lessons.
“I think that growth and selflessness was a huge victory that we accomplished,” says Frost.
