Win to progress or lose and go home
As the spring season of high school athletics wraps up, some teams begin plans for their end-of-the-season parties, while others intensify their practice schedules to prepare for the last stretch — the Central Coast Section playoffs.
It’s the “do or die” mentality that makes the playoffs so intriguing: watching a team compete for two hours in the hopes of victory is much more entertaining when the stakes are more than pride. The players all know that winning means keeping the season alive and having a shot at the championship title.
Looking into the professional realm of sports, the playoffs are much more intense than the regular season. Best-of-seven game series in hockey and basketball allow for intriguing story lines to be weaved by the media. One team may have never progressed past the quarterfinals, while another team may be trying to defend their second title in a row. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the San Jose Sharks, perennial playoff chokers, have finally started to shed their poor reputation by reaching the Western Conference Finals behind the sublime performance of Joe Pavelski. The Montreal Canadiens overcame superstars Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby to become the first number eight seeded team to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.
High school playoffs offer only a taste of the pressure to come if an athlete continues his or her sports career in college or professionally. So cherish each opportunity to learn how to bring intensity and poise to these high stakes competitions. It only gets harder from here on out.
To those of you participating in CCS in the upcoming weeks, best of luck!
