Our local town welsh valley mens cricket team wasn’t doing very well, played lots, lost lots.

I had just been selected to play (as a 15 year old) having performed well in the junior leagues and having got into the Glamorgan schools set up – briefly.

I knew I was in for a bit of a ‘ribbing’ by team mates as the youngest player; even though I was picked on merit I had to show some extra resilience to prove that my selection was deserved.

Before the game my Jedi father who had played a lot of sport pulled me to one side and said to be successful you need to “bat clever”…..I asked “what does that mean” (in a welsh accent). He said “it’s about the application of resources” (in a deeper welsh accent, imagine Tom jones with no hair…tough I know).

Ok…so here’s the fatherly paraphrase….

“…it isn’t just about you its about your resources “….

I said “what resources?”

Tom continued…(hee hee)… “Look around, absorb the environment…. consider the weather, is the pitch slow or fast, who are the umpires, consider each member of your team in detail, who performs well under pressure, who needs motivating, look at past performances, check the opposition where are their gaps…each one of these are resources you may never consider…you could be fooled into thinking it’s all down to you…..but take the pressure off and learn to bat clever”.

He went on…

“now look inside, where are your strengths? where will those strengths work when aligned with your newly discovered resources?”

He then passed me a light sabre ..actually a Gray Nicholls cricket bat…and we won…and it was fun…

I guess taking the ‘time’ to look ‘inside-out’ to the situation painted a different picture for me. I became better at recognising resources that for many didn’t exist.

I applied my game to bringing the best out of others and it brought the best out of me … what others often viewed as limitations I began to see as strengths.

Yawn….!!? sport stories …. not for everyone….

Part 2 …application of resources….food shopping on a saturday (with kids)…now that was a tester