Things happen. You don’t always get what you want. You might win. You might lose. It’s what you do after that defines who you are.

The sports season at Argo Community High School brings a lot of emotions. Teams are experiencing misfortune in losing a couple of their games. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t winning though. But does the losing impact their winning attitudes?

“Losing can be a driving force moving forward,” says Coach Rossberg, the coach for Argo’s varsity football team.

But losing may affect the player more than the coaches according to the Michigan State University: Sports Coaching & Leadership Blog. Athletes can also ruminate on their negative thoughts, replaying their mistakes and missed opportunities long after the competition ended.

Losing might hurt, but it always brings good opportunities to fix mistakes and come back better than ever because “nobody like to lose two times in a row” according to LaVar Barfield, a varsity football player.

You always have room to step your game up and make yourself better. You have just have to keep going.

“Not everything will go your way, you cannot control everything in life. The only thing you can control is how you react to it,” says Rossberg.

Losing shows you what you can work on in practice and how to make your playing better for the next game. You know your weakness.

“We always have things to correct or build off of.  There are always positives and negatives that occur in a loss,” says Rossberg. “We prepare the same way, just more emphasis on certain areas that need improvement.”

For the athlete, the perspective and mood is different from the coach. They might not feel that same pain as same as the players, which makes them respond different.

“We just lock in,” says Barfield. “We just keep working on the working we been working on, so we don’t make the same mistakes we made that last game.”

Losing teaches you life lessons, not just for sports, but for life.