Well, here we are at post number 100. We began in November of ’09 and after the better part of two years and over 70 000 hits later, it’s time to take a break. I’m very greatful for the support I’ve received in putting this together and I want to say thank you to all the people who’ve contributed in any way to Sport At Its Best. Thanks for reading, thanks for contributing, thanks for sharing and thanks for the feedback.
The blog itself will still be around for the foreseeable future and it is my hope that it can be used as a resource for any interested coaches, parents, teachers or athletes. I’m also open to putting up new posts now and again should I happen upon a good story or if a reader points me in the right direction. One of the premisses of Sport At Its Best is that sport is a vehicle through which valuable life lessons can be learned and that ultimately we should recognize sport as something to enjoy, something we may choose to dedicate ourselves to but in the end, the benefits of sport go far beyond any specific result or performance. With that in mind, I want to say a special thank you to all the contributors, who are all great people with valuable lessons to share, some of whom happen to also be great athletes.
Of the 100 posts, I want to point out a few that stand out. Although the number of hits a blog posting gets is to a large extent the result of which individual or organization sets up a link to it, by far the post with the most hits was 20. We Can Learn From Curling with close to 10 000. The reason for this was that it was linked from TSN.ca during the 2010 Olympics and curlers are very passionate about their sport.
The second most hits by any one post has to be considered one of the best of the whole 1oo. Clara Hughes is an internationally known and highly respected Olympian and remains the only athlete in history to win multiple Olympic medals in both the winter and summer Games. 14. Clara Hughes was about a subject I had heard Clara speak of before, the fact that the satisfaction you feel about an athletic performance has more to do with the challenges you face and your personal performance rather than whether you win or lose. It was also a very touching and personal article about a tragic incident that put sport back into proper perspective in her life.
I would also recommend a few videos that I think really hit the nail on the head with respect to achieving your best. Each is insightful and very relevent to athletes and non-athletes alike because they speak to the mental side of success.
Last but not least, I want to mention the inspiration for the blog in the first place. 1. Sport At Its Best was about my elementary school volleyball coach and a story he told our team one day in practice that had a lasting impression on me and the athlete I would try to become.
Again, I want to say thank you to all who have contributed in any way, however small, to Sport At Its Best. It’s been a great learning experience for me and an honour to have had the opportunity to begin this discussion with each of you.
Sincerely,
Duff.
*So proud* but don’t worry avid readers, his insight and Duff’isms will never be too far out of reach – because if all else fails we’ll just make sure to keep quoting him on our own social media pages. Hooray for 100 posts of Sport At Its Best!
Congrats Duff on your 100th post- well done. Hope to see the book coming out soon!
Well done on achieving this milestone Duff. Thanks for placing such a huge amount of your own time into bringing these SPAIB’s reflections to others. In Australia. scoring a century in cricket is celebrated with a standing ovation – so “great knock” Duff.
Jason
For all of those who took the time to leave a comment, either here or on the Facebook page, thank you so much. The whole point was to reach an audience and begin a discussion about why we do it in the first place and the feedback is a clear and welcome indicator that a lot of us are on the same page. I appreciate very much the kind words about the 100 posts as well. Until the next time…