Embracing Excellence: Life Lessons From The Diamond

By Janet Worley, Head of Schools, SkyView Academy

Over the break, I pondered topics for my January community post. I considered writing an encouraging New Year’s Resolution piece. But I found it too cliche. Ultimately, I wanted my January post to honor the core values instilled in me by my mom and to challenge us as a community to live committed to excellence and caring for each other. Reflecting, I decided to take a Robert Fulgham approach to sharing my thoughts.

If you don’t run to your position, someone else will. On June 1, 1925, Wally Pipp lost his starting position to Lou Gehrig. Why? He asked his coach for the day off. Never, never, never get lazy. Period. Enough said. Success in life, like in sports, is earned. If it’s not earned, I would argue, it’s not deserved.

Live life like a 3-1 count. Known as the hitter’s count, 3-1 puts the pressure on the pitcher. Missing location on the next pitch awards the batter a base. The pitcher must serve up a strike to reduce the risk of traffic on the bases. Serving the wrong pitch could result in disaster. Hanging a curveball opens the door to a bomb over the fence. At a game at Metro State, a hanging curveball resulted in a base-clearing triple for my son and a nice boost to his hitting stats. When you live life like a 3-1 count, you sit perched, ready to open the door to success. You don’t wait for the door to be opened for you. You embrace the challenges of life with confidence. You stand ready to succeed. You expect it.

Be great at dealing with failure. Be horrible at accepting it. Baseball provides constant opportunities to learn, especially from failure. As with everything, a response to failure defines you. I assert baseball is the great equalizer. Rarely will a player go more than a few days or weeks without the opportunity to respond to failure. Hunter lived this lesson 24 hours after hitting that base-clearing triple. He had, by far, one of his worst pitching outings EVER. I expected the remainder of the day to fall into the abyss. When I asked how he was, he said, “I just gotta stay here.” He drew an imaginary flat, even line. I knew what he meant. “Be Great at Dealing with Failure.” But he also refused to accept it. When our children experience failure or struggle, does it consume us? Cripple us? Leave us immobile? How do we respond if they don’t get the expected grade or the award we think they deserve? What if athletics offers them a learning opportunity? Do we blame the coach, the ref, or another player? Or do we embrace the opportunity to help them grow?

“As with everything, a response to failure defines you.” -Janet Worley

The name on the front of your jersey represents who you play for. The name on the back of your jersey represents who raised you. Do them both justice. I focus on this lesson whenever I want to be lazy at work or take shortcuts. I cringe whenever I make a mistake or display selfish, impatient, or downright awful behavior. In those moments, I let down not only the community but also my family and our reputation. Not OK. Not even a little.

There is a story behind every number, on every back, on every baseball player. I will never forget when my son first picked number 1 for the back of his jersey. When he and my husband returned from practice with his uniform, I found myself horrified. I immediately pulled my husband aside and suggested that selecting number 1 was arrogant. He smirked and encouraged me “to ask your son why he picked it.” After a 15-minute history lesson on the relationship between PeeWee Reese, who wore #1, and Jackie Robinson from my then 9-year-old, I realized I had much to learn. The lessons I would learn from this sport far outweigh my opinions and shallow understanding. Bottom line: Always look beyond surface level understanding. Avoid judgment. Seek to understand. Teach our children to have open, honest, and transparent conversations and dialogue.

Respect is two steps back. Believe that those around you will hit it out of the park. Respect others and their ability-just as an outfielder respects a batter. By taking two steps back, the outfielder acknowledges the batter’s ability. It also presumes the success of others.

If you lack the will to dive, you lack the will to win. If you don’t go all out all the time, you don’t want it bad enough. If my son’s uniform came off the field clean, I reminded him he committed to go all out for his team. A clean uniform meant he made no sacrifice and took no risks. Baseballism sums it up this way, “Bruises go away; errors last forever.” Second place is the first loser. The same is true for life. If you don’t work hard all the time, giving 110%, do you really want to succeed as much as you say you do?

“If you don’t go all out all the time, you don’t want it bad enough.” -Janet Worley

When in doubt, slide. No matter what obstacle you face, face it full force, focused on success. If you don’t think you’ll make it safely to the other side, throw your entire heart, soul, and body into it anyway. No regrets. No halfways. Do whatever you can to avoid the tag. Don’t expect the base to be handed to you.

The player you are today should be able to outplay the player you were yesterday. After spending 10 weeks training with Lightning Baseball, my son earned a spot on their summer roster. He was over the moon. Why? The focus at Lightning extends FAR beyond winning. The coaches at Lightning Baseball expect the PLAYERS to prioritize improving play for the next level. They expect the PLAYERS to model excellence on and off the field. They expect the PLAYER to develop mentally, emotionally, and physically. A spot on the roster has to be earned. My son knew earning a place on the roster meant he fulfilled the coaches’ first expectations. He also knew the spot did not guarantee playing time. It meant he could work hard to earn it. The same is true in life. The person we are today should be better than the person we were yesterday because we chose to learn from mistakes, make adjustments, and grow. Complacency or entitlement should never create privilege.

“The person we are today should be better than the person we were yesterday because we chose to learn from mistakes, make adjustments, and grow. Complacency or entitlement should never create privilege.” - Janet Worley

There are three outs in baseball: outplay, outhustle, and out-perform. Enough said. But just in case, I assert that to succeed in school, work, and life, we can’t sit back passively, watch things happen, and expect opportunities to be handed over because we showed up.

When you step away from the game, you will lose the competition and the thrill of making plays, but you’ll keep your teammates for the rest of your life. In the end, it’s about the relationships, the connections, and the humanity. I distinctly remember returning home from a board meeting one Wednesday night when my son was still in high school. I found him watching Field of Dreams. Kevin Costner’s daughter had just fallen off the bleachers. Her body lay lifeless on the ground below. The Rookie had to make a choice. Live in the Field of Dreams or return to life as a doctor and save her life. He crossed the line between fantasy and reality, saving the girl from choking. Our life purpose is to love others more than we love ourselves. But we have to choose self-sacrifice to accomplish this.

I often hear my mom’s words in my mind when I want to take a shortcut or I want something to just be easy. “Are you running in such a way that you will win the race, or are you trying to take a shortcut and hope it’s handed to you?”

I credit the founders of baseballism for providing succinct “isms” that creatively communicate profound life ideals, share the core values I learned from my mom, and, hopefully, offer a thoughtful reflection for our community in the coming year.

The 2024-2025 school year marks the 32nd year in education for SkyView Academy’s Head of Schools, Janet Worley. Inspired by John C. Maxwell’s insight, “Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” she firmly believes in the importance of compassion in teaching. Fully aligned with the vision and mission of SkyView, she serves the community alongside some of the most remarkable educators in the field. Humbled by the opportunity to lead as the Head of Schools, Janet’s educational journey began at SkyView in 2011. A graduate of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo in 1992 with a degree in English, she furthered her education at Bethany College in Scotts Valley, California, where she completed graduate studies in Educator Licensing in Leadership and Teaching and Curriculum and Instruction in 1994.

Driven by a profound belief that education shapes the future and has the power to change the world, Janet is committed to meeting students where they are and fostering their holistic development. Janet prioritizes the academic, emotional, social, physical, and mental growth of the students in her care, embodying the true calling of an educator.