Elevate

I have a confession to make. Every two years, I hunker down for two weeks of pure sporting excitement – the Olympics. As a young boy, I remember Canadian high jumper Greg Joy leaping to silver on the rain-soaked Olympic Stadium floor in Montreal. As a Calgary native, I recall the magical stories of Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team. More recently, Alex Bilodeau’s memorable gold-medal-winning freestyle race on the slopes of Cypress Bowl during the Vancouver 2010 Games left me breathless. My confession, really, is that of all Olympic events, for me, the purest, the best, and the most intriguing is track & field (or as the Brits say, athletics).  It combines speed, strength, endurance, power, and grace. There have been many great athletic champions but one, for me, stands out – Javier Sotomayor. A Cuban star of the 1980s and 90s, he still holds the high jumping world record – 2.45M – or just over 8 feet – that’s Mr. Felix plus 1.5 feet! his record has yet to be bested. Sotomayer’s story resonates with me because, according to legend, he trained his mind and body to aim, not for the bar, but for a few centimeters above it. He focused on never meeting the standard but always exceeding it. Last week, I shared his story with our students, as the lesson really applies to everything we do in life. Are we just attaining the standard? Are we just meeting our goals? Are we just putting in enough effort? Am I training/rehearsing/preparing just enough? Or am I exceeding the standard? Am I exceeding my goals? Am I putting in maximum effort? Am I doing more than is expected? I would like to believe that at Brentwood, our focus is not on the bar but on those few centimeters above it. Are we always raising our eyes to focus on the future – innovating, experimenting, retooling, and elevating.  Javier Sotomayer's simple lesson is one for the ages. Mr. Bud Patel, Head of School