In 2000, I was the team captain of the 19U Venezuela National Team. By that time, we were a superpower in South America in Volleyball. But we couldn’t defeat Brazil yet. We always play well and felt good about losing the sets tight them but we never had a real chance to beat them. They were just bigger, stronger, skillful, and talented than us. That team had Murillo, Evandro, and Leandro Visotto – all Olympic Gold Medalists, and some other prospective elite volleyball players.
At the beginning of the year, I was trying to sell to my teammates the idea of “we can defeat Brazil”. Some players ironically said “sure we can”, others say not a chance. But I could see we could win them. I was determined to win the 2020 South American Championship.
I cast my vision in every single practice and the weight room. I paid attention to every single detail so that my teammates could buy into my crazy vision, so they can work as hard as I was doing. I knew I needed them to defeat an “impossible game”.
Once we defeated Argentina in five super-exhausting sets in the semis, my teammates and coaches were exaggeratedly celebrating at the dinner because we were in the finals – that was our official team goal. However, my teammates could see my frustration, and one of my setters asked me why I was so upset because they were celebrating.
I said to him, we’re not done yet. Then he said, what do you mean, we are in the finals, we already are silver medalists, that was our goal, and we made it. I replied to him, yes that’s true but we have one more game. I was both upset and concern that they will be tired to play another five sets in less than 24 hours.
My teammates weren’t aware that I still was focus on defeating Brazil. They didn’t know that I was praying to God to help us to win the tournament. They couldn’t see that it was possible to win future Olympic gold medalists. They didn’t care about making history. They were ok with finishing in second place one more time.
The next day, against every prediction, we defeated Brazil in five exhausting sets for the first time in a South American Tournament. You can see in the picture below how exhausted we were after the game. But still to this day, I can’t describe the joy I felt after we won that game.
The same way I did, you can also believe it’s possible for you to achieve your dreams.
Remember that you need to cast that vision and follow through with your actions, so your teammates and coaches can buy into your vision and be part of something bigger than them.
Dream big because it’s for free:)
