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Can one eventually reach the limit of a skill or ability, a point at which he or she has peaked and will no longer improve? I’m starting to think that there is such a point, though I like not to believe it.
Members of my crew, the "B" boat, have levels of optimism I've never had. I envy it. But sometimes it makes me wonder at what point optimism turns into false hope.
We have good practices and bad. Sometimes we get our butts kicked by the "A" boat. Often, we lose but put up a good fight. Every once in awhile, we catch lightning in a bottle and actually win a practice race across the lake.
But for years -- especially after the bad practices -- we've told ourselves we'll one day beat the A boat in a real race, cleanly (our boat beat them once, two years ago, but it was because of terrible steering on the part of their rookie, fill-in cox, not because they weren't the faster crew). Just stay with it. Just work on this. Clean up that. Get longer. No lunging. Swing together.
Stay positive.
Over and over. Every practice. Every boat meeting.
I'm ready to chuck that optimism out the window. I'm fed up and tired of hearing it.
We've gotten faster, yes, and our lineup has changed somewhat, but we essentially still have the same problems we had two years ago. We've mixed the lineup ad infinitum, moved people to different seats. And some rowers have tried switching sides. It has all been fruitless. We still lose to the A boat nearly every race, by nearly the same amount.
I'm reminded of a part-time clerk who used to work at my office. Early in his tenure, it was pointed out to him that the words SAN FRANCISCO do not fit on one line; please abbreviate it to SAN FRAN in the listing, thank you. When it was innocently forgotten the first time, someone reminded him that the words SAN FRANCISCO do not fit on one line; please abbreviate it to SAN FRAN in the listing, thanks. It would be innocently forgotten. And the clerk would be reminded. Again. And again, to be repeated every time he was responsible for that listing for two years until he moved on to greener pastures (after graduating from college, astonishingly enough). It became clear to everyone in the office that after three months, he had reached a skill level he was not going to exceed. He was not a malicious person and did not intentionally forget, but it was a task that he was just not going to grasp no matter how many years he spent doing it.
So has my crew reached a maximum skill level? Are we just as good as we're meant to be?
A week from today, we will be racing in a regatta. Both the A and B boats are entered in the same race. My crew insists day in and day out that we will win this one. What?!?!? We haven't beaten the A boat in practice in two months. In addition, one of our better rowers had to pull out of the race due to injury, and her replacement isn't as strong or as tall as she.
I'm tired of the optimism. I hate chipper.
Current mood: Cranky