It was 6 a.m. Sunday morning. As the dawning sunlight lit up the sky, Wayne, Cody and I drove into the parking lot at Qual Com Stadium San Diego. I looked across the vast empty lot, that would soon be filled with cars. Vin, David and Bejan were standing at the trunks of their cars, trunks open with paintball pants, jerseys, shoes and socks spilling out onto the pavement. They were getting ready for the long day ahead, pulling on their knee pads, elbow pads and jerseys.
I could sense the quiet tension in the air as the guys on the Go For Broke paintball team prepared for their games.
The team had just completed two days of preliminary games in the National Paintball Players League. I jumped out of the truck, anxious to greet the guys, knowing that each game they played could be their last if they lost.
I looked around at the vastness of the empty parking lot and took a deep breath of the fresh cool morning air. My gut tightened with anticipation for what lie ahead. A hand painted mural on the wall caught my attention. A 2 dimensional picture of a large cheering crowd in the grandstands looked back at me. The multi-colored audience was painted in flat grey brown, fleshy tones with splashes of green, white, blue and red.
Something lit up within me and said,“Look guys!”
I shouted cheerfully and pointed out the picture, “That’s your crowd up there. Do you see the guy standing up there watching you play? He’s cheering for YOU. Can you see the woman sitting on the bleachers? She is cheering for YOU. They are all cheering for you. Can you hear them? They’re all cheering your cheer! They’re all cheering ‘Go For Broke! Go For Broke’ You’re winning. Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you feel it?”
Bejan, the smallest player on our team, looked up to see the painted crowd, “That IS our crowd! And they’re cheering for us! I see it! We’re winning guys!”
A gleaming bright smile lit up his face as he pointed at the painted mural, “I hear them cheering! Go For Broke! Go For Broke! Go For Broke! They ARE cheering for us guys! We’re winning!”
In the seconds that followed, seven young paintball players and I, were all jumping up and down in the parking lot cheering. “Go For Broke! Go For Broke! Yea, I can hear them!”
The winning streak that got us into the finals, continued throughout the day as we moved from quarter-finals to semi-finals. Game after game the boys on the Go For Broke paintball team kept winning as I watched.
By the time we got to the final games when the team would compete for first place, the sun was setting on the horizon. As the sunlight dimmed and the air began to cool I sat down on the pavement outside the net. My gut was tense and tightened. Every nerve in my body was wired, my heart was racing.
Seven young men who made up our team stepped onto the green turf I watched. One by one, they appeared from behind the net and stepped the playing field. All seven young men that Wayne and I spent the season training were geared up in the blue and gold jerseys that we had designed together. The heavy canvas ammo backs filled with paint pods, belted around their hips, jingled as they walked. Paintball masks shielding their faces, the Go For Broke paintball players walked out to the starting gate at one end of the field.
The guys who had captured my heart, were now captured in my vision. I watched as each one of them, Vin, Cody, David, Tanner, Jamie, Bejan and Icee placed themselves in their ready positions, like crouching tigers ready to pounce on their prey. My heart pounded wildly with excitement. This was our moment. This was our game.
My focus shifted to the center of the field along the net where the head referee would start the game.
“Goggle’s On!” He shouted loudly.
“Socks off!”
He looked at his stop watch and shouted again, “10 seconds”
In what seemed like forever we waited as the referee raised his left hand while watching his clock.
“Game on!” he shouted as he quickly dropped his hand.
The electric energy was so intense it was almost as if I was out on the field with them as the guys raced across the field.
From where I was sitting, the only players in my view were Bejan huddled low in the front blue and red snake beam, Tanner behind him and glimpses of Cody’s stream of paint flying across the field.
“Come on guys! Go! Get him out Cody!” I cheered.
“Come on sweetheart get em. Get ‘em Tanner! Go Bejan!”
A yellow painted hand went up on the opposing team and I watched one of their players slowly lumber off the field in a shrug of defeat. Another hand went up only to be followed by one more player as they walked off the field.
Within seconds a sound began to rumble in the background behind me. It grew louder and louder as the game continued on. I turned to witness the unbelievable sight of the entire crowd behind us, standing up, stomping their heels on the metal bleachers and cheering, “Go For Broke! Go For Broke! Go For Broke”
Even the teams we had defeated throughout the event were standing up and cheering our cheer. “Go For Broke! Go For Broke!”
For that one moment in time, our cheer was their cheer too.
I watched intently as the players moved together up the field in formation just like they had done in their training.
“Bejan move up!” Shouted Cody from behind the back bunker.
“Bejan, Tanner move up! You’re clear!” he shouted again.
Within seconds Tanner sped past Bejan, crawling on his elbows and shins. He rose just slightly to look over the top of the low snake bunker and took out one of the last players. Jamie ran from from the back and landed behind Bejan.
Seconds later, David, and Cody peeked out from their defense positions in the back corner bunkers, then began to run with their guns aimed and ready. The entire team moved up the field in unison.
The crowd was still cheering behind me loudly. “Go For Broke! Go For Broke! Go For Broke!” and the sound of their feet stomping on the bleachers could be heard across the entire stadium.
Seeing Cody and David moving out from the back bunkers then sprinting across the turf was a sure sign that we won.
In the seconds that followed as I watched, the guys all ran from their positions and landed in a huddle near the starting gate.
Cody, David, Vin, Tanner and Bejan were all jumping up and down, hugging each other laughing, smiling and cheering. “We won! We won! We did it guys! We won!”
The crowd continued to cheer, “Go For Broke! Go For Broke!”
“Let’s hear it for California’s favorite! Congratulations Go For Broke! First place champions!” shouted the announcer.
I stood there frozen in silence as the crowd continued to cheer behind me. We had just witnessed the miracle of visualization. Early that morning we saw and shared the vision of the crowd in the grandstands cheering our cheer. We were now living that vision.
The guys on the Go For Broke Paintball Team learned a great lesson that season. Two weeks before that moment Wayne and I taught the boys about the law of attraction and the art of visualization. We taught them how to see the dream of winning and now they were living that dream. Dad’s final message came through in a way I never expected.
“Your dream is my dream. Don’t worry about anything.”
Somehow, I knew he was watching.
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