For the past two weeks our son has been looking forward to playing in his first tournament with a local development club he has been training with since the regular season ended. With games scheduled from 8am to 3pm, I was also looking forward to a beautiful Sunday watching lacrosse and catching up with friends.

Mother Nature had something else in mind. It was cold. It was windy. It was raining.

While the rain fell and the parents huddled under umbrellas, fleece blankets, and a sea of pop up tents (the smart ones wore full rain suits suitable for deep sea fishing), the boys played – and won their first three games.

It’s amazing how victory can warm up a a cold, rainy day.

The fourth and final game was a different story – a great team gave our kids a run for their money, and their first loss of the day. As we left the field, he talked about the game, his performance, his teammates and his disappointment.

Listening, I told him that while the wins are fun, what he learns from playing with and against better players, and how he handles the losses is what really matters. It’s easy to be a good teammate, to have a good attitude, and to be a good sport when the wins are accumulating. But how to do those things when the losses come? There is the challenge.

And those are the lessons he will use for the rest of his life.