Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of

St Mary’s School,

I read with interest and a degree of pleasure that the dry run has finished for the Otago Nuggets. Thirty three games without a win, how sweet that victory must have tasted to Alf Arlidge and his team.

Often people say that sport is a metaphor for life. The challenges and trials that happen in preparing for and playing sport are similar to the ones that we face in life.

People who succeed in sport often possess the attributes that are required to succeed in life:

loyalty, persistence, determination and a willingness to set goals and work hard to achieve these goals.

Success in education is the same as success in life. Persistence, sticking to the task at hand even when the going gets hard.

For one person to learn a skill it may take four or five attempts, for another person it may take thirty. But if the first person stops after three attempts and the second person keeps going until they reach thirty, you can see who will succeed and who will fail.

Every sportsperson who never quite made the big time will tell you they should have but often the reason they didn’t get selected for the top team or win the big race is that somebody wanted it more or worked harder or longer to achieve their goals.

Education is not as competitive as sports but to succeed you need to persevere.

In the words of the famous American actress and singer Shirley MacLaine “It not where you start it’s where you finish”.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan