Bravery is not about feeling the absence of fear or the lack of trepidation in the moment, it is about acknowledging those feelings and still going out and attempting to overcome them. Giving into fear, falling into the trap of losing hope, it is an all too easy path that can be taken and it brings with it a terrible price, normally in the way of poor mental health and a feeling of bitterness towards the world and others. These are far from positive emotions or a positive way to approach life, the path from fear to hatred and distrust is one that is a short one given how negativity festers and builds upon itself, snowballing until it completely consumes you. When terrible things are happening left, right, and center, when you see actions like what we have seen in previous years with our neighbors in Tuesland and Banija, it is easy to feel a lack of hope and to feel alone in a world growing cold. When you see your national team falter time and time again, something that is supposed to be your outlet and a way to be able to handle the burdens that the world tosses upon you, it is easy to understand the temptation to no longer care.
That is why sport is so important in the Empire and why the way it developed within the nation matters so much more than the way it developed elsewhere. For many outside of the Vanorian landscape, sport developed out of the sense of tribalism or as a proxy for faux wars or in some cases an odd combination of both. However inside the Empire, sport has and likely will always be seen as a way to build community, as way to come together as one people and lift each other up when we are struggling. The team is only as strong as the weakest member of that team and so you work hard in the weight room, you stay late to do extra training sessions to get that fraction of a percent better with that weak link. We grow stronger together, you pull each other up when we have fallen down, dust each other off and give a bottle of water before starting again on the path ahead. The way to getting better as a unit, as a team is to help those who need the extra help to get on the same level as their peers and teammates, to build each other up so that the final product is more than the mere sum of its individual parts, regardless of the quality of those parts.
That is why as the national team labors away in Rushmore and is facing a must win situation in its last group stage match in order to advance out of the group that there is no finger pointing and no blasting or blaming of players and teammates. Laborious Hawk has even said that he is not playing as well as he could be even when both he and Imre Haaland have been absolutely dynamic for the squad and ensuring that they at least have a chance entering the final round of the group stage. Personal accountability is the sign of strong leadership as is deflecting away blame from the rest of the team, as it would be all too easy to point at the defense and keeper and wonder if they had performed a bit better if the team would not already be secure on their way to the knockouts rather than fighting for the Finals survival in the upcoming match against Auprussia. That leadership will hopefully inspire the rest of the team to elevate their levels in this game where push comes to shove and if the team fails to show up then they are going to be making an unexpectedly quick turnaround home back to the Eternal Empire.
Our foes have proven themselves quality opposition, holding both Chromatika as well as the Goldhorns to a draw and thus sit above the Marauders as we head into the final day of the group stage. The side has in both of their games failed to protect a result, first letting a draw slip away late against the Goldhorns and then a two goal lead in the second half evaporate against the Chromatik push. The talent is there to get the goals but the team has either gotten too lax in the waning moments of the game or simply has gone too much into a shell to try and secure a result rather than playing the way that had earned them the supposed spoils from the match in the first place. With Auprussia needing only a third draw to potentially seal their spot in the knockouts, the Marauders are going to have to find a way to play a complete game and to push the advantage when they have it, to put the game out of reach if they enter into the ascendancy. There is no I in team and the team needs to operate as a whole, their captain has given them the shielding from scrutiny for now and they need reward him with an effort that sees the team capture the three points and keep their stay in Rushmore past the opening two weeks.
