Picture this. You are an athlete and your team has made it to the state finals game. Adrenaline has been pumping through your veins since the minute you woke up this morning. It is the last minute of your game and it hits you. You have won a state championship. Everyone is cheering as your team makes a break for a dog pile. Tears are flowing from the winners but also from the losers. In life, there are winners and there are losers, and at a point, each becomes a habit.

Broomfield High School is a place known for its winning habits, and hundreds of kids transfer here based on that reputation. The school has won over 40 state championships since its doors opened back in 1964. Six of which were won by Mike Croell and his prestigious Lady Eagles’ basketball team. Not only has Croell coached a state championship team six times, but five of them were in consecutive years. Is it by coincidence that this happened or by habit of winning? When asked this same question, Croell said, “Yes, winning does become a habit when you build off of success from previous years.” He also added that the mindset of the players going into the game has an affect as well. He said, “When a team has a culture of winning, they come in and they show up to win.”

The same goes for Jim Davidson, who coaches boys and girls varsity soccer. Like Croell, he has coached six state championship teams (five with the boys and one with the girls). When he was asked if winning and losing becomes a habit, he concurred. “It’s all about creating a culture of winning. Winning is a process; however, the players need to be reminded of that. They have to understand that it doesn’t happen right away.” Davidson said. “It takes preparation, improving, confidence, and expectation to win.”

Not only is winning a habit, but so is losing. Both coaches agreed to this truism. Mike Croell had a way of putting it as the “club sports mentality.” When players have 5,000 games in the summer, every day, they gradually do not care if they lose a game. They will always have the chance to redeem themselves in another 30 minutes in that next competition. Winners are the teams who, when they lose, “[feel] like there was a death in the family,” Croell said.

Jim Davidson said that he had experienced this himself while playing college soccer. He  played for Eastern Illinois University for all four years and for two of them they struggled. He said, “With losing, you have to be careful. You can’t get into a rut. Fortunately, our school’s soccer teams haven’t fallen into this and have created a fear of losing.”

With both winning and losing becoming habits, a team must be careful with which it chooses. Successfully, Broomfield’s teams have often chosen the winner’s route. So, will the girls’ basketball team keep the streak going? Will boys’ soccer come up with another state championship win with Jim Davidson? Will we all get to raise another state banner in triumph and victory, honoring our student athletes’ success? Time will tell.