As disappointing as a loss can be in sports, my team had just lost in triple overtime against our rivals. We came back down 4 goals and tied it to go to overtime. Chances after chances, both teams couldn’t convert until finally the rival team found one last push to score the game winning goal. I had never been so disappointed at the result but for once, the emotion that took over was anger. Anger caused by my head coach’s decision to put me in a bad position. But the concept of COPE played a huge role in keeping me calm. I wanted to yell at him and let him know what he did was wrong. However, as a leader I knew this wasn’t the best method, so I decided to use the C step of COPE and Communicate this in an effective manner with my coach. As we got back to our school, after getting off the bus I decided to have a one-on-one meeting with him and explained how I felt. He agreed with me that it was a poor decision and he felt he let me down the most, not having the courage to speak to me but was grateful that I was able to communicate this situation. Had I not used the C of COPE; things would have gotten worse. I believe communication is a big key to having any type of success. Always try your best to communicate with everyone and it will lead to all parties being on the same page.

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