Bouncebackability

One trait among athletes and in people in general that I admire the most, is the ability to hold it together psychologically when things are going tough and to fight back. The team that is losing and fights back to get a result, the boxer who has been whipped for 11 rounds and knocks his opponent out in the 12th, the guy down the street who has been diagnosed with cancer and fights through it and survives. The problem however was how to describe the process without too many words – there was no particular adjective to explain it.

A couple of years ago, a new word was introduced into the English dictionary following a campaign on Soccer AM – one of my favourite television shows – and it finally filled the void. Bouncebackability was born.

This was no more evident than on Saturday when HJ and I were on Merseyside for Everton v Man Utd. My boys played quite well apart from some comedy defensive moments, largely due to a poor performance from Sylvain Distan. 3-1 down with only injury time remaining, the Blues somehow managed to bounce back and score two goals in the 92nd and 93rd minutes to draw 3-3. The whole place erupted…or so we heard. I am not proud of this, in fact I am ashamed, but I insisted that we leave on 90 minutes. I was fighting off a cold, and was fed up at 3-1 and figured the boys had no chance with Utd in control of the game. It’s a rule I have always abided by – never leave before the final whistle. However, over the last couple of years, with a fairly fast paced lifestyle, I have developed a rule – I will leave on 90 minutes if there is a difference of two goals or more. Well it well and truly bit my butt this time, and we were victims of a severe case of Bouncebackability.

We experienced another example of Bouncebackability recently. My adorable little niece Mia had her first day at school around ten days ago. The little monkey was so excited about her first day and was having a great first day until she fell off the climbing frame and broke her collarbone. She had a rough day and a half, but then she just seemed so positive and brave about it all. Granted, she was enjoying a sweet and ice cream diet, but I was amazed at how she dealt with it all. She was on good form and she had the ability to bounce back amazingly well. I guess kids have greater recovery powers – I don’t think I would have been so lively as she was.

I would hazard a guess that anybody who has seen the show Soccer AM knows all about Bouncebackability. I would also guess that most folks here in Switzerland and anywhere else outside of the UK have never heard of it. Well, now is the time to adopt it. Throw it into a conversation when appropriate and spread the word.