Champion

I have been privileged to be the adviser of our school's (Southville Foreign University) marketing team in the past four years. My task consisted mainly of overseeing a group of students as they tackle a marketing challenge posed by the Philippine Marketing Association in its annual Strategic Marketing Competition.

We again made it to the finals this year. But last year was a banner year because we wrested the championship title from the state university which had dominated the competition for some time. "Southville what?" People would inquire whenever our school was mentioned. How could this relatively unknown and tiny "David" go head-to-head against established Goliaths like the University of the Philippines, Ateneo or La Salle?

We are confident of bagging the title again this year. (The winners will be known this coming Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, in the Strategic Marketing Conference at the Cuneta Astrodome.) This year, competing schools designed and implemented a market research proposal, with the finalists presenting their work last week to a panel of judges.

Congratulations Team Aspire, for a job well done. A champion's performance indeed!

And believe me, this conviction proceeds not necessarily from conceit but from faith. You see, whenever we set out to tackle a contest like this, we remind ourselves that, "The battle is not ours, but the Lord's," and the only way we could win is by humbling ourselves before God. "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12).

He then becomes the center of all our efforts, trusting Christ to guide us with His wisdom, understanding, clarity of mind, even strength; so that every member of the team endures through marathon and late-night meetings, break-up sessions and field work (either to brainstorm, draw up budgets, craft and produce creatives, interview respondents, tally results, etc.---whatever the contest required) to submit a paper within tight deadlines. He even sent highly qualified people to critique or give their expert advice!

These on top of the team members' need to attend regular classes and turn up exhaustive assignments.

"Whatever happens, we are the champion!" One team member declared. I bet you she was not referring to just the trophy or the title. "The experience, the application of principles to actual situations, plus being able to endure personality differences, discouragement, even conflicts while you try to function as a member of a team---if we learned from all these, we are indeed winners."

A champion's attitude! The trophy and the title are really just icing on the cake.