People love the underdog.  “Rags-to-riches”, “zero-to-hero”, “The American Dream”: the idea of grit triumphing over inheritance ignites our imagination. From an educational perspective I love underdogs too.  They show us that by using our talents, working hard and playing as a team we can win, sometimes against all odds.

Blue Christmas

The odds against Leicester City (“The Foxes”), the football club of my hometown, winning the Premier League, at the beginning of this season were 5000-to-1.  To put this into perspective: the odds of Christmas Day being the hottest day of the year were also 5000-to-1 and the odds of Elvis Presley being found alive and well were 2000-to-1.

 

Underdog? Underfox? SuperFox!

Leicester City has just won the Premier League for the first time in our 132 year history! I’m super proud of our team!  The city and shire are elated and the country enthralled by this fairytale victory.  This is one of the greatest sporting turnarounds of all time. (Check out the chart below).  The underdog has won and it turns out to be a fox.  It feels disrespectful to call them an “underfox”.  Watch the news: they’re SuperFoxes!

“Arise Sir Jamie Vardy of King Power Stadium”

At Christmas 2014 we were bottom of the Premier League, looking like we were heading south.  However by Christmas 2015 (which was not much warmer than Elvis) we were top of the league and had spirit and momentum. Since then it felt like a dream that was going to come true.  This was because of the dream team, the best “team” in the League, a team of heroes.  Claudio Ranieri, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Wes Morgan, Leonardo Ulloa, Danny Drinkwater and Kasper Schmeichel, to name but a few of the heroes. They all need to be knighted.

Next generation

Is this the dawn of a new era for Leicestershire sporting talent? For example Luke Thompson, signed by Leicester City Academy and featured below next to the Cup after playing for the under 9’s.  The Foxes have shown us that anything’s possible.  (And yes, this is my nephew, so no bias there :)).

Dreaming and doing

It has been said that the “team with the dream” won. Dreams inspire us.  But grit is what delivers. The Foxes dreamed and they delivered. They’re an inspiration. Go Foxes! Go SuperFoxes!