This is a skill I've not yet conquered. My most recent encounter with being upset at losing is the Minors 2k final that went very sour.

So I decided to take a bit of time off and collect my thoughts, because really I didn't feel that I handled that game well from the beginning.

All coaches know they can't win all games. In a random universe, eventually you get the short stick. Sometimes you just can't make that critical 2+ or 2D hit whilst your opponent removes one of your players every time he rolls. It happens.

However, there's a very big grey area between this inevitable loss and losses that occur when you're afflicted by worse-but-not-game-deciding dice.

The best coaches on this site make the most of a bad situation, so that if they do get a run of good dice, they can capitalize.

I cast my mind back to how I opened the game in question. With just 3 rerolls, I opened by making a go for it to blitz, and rerolling pushes (to push/skull). I would lose the player I was blitzing with to a knock out the next turn (to a loner reroll, compounding frustration). At the time I was pissed off at the dice (and stormed out the room).

When later in the half I had a 2nd go at the ball, I had no reroll for the push/skull I got. Then I failed a dodge that wasn't really necessary which seriously injured one of my better players.

So what's this got to do with losing gracefully? I went into this match expecting to win it. I played as such, and stopped making smart decisions. Bad luck and bad decisions make for a bad result.

A better coach would have opened far more patiently, had kept his main hitter on the pitch, and stood a good chance of winning that game despite the worse dice. So I need to learn how to lose gracefully, because in that way I might learn to perform better in those grey areas where I seem to be losing because of the dice.

Maybe.