I Spartan

Terry Smith was a 1989 graduate of Sparta High School.  During his time at Sparta, Smith had a career record of 100-23 with 62 of those 100 wins coming by way of pin.  During his senior year, Smith won 36 matches and placed second at the state tournament wrestling heavyweight.  A year earlier, he finished third at the state tournament.  In college, Smith was a division two All-American at Adams State in Colorado during the 1992-93 season.  Since graduating, Terry has been active in the Highland Games, which are a competition that involves a number of events and honors Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage. You can click here to find out more about these games.  Presently, Smith is the head athletic trainer at Aurora University in Aurora, IL.

Smith’s piece is about Spartan history, culture and the lessons that can be learned from this great culture.  Check it out below and if you have any questions for Terry, you can contact him via email by clicking here.

I Spartan

Growing up in Sparta, Wisconsin, I have always been a Spartan in sports.  It was our mascot for youth, junior high and high school sports.  We treated it as a mascot.  We did not truly identify with it nor were we taught the lessons of the Spartans.  Who were they, why they were so feared, and not just for their military exploits, but what was the Spartan history and culture all about?  In recent times the movie 300 told the story of the Spartans at Thermopylae.  The movie, while entertaining and covering some cool facets, did not do the Spartan justice in my eyes.  I now am at Aurora University where we have the mascot (though I cringe with the thought of calling it a mascot) Spartans.

I started reading about the Spartans in junior high after a class with then head football coach Jim Shilling.  He had talked about the Spartans, their battle at Thermopylae, also known as the gates of fire, and touched on their military system.  I have read much more since then and have identified three lessons that, though we may have heard them in other ways, teach us how the very nature of the Spartan can lead us to success in sport and life.

Laconia

Sparta is located on the Laconian peninsula of Greece.  You future English majors may have heard the term Laconic, meaning using very few words.  We owe this term to the people of Laconia.  Though the movie 300 touched briefly on language and its importance, there is more to it.  Spartans viewed unnecessary talk as well, unnecessary.  They were known for action and deed over words.

My favorite story of this comes from Sparta’s interaction with Philip II of Macedonia.  Philip II was the father of Alexander the Great and was himself a great military leader.  At that time, before an invasion, war messengers would visit and try to convince a land to agree not to fight, but rather surrender with the understanding that no harm would come as long as certain obligations were met.  Philip proclaims: “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.” The Spartan ephors sent back a one word reply: “If.” Subsequently, both Philip and Alexander would avoid Sparta entirely.

Spartan mothers or wives gave a departing warrior his shield with the words: “With it or on it!” (Greek: Συν ται η επι ται! Syn tai e epi tai! or Ή ταν ή επί τας! E tan i epi tas!), implying that he should return (victoriously) with his shield, or (his cremated body in an urn) upon it, but by no means after saving himself by throwing away his heavy shield and fleeing.

In the battle of Thermopylae, Xerxes offered to spare the Spartan men if they gave up their arms.  Leonidas replied “Molon labe” (Greek: Μολών λαβέ), which translates to “Come and take them”. Today this is the motto of the Greek 1st Army Corps.

Though the Spartans spent less time with arts and literature than other city states, leading many to look at them as uneducated, they were held in high regard for their ability in philosophy and speaking.  Being able to pick and choose the correct time to speak with the right things to say was their strength.  Socrates spoke highly of the Spartans in this area.

The lesson is tell your tales through your actions and deeds.  Choose your words wisely and correctly.

The Spartan as a representative of Sparta.

The Spartans had many years without war or turmoil in their history.  It was said that in the event of civic unrest, a single Spartan would be sent.  The problem would often end immediately as it was understood what that single Spartan represented.

Being a Spartan was no trivial matter.  There was a code of honor.  They were trained and lived the way that represented what they stood for and were willing to die for.  Each citizen of Sparta lived the code.

The only way a Spartan woman could achieve a marked grave was to die giving birth.

Lesson:  Where ever you are or go, you are a Spartan and represent the Spartans.  How are your actions seen by others?  Are you an ambassador for the Spartan ideal or an embarrassment?  As a youth, Sparta was a basketball town.  When I left high school it had changed because wrestling was winning.  A few years ago I mentioned to someone at a strongman contest that I was from Sparta.  He said “they got tough wrestlers there.”  The pride I felt at that moment!

The Phalanx- the Spartan Team

The true strength of the Spartan was the selflessness shown in their disciplined fighting.  They used the formation called the phalanx which was, when used properly, a lethal killing machine that mowed thru less disciplined foe.  The phalanx were columns of soldiers packed tightly together.  There was often an initial charge of the armies.  Momentum would be gained here by a cohesive unit.  Here, the Spartans with their discipline were unmatched.  Long spears would divided the enemy and funnel them into rows of hacking swords much like a combine harvesting rows of corn.  If a Spartan would fall the next in line would fill in.  Leonidas was said to be in the front in all battles.  The discipline to hold rank and move and fight as a single unit gave them success.

The movie 300 showed individual combat as it is more action packed for the screen.  Very rarely was this the case with the Spartans.  Their strength was in the cohesiveness and work of a single purpose.  The old adage about a chain being only as strong as its weakest link shows true to the Spartans.

When he was asked why he had come to fight such a huge host with so few men, Leonidas answered, “If numbers are what matters, all Greece cannot match a small part of that army; but if courage is what counts, this number is sufficient.”  On being again asked a similar question, he replied, “I have plenty, since they are all to be slain.”

Leonidas chose Thermopylae because it was narrow and he knew the disciplined teamwork of the Spartans could not be topped.  Only when they were taken from the flank by Xerxes forces and had to be divided did they lose.

Lesson:  The importance of team and what you can accomplish with a single purpose and commitment.

I am always amazed as I watch what happens with talented athletes around less talented ones.  When the athletes are good teammates, the less talented excel and push the already talented to higher levels.  With poor teammates neither reach their potentials.  I never would have had any of the successes I had without my teammates.

The teams with the greater talent often times do not win as they are more of a collection of parts.

When a team buys in to one purpose and each individual sells out to the purpose of the team, great things happen.

Tagged as: 300, Laconia, Leonidas, Phalanx, Sparta, Spartan, Spartans, Terry Smith, Thermopylae