I realized that two of my supposedly biggest sporting failures in terms of results were actually not as bad as I believed. No, scratch that. They were successes. Let me explain…

The first was a football game I played towards the end of the 1980s. I played in goal for the youth team of one of the bigger clubs in Malta and we were thrashed 4-0. It was a complete onslaught with wave after wave of attack.

Balls were coming at me from all direction and with varying speeds – from very fast to what seemed like ‘ludicrous mode’ (with apologies to Tesla). Now, I conceded four goals and felt terrible when the game ended. Surely, if you lose 4-0, the goalkeeper cannot feel great, can he? But what happened next surprised me.

As I was walking back to the bench, all the opposition players came to me to shake my hand and pat me on the back. They greeted me with ‘well dones’ and ‘amazing performance’. My team, too, were swarming round me. I was expecting jeers and criticism after conceding four.

The thing I hadn’t realized was that if I weren’t in goal that day, and played so well, we would have probably suffered a humiliating defeat comparable to Malta’s performance against Spain in 1982.

The next is the marathon I ran last May. I must admit, I came last in my age group. It did take me a staggering 4 hours 50 minutes to complete the 42.195 km track. A bit disappointing, I thought.

Really and truly, just finishing was an achievement in itself – it’s just a matter of having the right perspective.

The moral of the story is that you should not let your mind be clouded by doubt and lack of confidence. My Maltese teacher at school, a large part-time farmer with a permanent frown and temper (although a great teacher – just in case he’s reading this), said no matter how ugly you are (yes, he said ‘ugly’), you will still find your way in life, and even find a partner. He was right. Apparently, despite his grumpiness, or maybe in spite of it, he could always see things from a different perspective.