Light and Snappy

I needed a evening of rest, and that's what I did Friday evening.  Normally, I'd come home, blog, update stats on the site, and try to wrap up any other loose ends before going into the weekend.  This Friday I went out to El Toro for dinner, came home, talked to my parents, talked to my wife (who went shopping with her sister, so didn't get home until 8 PM), and went down to my easy chair and fell asleep.  It's been a long week and rest was the order of business.  Yes, coaches get tired too!!!

Yesterday's workout was a lot of fun and really light and snappy.  Changed some things up in the warm up and cool down, just to give the team a break from the routine.  I know they liked that a lot.  We talked about Thursday's meet and all the variables associated with our performances and moved on from that.  I reminded the team that THE MAIN THING is coming up at St. Joseph next Friday, so be ready to do great things then.

During our drills I took time out to remind the team about what the reason is (THE MAIN THING) we do the drills and how they can have a very positive effect in developing speed.  I also discussed my first season experience as a cross country runner way back in 1969, when I was a freshman at Rantoul.  I described my trials and tribulations and how my coach encouraged me to finally get out of my comfort zone.  I think the team needs to be aware that every athlete goes through these things and we all have to start somewhere.  I know and understand what it's like, so it's pretty easy to relate.

I think the biggest thing the team needs to be aware of is that we are on the verge of making the next step.  I can have some degree of control over the type of work we do and encourage them through the mental process.  What is more difficult is finding a way to make each person "hungry", a reason to get better.  So, finding the solution to that problem is something that is always on my mind.

This reminds me of the Edison's quote “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” 

My challenge to each team member is to have the hope of trying to see this.  And what's neat, we will see some great successes in less than a week, as we focus on THE MAIN THING.

I distributed T shirts to the team many wore them with pride to practice.  Check out the embedded quote.  It's my favorite.