Philosopher Coaches

That is Lou Holtz in the photo to the left, a truly legendary coach. A man grouped into an era of "philosopher" coaches. I suppose I should clarify the above statement. This term was established by the author of "Philosopher Coaches", which implies that coaches of today stand with more managerial skills present and less fundamental life philosophy built into their very fabric. Coaches like Doc Counsilman, Jim Wooden, Vince Lumbardi, and Lou Holtz. These were men of Hope, Care, and Passion for success. They believed in building up the athlete, expressing care, and doing what was right. They had a moral value toward their athletes, communities, and despised anything less then giving their best. Just to list these ideals stimulates motivation.

Lou Holtz believed in three general rules to guarantee success as an athlete and person: 1. Do what is right. This statement speaks for its self. 2. Do the absolute best you can. This rule simply says it all, at the end of the day no one can question you if you have done your complete best. 3. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Well, we've all heard this before, the ideas set here are straight forward with little challenge of understanding, we can all relate to doing this, but only imagine what society would be like if on your drive to work tomorrow you didn't exclude the neighbor from the spot ahead of you as he/she backed out of their drive way.

Here are some additional ideas that Lou Holtz shared in his leadership at Notre Dame: "Change to Win". This is a valuable statement that expresses how important it is to take the steps toward progress even if you are criticized. As a coach, I've learned it is wisest to study the method and listen to the athlete. "Accept and realize that the real key to success is that you will face adversity, and what is most important is to remember that crisis will make you stronger and that your reaction (So act positively) toward these moments will make all the difference in the outcome." Here is Lou Holtz' Formula for success:

1. Answer the question. What do you want to do?

2. Set a plan.

3. Work for it.

4. Expect it to happen.

Here you see the importance of goals and writing them down drastically improves the achievement or outcome. The plan makes things more visible and seemingly achievable. The commitment to labor for what you desire is probably the step where most hesitate or even never get. Yep, the work is what makes all the difference in the world, so commit to this step first and you will be surprised how easily the expectation will be and how suddenly you will achieve what you desired.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Z

Unfinished Business

How often do you wake up in the middle of the night with a nagging anxiety? How hard is it to realize what that anxiety is or was? I have a wise friend who often expressed how the body is amazingly aware of strife and burden and consequently expresses it's difficulty in very physical forms. For some that is severe to mild back pain, headaches, simulated injuries, and sometimes failed efforts. We could easily relate this to the subconscious mind being aware of what we deny and our bodies desiring a way to express what we can't or fail to deal with appropriately. I can say that I know exactly what this looks and feels like.
Just a few years ago I found myself in a position that I never thought I would end up, but as my grandfather would have said, "life throws you curve balls (He was a great baseball fan as is my father), so you best practice so you can hit them." The idea was that I should practice hitting curve balls more to recognize the varied breaking patterns of pitch to better be able to hit the ball. Needless to say, I was in a position that was the type of challenge that brought great stress, fear, and doubt in my abilities to my life. This was the first time I was in a position to test what I might be made of. I must add, most of us in sport seek this in the actual events, choosing greater and greater feats to challenge and test our spirits. It had been some time since an event had taken me to that point and I was over due. Without detail, I found myself compromising my goals by not setting any points of measurability finding much of my satisfaction in helping others achieve their goals. Though this may seem fulfilling, moments like this come and soon go and without some general personal direction you find yourself asking where it is you went? As for myself, I became what I was doing, not who I wanted to be. The result was becoming a person I was not excited about being and I would guess my friendships displayed this fact. I recently have displayed symptoms of this change, an inability to sit still, complete a tasks, and a pattern of general shortcoming. I made my share of mistakes during this time in my life and with great consequence to me and perhaps others. I guess the main point of this banter is to express the deep impact this time had on me and perhaps I am only now recuperating from this period. Second, I want to state as a form of accountability to myself that I'm not finished working with athletes/coaching. There is still much for me to learn, training models that I have not fully evaluated, applications to triathlon performance not explored in the detail I enjoy. So I have some unfinished business, not to be without error, but to pursue experience, information, and most importantly my passion for sport, science, and methods of development to the sport of triathlon.

TAG!!!!!

The memories that return of my childhood when I think of the game of tag. Such a simple game and all you really need is a few friends. This thought is why I'm abliged to participate in this internet based game of Tag. So here are my five facts:



1. "I feel dead people". Well, more effectively have had some very odd and perceptive 'scary situations' in life, that makes this statement true.
2. I admire great faith in people.
3. My favorite movie is Chariots of fire.
4. I have a nagging desire to aid in the development of athletes in the sport of triathlon.
5. I am deep a believer in competition to grow your spirit and have not competed in any form of competitive venue in nearly 4.5 years.