Monday, January 29, 2018

A truly great weekend . . .

We all enjoy the weekend.  A chance to step a way from the grind, and spend time doing what we want to do with less attention paid perhaps to what we need to do.  Many of us, because of the nature of our work, spend our weekends at our jobs, and for me that was the case this past weekend. This is a particularly stressful time of year for people in my profession (tax accounting.) But, that did not keep it from becoming a great weekend for me.

Some of you may think of your coaches as folks who are looking for an easy way to supplement their income.  But I can state with absolute certainty every W-H coach would do what they do for nothing.  I have never heard of a coach who declined a position because it didn't pay enough.  There are no negotiations.  In fact, I can't recall an interview where money was discussed.  It is irrelevant. There are dozens of reasons for coaching which trump the paycheck.  At or near the top of that list for me is watching the kids I have had the privilege of coaching coach mature in and outside of athletics. This weekend was chock full of events which are clear evidence of how mature some of those kids are.  For example . . .

Nicole Norve and her Mom texted a number of pictures from Colorado as they toured Adams State University (the top D2 XC and T&F program in the country, Boys and Girls) and she is excited about the probability of heading there next year. Hard work has made that possible . . .

On the subject of hard work, Camryn "Camo" Boyce, the hardest working kid I know (I had to cut her town park loops short last week or she never would have stopped!) received appointments to both the U. S. Air Force and U. S. Military academies over the weekend.  That accomplishment is not something you get done in the first few months of your Senior year, it is a 17+ year commitment to excellence . . .

Continuing with that hard work theme, Jack Ryan, who practices as hard as anybody on our team, and THEN heads to the weight room 4 times per week, ran an incredible, let me say it again, INCREDIBLE, 1000 meter race on Sunday at the Coaches Invitational, improving his PR by 6 seconds to 2:38.75.  If you want to achieve results, do what Jack does.  Is there a better attitude or work ethic?

And finally, I got a call yesterday from WATD's Bill Wilhelm who hosts a Sunday night sports show which regularly features local high school athletes.  Three hours before air time I sent out a casting call and four great kids, Maeve McDonough, Julia Cosgrave, Lily Perkins and Tori Boss all agreed to appear.  If they were nervous, I didn't hear it.  They each spoke eloquently.  But it is not only their eloquence that impressed me.  Bill customarily asks everybody to give a "shout out" to anybody before leaving.  Over the years I've heard kids shout out to their friends, teammates, significant others, and more.  Last night ALL 4 kids shouted out to their parents.  Speaking from the standpoint of a parent (by the way, the most important and rewarding job I have) I was tremendously impressed by that.  In fact, I can't think of anything a parent wants more than to simply be acknowledged by their child.  By "shouting out" to their parents, those four girls proved to me that they really "get it!"

Thank you all for making my working weekend truly GREAT . . .



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