[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Confidence is contagious.
So is lack of confidence.
Vince Lombardi
Things come to those who wait.
But only things left by those who hustle.
Abraham Lincoln
Noise proves nothing.
Often a hen who has merely laid an egg
cackles as if she has laid an asteroid.
Mark Twain
118
Dave Tate
Execution (as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary):
1. The act of executing something.
2. The manner, style, or result of performance.
Fish
ONE, TWO, THREE, SLAP! I still remember the words and
sound of the referee slapping his hand on the mat as I was
pinned. How could I forget? I heard the same thing in every
match I wrestled during the 1980 and 1981 seasons. When
you get pinned as much as I did, you become known as a fish.
I was in the seventh and eighth grades these years and was new
to the sport. I decided to go out for the wrestling team because
I didn t like basketball and wanted to try something different.
I loved everything about wrestling I just wasn t very good at
it. Yet this didn t make that much difference to me because, up
to that point in my life, I wasn t very good at any sport I par-
ticipated in.
Back on the Bench
I was excited for the 1982 season because I was going to be
one of the oldest on the team. Our junior-high years consisted
of seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. I was going to be in the
ninth grade and figured that my age and experience should win
me a few matches. During conditioning for that season, one
of the other team members informed me he would be moving
up a weight class and I would have to wrestle off against him
each match. He was a much better wrestler than I was, so I be-
gan to wonder if I would see any time on the mat at all. I was
crushed. Now I would have to sit the bench and watch others
help the team.
119
Under the Bar
I had received a weight set for Christmas the year before and
had been training three days a week for the past six months. I
felt stronger but still knew my teammate would be better based
on his record the year before. We still had three or four more
weeks of conditioning until we hit the mat for practice.
Waiting for Mom
After each practice, I would wait around for my mom to pick
us up. Most of the time, I would just sit on the stairs of the gym
and joke around with the other wrestlers on the team. One day,
I decided to do something different: I spent the time running
the stairs. There may have been two short flights of 15 stairs
each. This really didn t matter because I just went up and down
and figured I would run five sets and then stop. To this day,
I still don t know why I decided to do this. Maybe it was the
discipline I had developed from weight training the previous six
months. Regardless, I ran. I ran until everyone else was picked
up and the gym lights were shut down. As it turned out, my
mom was running a little late, so I decided to keep running un-
til she came. After 15 or so laps, I reached the top of the stairs
to see Coach Mullen staring down at me.
Coach William Mullen
Coach Mullen is one of my favorite coaches of all time. He sported
a full beard and liked to get down on the mat and teach us person-
ally how to get the job done. He also loved to bust our ass with
conditioning drills and working most practices on the basics. He
was a great motivator who always kept the team fired up to work
hard. I still think back to those practices where I could barely walk
out of the gym. Coach Mullen had a passion for making winners
out of all of us, and I was about to discover firsthand the differ-
ence two simple sentences can make in a kid s life.
120
Dave Tate
What Are You Doing?
As he stared down at me, Coach asked, What are you doing?
I replied that I was sick of getting beat all the time and wanted
to win the district tournament at the end of the season. This
was a pretty bold statement coming from a kid who had won
only one match in the past two years. I m not sure why I said it.
Maybe it was to impress the coach; maybe I said it to make my-
self feel better. Either way, I said it and the damage was done.
What would he say to me? Why did I have to open my mouth?
After what seemed to be 10 minutes, but in reality was only a
couple of seconds, Coach Mullen took a serious look at me and
said, If you work hard enough, you can do whatever you want
to. If you believe you can do it, then I believe you can do it. He
then walked down the stairs and into the locker room without
a single glance back.
This is all it took. I was just about ready to quit running the stairs
when I ran into Coach Mullen. My legs were tired and I was
completely worn out from practice. I still remember how bad my
feet hurt from all the pounding. Instead, after Coach walked into
the locker room, I picked up the pace. I began taking two steps at
a time instead of one. My breathing got deeper and deeper, but it
didn t faze me a bit. If all I had to do was work hard, then I was
going to bust my ass. For the next 45 minutes, I ran the stairs.
I don t think it would have mattered if I had to wait another 45
minutes for my mom I would have run all night! I now had
something in my blood that had been missing up to that point. I
had been given one of the greatest gifts in life: I now had CON-
FIDENCE running through my veins.
This passion continued throughout the rest of the season. I ran
the stairs every night after practice. I lifted weights when I got
home. On the days we didn t have practice, I went to the local
121
Under the Bar
YMCA and worked on my drop step, escape, and other ba-
sic skills for hours on end. I spent my weekends back at the
YMCA running, lifting, swimming, and working skills. I would
spend the entire day there training. (It took me many years to
learn what overtraining was.) I got stronger, faster, and better
conditioned then anyone else on the team. Getting through [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
Confidence is contagious.
So is lack of confidence.
Vince Lombardi
Things come to those who wait.
But only things left by those who hustle.
Abraham Lincoln
Noise proves nothing.
Often a hen who has merely laid an egg
cackles as if she has laid an asteroid.
Mark Twain
118
Dave Tate
Execution (as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary):
1. The act of executing something.
2. The manner, style, or result of performance.
Fish
ONE, TWO, THREE, SLAP! I still remember the words and
sound of the referee slapping his hand on the mat as I was
pinned. How could I forget? I heard the same thing in every
match I wrestled during the 1980 and 1981 seasons. When
you get pinned as much as I did, you become known as a fish.
I was in the seventh and eighth grades these years and was new
to the sport. I decided to go out for the wrestling team because
I didn t like basketball and wanted to try something different.
I loved everything about wrestling I just wasn t very good at
it. Yet this didn t make that much difference to me because, up
to that point in my life, I wasn t very good at any sport I par-
ticipated in.
Back on the Bench
I was excited for the 1982 season because I was going to be
one of the oldest on the team. Our junior-high years consisted
of seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. I was going to be in the
ninth grade and figured that my age and experience should win
me a few matches. During conditioning for that season, one
of the other team members informed me he would be moving
up a weight class and I would have to wrestle off against him
each match. He was a much better wrestler than I was, so I be-
gan to wonder if I would see any time on the mat at all. I was
crushed. Now I would have to sit the bench and watch others
help the team.
119
Under the Bar
I had received a weight set for Christmas the year before and
had been training three days a week for the past six months. I
felt stronger but still knew my teammate would be better based
on his record the year before. We still had three or four more
weeks of conditioning until we hit the mat for practice.
Waiting for Mom
After each practice, I would wait around for my mom to pick
us up. Most of the time, I would just sit on the stairs of the gym
and joke around with the other wrestlers on the team. One day,
I decided to do something different: I spent the time running
the stairs. There may have been two short flights of 15 stairs
each. This really didn t matter because I just went up and down
and figured I would run five sets and then stop. To this day,
I still don t know why I decided to do this. Maybe it was the
discipline I had developed from weight training the previous six
months. Regardless, I ran. I ran until everyone else was picked
up and the gym lights were shut down. As it turned out, my
mom was running a little late, so I decided to keep running un-
til she came. After 15 or so laps, I reached the top of the stairs
to see Coach Mullen staring down at me.
Coach William Mullen
Coach Mullen is one of my favorite coaches of all time. He sported
a full beard and liked to get down on the mat and teach us person-
ally how to get the job done. He also loved to bust our ass with
conditioning drills and working most practices on the basics. He
was a great motivator who always kept the team fired up to work
hard. I still think back to those practices where I could barely walk
out of the gym. Coach Mullen had a passion for making winners
out of all of us, and I was about to discover firsthand the differ-
ence two simple sentences can make in a kid s life.
120
Dave Tate
What Are You Doing?
As he stared down at me, Coach asked, What are you doing?
I replied that I was sick of getting beat all the time and wanted
to win the district tournament at the end of the season. This
was a pretty bold statement coming from a kid who had won
only one match in the past two years. I m not sure why I said it.
Maybe it was to impress the coach; maybe I said it to make my-
self feel better. Either way, I said it and the damage was done.
What would he say to me? Why did I have to open my mouth?
After what seemed to be 10 minutes, but in reality was only a
couple of seconds, Coach Mullen took a serious look at me and
said, If you work hard enough, you can do whatever you want
to. If you believe you can do it, then I believe you can do it. He
then walked down the stairs and into the locker room without
a single glance back.
This is all it took. I was just about ready to quit running the stairs
when I ran into Coach Mullen. My legs were tired and I was
completely worn out from practice. I still remember how bad my
feet hurt from all the pounding. Instead, after Coach walked into
the locker room, I picked up the pace. I began taking two steps at
a time instead of one. My breathing got deeper and deeper, but it
didn t faze me a bit. If all I had to do was work hard, then I was
going to bust my ass. For the next 45 minutes, I ran the stairs.
I don t think it would have mattered if I had to wait another 45
minutes for my mom I would have run all night! I now had
something in my blood that had been missing up to that point. I
had been given one of the greatest gifts in life: I now had CON-
FIDENCE running through my veins.
This passion continued throughout the rest of the season. I ran
the stairs every night after practice. I lifted weights when I got
home. On the days we didn t have practice, I went to the local
121
Under the Bar
YMCA and worked on my drop step, escape, and other ba-
sic skills for hours on end. I spent my weekends back at the
YMCA running, lifting, swimming, and working skills. I would
spend the entire day there training. (It took me many years to
learn what overtraining was.) I got stronger, faster, and better
conditioned then anyone else on the team. Getting through [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]