Skip to main content

Somedays

The Steele Stars Performing 'Go For the Gold'
Somedays, you are reminded how lucky you are. You are reminded how beautiful the world is and how unique your role in it is.

Today was one of those days - powerful because of its simplicity, purity, and raw passion. That special blend of forces most often found in children. That exuberant enthusiasm for life - that fearlessness to not just dream but to believe in dreams.

The morning required planning. We had to be up early to record our heart-rates, pee in our cups, and pack our bag for the days activities. So after wiping away the eye-sleepies, we headed to breakfast, nourished ourselves with some grub (and the ever so needed cup of joe) then headed for a meeting with Peter, the man of mindfulness, our sports psychologist.

Peter surprised us today. He didn't make us sit and be mindful, like he usually does. He told us to take off our shoes and stand on a foot wide styrofoam balance beam. I cursed myself for wearing dirty socks. Katie O'donnell and I flanked the left end of beam. Peter then informed us of our task, to arrange ourselves in height order without touching the ground.

Not a strategic move to stand next to OD; she is the shortest, and I am the tallest. It took a while, but we managed the task by crawling under, stepping over, and offering a balanced hand to our teammates. We finished with only seconds to spare.  Our discussion of the activity led to some pertinent conclusions about how to anchor our attention on our individual roles, and how that focus leads to outcome success.

With Peter's session concluded, we quickly changed into our uniforms, packed the vans and headed to Steele Elementary School, the home of the Stars, for what the USADA organizers termed a "character enrichment" program.

 It far surpassed enrichment, it was inspiration. Not by us, but for us, from the children. They welcomed us with a passionate chant of USA, eager high fives, and engaged eyes.  They listened to us as we spoke about character, sportmanship, and field hockey. They cheered for us when we played a 5v5 on gruesome grass pitch. They rallied us to Go for Gold. They sang for us an incredible song that moved some to chills and others to tears.

They reminded us how lucky we are. Not just to do what we do, but to be on their team. Because at the days end, we are all on the same team - fighting to make the best of ourselves in order to make the best of our world.

Somedays, you just can't help but smile. Because you know what an amazing life this is.

Check out the news coverage of our amazing visit to Steele Elementary here: http://youtu.be/Z4wE7GGk318

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

America's Got Talent, Not Time

Let's take a dive into the talent pool.   America’s got talent. A lot of talent. What it doesn’t have though is time and a cohesive system to identify and develop that talent to maturity. The short timeline for the development of talent undermines the country's ability to succeed at the highest level. A multitude of factors play a role, yet the most influential is the win now mentality driven by the demands of college and youth sport. This mentality  - and the money behind it - dominates the American sport landscape; it leads to early selection and deselection, myopic views of talent, and the narrowing of the playing pool before most athletes have time to emerge and fully develop. Recruiting accelerates the timeline. We expect more from athletes at an earlier age. We evaluate them at an earlier age. We select and deselect them at an earlier age. The consequence is that an abundance of talent drops out of the pathway, or goes unidentified and undeveloped. A number of factor...
2 comments
Read more

Back on Track

Apologies dear readers, if any of you happen to exist. I  seem to have strayed terribly far from my original purpose, which  I assume, by virtue of the blog title, had something to do with the Athlete Experience.  I have led you on a meandering path toward a cliff of randomness. And I have asked you to jump from that cliff into the oblivion of utter meaninglessness. I have failed wholeheartedly to keep you properly adrift of the athletic experience that matters to me, the way that has become my means - my mode of exploration, my celebration of humanity, and my form of art. And that is the way of the Red, White, and Blue. The Stars and Stripes. The United States of America. With a field hockey stick, a ball, and my teammates. I serve the greatest country in the world. So here is my attempt to rectify my failure, reclaim your readership and get back on track.  Now seems like the best place for the beginning of that quest. The time reads 6:28 AM IST, Irish Stand...
5 comments
Read more

A Madly Beautiful Place

Today. What a magical word. The Games have officially arrived. Sorry I haven’t written. The past few days have been a whirlwind. So much has happened since we left – and more since we’ve arrived. A trip to Cotswold on the English country side. Some peace and calm. A scrimmage versus Holland. So many people, places, things, and my favorite of all - practices on the blue “smurf” turf. Such simple encounters have already become amazing memories. Pinch. Is this real life? Yes. Katelyn Falgowski, myself, Lauren Crandall in Cotswold The Village.  Pop. Pop. Smack. Swishhhh. Haaaahhh. Haaahh. Pop. Smack. The strange noises drew me toward the open patio door. I looked out to see a clash of strong Italian bodies in the courtyard. More a tango of men clad in gloves and head gear performing some violent dance than a boxing practice – our mouths stood agape. We were in awe. Amy Tran, who say beside me, said, “I don’t know what is more funny – ...
3 comments
Read more