Taste Buds

Sitting at the airport, waiting for my flight that starts my Thailand adventure. I may have checked in a little early. Oh well... Time to write something cool :) I the mix of getting ready and checking that I had my passport 5 million times, I forgot to have dinner, so I grabbed myself some dodgy airport Thai food (how fitting). The first bite was actually really nice! The rest, I'm sure tasted just as nice but my mouth was SO burnt that I couldn't really taste it. You would've though after 24 years of eating, I'd know to check the temp before slamming in a fireball of food! Obviously not... Canberras' brand spankin' new airport which looks a million bucks, doesn't have wifi... Seriously?!?!? What a hard life I'm living! I mean, no wifi! How am I supposed to kill an hour like that! Anyway. So, over the next 16 days, I'm heading to Singapore, Phuket and the Gold Coast with my dad who I see maybe twice a year and my sister who I would be lucky to see twice . How good is that! 2 days in Singapore which looks very cool, 5-10 in Phuket which looks like a slice of heaven and then my Blue boys play on the GC! I'm looking forward to Lazing about in a 5 star resort like the old me but something has changed this time. Even though my physical taste buds have been destroyed by chicken, my metaphorical taste buds have taken a more 'grown-up' turn. I want to explore. I want to see these other countries and experience everything they have to offer. Although, in saying that... I refuse to eat an egg with a fetus in it! I think I'll put it down to the fact that my lady is exploring half the world and enjoying herself no end! Maybe I'm growing up. Maybe I'm jealous. Maybe I'm more accepting of the world. Whatever it is, it's good. :)

Tough days

Last night/today was TOUGH!!!

I felt fine last night until I finished my Skype call with my lady friend. It was such a high, then such a crash! No wonder they call love the ultimate Ecstacy! Straight from Skyping the lady I love, to work. Work was hard, going home was hard, getting up was hard, working at an extremely frustrating job was hard... But I'm at the end of my day and I feel good!

I'm about to head to watch my beloved (As long as they fight!) Blues with my best mates and eat some shit food(Friday night tradition)!!!!

I love my life. I love that I have people who can make me feel so strongly whether it's good or bad. I love that I can have a shit day and 20 minutes out of hell and I'm happy and feeling good! And Honestly, I think this writing thing is playing a part in that. I may well have found a new hobby. God knows i've got the time for it!!!

Have a good weekend to all of my followers... If there are any... I don't think there are... but oh well, have a good weekend anyway :)

So close, yet so far!

Yesterday was an exciting, life changing, gut wrenching day!

The girl I love jumped on a plane to the other side of the world.

For the week leading up to her departure, admittedly, I got very clingy! Spending that last week with her made me realise what I was about to lose and I didn't want to let go. Obviously I knew that I loved her and that she made me happy but I wasn't to know what void she would leave once she had boarded that plane!

I wrote her a letter on the eve of her departure. Something she had asked me to do. I was a little reluctant to begin with but once I started writing, it stirred up all sorts of emotions! I found myself becoming increasingly in love with her in that moment. I couldn't help but be reduced to quiet tears. Looking across at her sitting in our house, on our rug, using our pen confirmed that this was not MY life but OUR life.

What is a boy to do without his girl? Sure I'll have a lot of freedom to do whatever I like whenever I like but that's not what I want. I want to spend each and every day with her. Whether we're cuddled up on the couch or doing something separate from each other, I know she's there. Not so far away. But look at her now! She's on the other side of the world experiencing everything the world has to offer. And I sit here and wait.

I want her to experience everything she could ever wish for and I want her to enjoy her 4 months more than anything she has ever done. 

But I feel empty.

I can't tell her that I love her whenever I want. It kills me that I can't show her how much I love her even though I know that she knows and feels the same, I just want her!

So here I am, 3 and a half years after meeting her, feeling closer and closer to her, more and more in love with her and more desparate to spend my life with her. Yet she's so far away.

I can't help but crave the day she steps off the plane and back in to my arms. I can't wait to feel our closeness so close. Once I feel it again, I'll hold on to it forever!   

Interesting!

JUST DID IT!

Yesterday was not a great day. Or was it? I woke up like any other day, but it didn't pan out the way I would have liked. It was an UN-PRODUCTIVE day. I don't like un-productive days! I was really feeling quite down by the time it came to go to the gym. So, reluctantly, up I got, laced my shoes and walked to the car to find a yellow kick in the guts under my windscreen wiper. $186!! The last thing a poor uni student needed on a crappy day. I drove to the gym with thoughts racing through my head stirring the already negative mindset I had brewed. By the time I arrived at the car park, I really didn't want to get out, not because I didn't want to go to the gym but because I felt like hiding away. Then came the rain. It was like everything was trying to push me in to a state of misery. After sitting there for 10 minutes, I thought "What's the alternative?" ... There wasn't one. I had the choice to either sit there and be exponentially miserable or I could get up and just go in. I just went in. Immediately after getting out of the car, I felt a little better. I went in, trained the house down, enjoyed being with my gym mates and left with sweat all over. I don't know whether it was the endorphins released from my exercise or the self satisfaction I had created by JUST DOING IT, but I felt good! I preceded to dinner with a bunch of people who I love and who make me happy. The rest of the night consisted of only a smiling face. I had won. Be it a little win, but a win none-the-less. It lead me to think about the battle of the little men on your shoulders. I suppose you can either listen to them and let their words control you OR beat them and know that only you have control over what you do. Create and environment for yourself to prosper. It's a decision! Make the right one for your well-being.

I'm noticing a very specific theme to my posts. Essentially everything I’ve done in this course has been about MOTIVATION.

Aristotle must have done something right if people are using his quotes 2300 years later. This quote speaks to me as a motivator as it really outlines the need to persist and keep training. Creating habits has always been a firm belief of a lot of people trying to succeed in whatever they are doing.

Getting out of bed in the morning to go to the gym is tough to start with but do it for a week or 2 and create a habit and its easy. The only problem with habits is they’re easy to break, hard to start but a disciplined mindset, coach or friend who accompanies you is valuable! If there’s someone else doing it with you who doesn’t miss a beat, you won’t want to miss one either. Whether that’s your friend, coach or not wanting to give in to your own thoughts, it’s powerful!

Don’t be scared to ask for help. There are very few people who have been successful completely on their own.

A bit if a messy blog entry but the blog is my head and at the moment it’s messy… I’ll clean it up though!

The role of the bench player is interesting. How do these guys maintain motivation while accepting that they're one of the less talented players? There must be some who strive to be a starter and others who just hope to fill their duty in the team and play a selfless role. Would be very interesting to talk to second tier veterans and young players looking to break in to the side. I'd assume the second tier veterans have developed a wise outlook and accept their role as a bench player as long as they can contribute to the team. Sure this outlook is humble towards the end of a career but its far from ideal for a rookie! Aspirations must be high for a rookie to progress to starting player. Just "filling their role" is not enough for those improve and become elite. In saying that, a mixture of the wise old veteran mindset and the aspiring rookie compliment each other perfectly. A wise head can lead aspirations through experience and provide them with a role model. While an aspiring rookie can motivate a veteran to keep his game up because motivation motivates. When the rookie comes in with enthusiasm, surely it has an affect on the veterans and their possibly wilting enthusiasm. I wonder how many coaches utilise older players to mentor the younger ones to try and develop respect and comradery rather than becoming a dictatorship under one iron fist (the coach).

Hi everyone! This will be my fourth blog entry and its definitely the one I've enjoyed the most! Watching videos and reading about Kai Greene is inspiring! Some people think he's a fruit cake while others aspire to have the same understanding and wisdom as he does. Kai grew up with no parents, skipping from one orphanarium to the next. I suppose this is a big reason as to why he's so philosophical. With that much time and no one to share your day to day life with, I'd imagine a lot of people would become pretty involved in their own thoughts. Kai expanded his thinking and is an avid reader of other peoples philosophy as well. He talks about the tremendous power that each of have in our hands, "whether you're the king or the slave, you have this tremendous power". He's speaking of the mind. If you have power of your mind, he says, "I can be whatever I want to be, not because I'm cocky, because If I say it, not only with my mouth but with my thoughts and then my thoughts cover my actions and my actions become the work that will produce the desired result. I can do whatever I want to, not because I'm cocky or arrogant, but because I hold this tremendous power in my hands. Whether you choose to acknowledge it is up to you". I personally find Kai inspirational. A strong believer of mind over matter, which I very much agree with. I'm not going to say that I'm as wise or understand like Kai but I have made a decision to put these ideals in to practise. Embracing tasks and passions whole heartedly is important and your success will drive you further for your next task. If someone was to be coaching me, this is the style and idea that would work. It may be different to others but that's exactly what you need to find from your athletes and if you discover it, you're 90% of your way to the goal!

Challenging, Not Threatening. "Mindset"

I know from experience that “tough love” can be taken the wrong way. It’s probably a part of why I didn’t succeed to the level To which I had the potential in sport. I suppose there are a few ways and certainly points of perspective to look at this subject.

Athlete: How do you as an athlete respond when your coach blasts you? Does it make you resent them? Does it make you motivated to perform better next time? Does it have a negative or positive outcome in the way you’re feeling?

Coach: Have you summed up what sort of learner your athlete is? Do you have enough experience with the athlete to know what makes them tick? How much do you push before giving a bit or release? Are you communicating with them in a productive way?

Finding the right way to put forward a challenge to your athlete rather than a threat is paramount in creating a productive environment. Nothing in sport should be threatening. It should all be challenging. Whether it’s playing the best team or improving a particular skill, it’s reachable, therefore it’s not threatening.

I would like to think that as a coach, I will have the insight and ability to tailor my techniques for each athlete and be able to create the “Challenging, not Threatening” environment.

Surely though, the athlete will ultimately decide which way they take it. Some might respond better to an ‘iron fist’ coach where as some will respond better to a equal standing coach. Hopefully, the coach has enough insight to guide them in the right direction.

Watch this… Interesting!! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2SXcnkNtM

Fascination

I was thinking prior to our lecture today about how I'm always interested in going to these lectures and why it doesn't feel like a chore. Not trying to suck up or anything but Keith's lectures always get me thinking and I'm always engaged. I got to thinking, "I wonder if everyone else feels this way too?". Surely there are some that find it less engaging than me. Attracting people's interest has to be one of the most important attributes in being an educator of any form. As soon as you have their interest, the learning becomes much easier and no matter what you're teaching if you have their interest then surely it's more efficient. I suppose this is an example of the 10,000 hours being brought down to 1,000. The real questions in this are how do you attract someone's interest, how do you keep their interest and how do you adapt to a group situation where there are different learning styles? There are always going to be external factors in motivation for interest and that's largely out of the control of the teacher/coach. But what can we do to attract FASCINATION to the subject? I personally am fascinated by anatomy. My interest makes it much easier to allocate time to study anatomy and therefore grasp information. The more information I grasp, the more I enjoy it. It's exponential. This is the sort of motivation and interest that is surely un-paralleled in teaching and learning. I didn't read the entirety of the attached document but I found the first couple of pages to be very interesting in explaining motivational differences between adults and children. https://www.msu.edu/~dwong/CEP991/CEP991Resources/Deci-Interest&Motiv.pdf I'll certainly be researching the question, "How do we inspire interest and motivation?" Hopefully I'll find some good notation that supports various theories. If not... I suppose I'll use my INTEREST TO MOTIVATE me to write my own!

'Fitness'?

Keith mentioned a quote which resonated with me for some reason. I'm yet to really put a finger on why but it's got my interest and attention.

-"Fitness may be defined as the level of adaptation to the stressors of a given lifestyle"

This puts the term 'Fitness' into a much broarder scheme than just the sporting/health world.

In no way am i saying the statement is wrong  but I don't know if I trust it. I suppose it's all down to context. People who live and always have lived an unhealthy lifestyle should have, according to this statement, "Adapted to the stressors". Yet their body is crumbling and they need all sorts of help to bring them back to a sustainable level of being. 

The statement in my mind, is too broad. Yes, in sports, this is true i.e. the harder you train the fitter you become but in other aspects of life this is not neccesarily the case.

Personally I feel that Fitness is the result of an ideal approach and execution to a given task. The level of Fitness comes down to the motivation to progress to a new level. Sure you can be suitable for the task but motivation is the key to breaking new ground and becoming better at the task.

A combination of; "Fitness is the result of an ideal approach and execution to a given task" and "Motivation", I believe is a good way to define fitness in a sense of progression.

Sure, this can be discussed in A LOT of depth and there are variables which are thrown in e.g. genetics, but in the case of a person striving to be better and improve at any given task in any given setting, I believe it comes down to, APPROACH + MOTIVATION + EXECUTION = FITNESS.  

Michael Jordan said it better than most.

- I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.