Never too old

The other day I spoke at length to one of my coaching heroes and mentors,
Nort Thornton, former men’s swimming coach at Cal and now a volunteer
assistant. Nort is in his late seventies, certainly nothing left to prove. He
has coached world record holders, Olympic champions, he has done it all but
is still curious and trying to improve himself. He is never satisfied that he has
the answer. I wish I had a recording of the phone conversation. When I call him I
usually have a pad and pen to take notes because I know he will have a profound
thought or a challenging question, but I was driving home after a great workout
with my Venice VB girls so I could not write it down. He had read a couple of the
books that I recommended to him and we discussed some of those ideas. Then he
proceeded to share with an idea that he had gotten on putting more pressure on
the little finger in the swim stroke. He had gotten the idea from something he had read
about strength training. I listened in astonishment and awe. I was thinking who
the hell else is thinking about pressure on the little finger to help better
engage the lats? I went home dove in the pool and fooled with it a bit.
Certainly intriguing, but you know it is really not about the idea it is about
the man. People like Nort inspire and challenge me. He is everything a coach
should be and still going after it everyday after sixty plus years of coaching.
Today when you go out to work with your athletes, regardless of the sport,
think of Nort, look at the athletes and the sport you are working with
differently. How can you get better to make the athletes better? Challenge
yourself like he challenges himself. I wish there were more Nort Thornton’s in
coaching.