Author: Vernon Gambetta
100 Books – Goal Achieved
As regular readers of this blog have probably figured out I love to read. For some reason, not 100% sure why I set a goal last September to read one hundred in the subsequent year. This past week I achieved my goal with five weeks to spare. Now I am aiming for twelve more by September 1. As I look back over the list here are the ones that stand out: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan The Gamble by Thomas Ricks Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin Strokes of Genius by L. Jon Wertheim Born to Run by Christopher McDougall In the Graveyard of Empires by Seth G. Jones
Dartfish
I had the opportunity to go through a day of training in the latest Dartfish software. http://www.dartfish.com I was blown away with the changes they have made. I was an early adopter of Dartfish in the winter of 2001. I actually used quite extensively over the next four years and then got away from using it. When I returned this last spring I found that I had become out of touch with it and needed to be retrained. This last week was my fist opportunity for training with the new version the Team Pro 5.0. It is much more intuitive and practical. There is so much that can be done my head is spinning. I wish I could afford to hire someone to just do Dartfish analysis fulltime, I think it would be that valuable. (This is not a paid endorsement, I also own Silicon Coach.) I think that one of my biggest shortcoming, as a coach has been my inability (possibly reluctance) to use video. I have relied too much on my coaching “eye” that is way to biased. With what we know about skill acquisition this medium is indispensible. I am vowing to make use of the power of this software going forward. I also have a channel on Dartfish TV that I am going to make extensive use of starting in September www.dartfish.tv. I need the month of August to get up to speed with all of this.
The Moon Landing – Where were you?
This is a moment I will never forget. Of all places we watched the moon landing in the Yankee Clipper bar in Santa Barbara, California. I was with John Larralde, John O’Malley and Eric Stocking, our version of the rat pack. We used to go to the Yankee Clipper occasionally because they had a girl who could really sing for entertainment and an aquarium with a really ugly frog that was twice the size of any of the fish. I think the attraction that night was the larger TV, it must have been at least thirty inches, black and white. As they say those were the days. When you stop to think about this accomplishment, it was truly amazing. The fact that this was accomplished without supercomputers and all the technology we have today is unbelievable. The personal courage and expertise of those astronauts is something I did not realize at the time.
Walter Cronkite
The passing of Walter Cronkite certainly represents a passing on an era. For those of my generation who grew up with Walter Cronkite he represented a measured consistent approach to reporting the news. In many ways he defined our generation by his reporting of the events that defined the Sixties and Seventies. I will never forget his reporting of president Kennedy’s assassination and the moon landing. He represents a different era. I think he certainly knew the responsibility he had. He told us what we needed to know, not necessarily what we wanted to hear. Remember in his day there was no cable news, only three major networks, what he said carried a tremendous amount of influence. He was one of the first public figures to recognize and speak out on the futility of the Vietnam war, to do that in the climate that existed at the time took real courage. I thank Walter Cronkite for my passion for history. Growing I did not watch much television but I would seldom miss his programs “You are There” a weekly reenactment of historical events and “Twentieth Century.” Those programs brought history alive. This morning NPR called him the most trusted man in America. “That’s the way it is.”
John Larralde Update
John is doing fine, apparently as close to fully recovered as you can be from the health crisis that he endured. All our prayers and thoughts coupled with his will to live allowed him to prevail. Now the reality of paying the hospital bills is the next obstacle. Some of John’s friends came up with the idea to have a clinic to help raise money to pay for John’s hospital bills. The clinic will be at Carpenteria High School, Carpenteria, California on August 1 from 9:00 Am to 5:00Pm with a social after. None of the speakers are accepting speaking fees or expenses, the lineup of coaches represents a who’s who of California High School coaches over the last 40 years. I am humbled and honored to be able to give the keynote address. I hope you can make it, if you cannot and you can spare a few bucks to help out with the hospital bills see the attached link. Hope to see you there. I am looking to going home, visiting John and seeing old friends. www.warriorcountry.com/track/KnowItAll/clinic.htm www.dyestatcal.com//?pg=dyestatcal-2009-News-August-09-01-Know-It-All-Clinic
Monica Seles
I would like to congratulate Monica on her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I had the opportunity to work with Monica for a brief period in 1998 and 99. What a wonderful person, a terrific role model for the young female athlete. She was a great athlete, very quick and explosive. It was very interesting talking to her about her training with her father who was a triple jumper, as a youngster she trained very athletically and explosively with plyo’s and medicine balls. I know that she was an inspiration to my daughter and will continue to inspire further generations of female athletes.
Lance Armstrong
Just before the Tour de France started I read John Wilcockson’s biography of Lance Armstrong entitled Lance – The making of the World’s Greatest Champion. I have been fascinated by Lance Armstrong since he came on the scene ion world cycling in the early 90’s. His story is in so many ways is the classic American rags to riches success story that makes you feel good. All the details of his birth to a teenage mother into impoverished circumstances, to the abusive adoptive father and his rise through the ranks of cycling are detailed in this book. In many ways no detail is committed. The cancer story in touching and inspiring – BUT! Underneath all the feel good and tough upbringing you see a pattern of him using people. There is a ruthless element to him that leaves me uncomfortable. The specter of doping is a cloud over the whole book in my eyes. The author and Lance are trying too hard on the doping issue. I feel that all the details of his upbringing and his hyper competitiveness, win at all costs attitude only make the possibility of doping a more realistic possibility. We probably will never know. I know that the supposed purpose of his return to the Tour was to raise cancer awareness, but after reading the book I can’t help but think it is more about keeping Lance in the spotlight he craves and needs.
NSCA 2009 – Las Vegas
Jim Radcliffe and I co-presented Saturday at the NCSA Convention – The Topic was Coaching Excellence – Building Champions in Sport and Life. In some respects it was a little out of character because there was very little directly on training, certainly no exercises, sets and reps, instead it was on philosophy of coaching. The underpinnings of why we do what we do. It seemed to be well received, I know that we really enjoyed preparing the presentation and presenting it. Working with Jim is always inspirational to me. As far as the rest of the convention the highlight was getting the opportunity to meet up with old friends and professional colleagues. I question scheduling where the speakers from Australian Rugby and the conditioning coach for British cycling were scheduled at the same time. It was tough choosing between those. I am just not sure where this organization is going. If the exhibit hall and the wide variety of topics covered in the presentations is an indication I think it is a ship adrift on a stormy sea. I am not sure whose needs the organization is meeting. It is certainly not a coaching organization. It appears to be more of a personal fitness/personal training organization to me. I appreciate the attempt to have the research included, but it gets lost in the clutter. Why add an extra day “pre-Conference”? Why aren’t those parts of the conference? As usual I am a naysayer, but I do remember going to the Convention and coming away with practical and useful information that helped make a better coach. I hope that as an organization they can clarify their mission and serve a useful role to coaches. What I do as a coach is not an industry, it is a profession. I get really tired of hearing people stand up and talk about the industry. This is about people and improving people not an industry. When I pay my NSCA membership it doesn’t say anything about an industry in the membership materials or their mission statement. I have so many questions about the NSCA I could go on forever. My last question is how can a national staff member have a for profit business that is supported by the NSCA?