The need to breathe can be a powerful motivator. Sometimes in life you will face obstacles you don’t think you will be able to come back from. Like something has stolen your air. The thing to always remember is that if you keep fighting you will find your way through and get your head above water long enough for that next breath.
In goalie terms that means something than in life. Every time I go to get in the water and actually practice I think about my goalie half. In Pennsylvania men and women’s water polo is in the same season. So as a goalie we always trained together regardless of gender. My goalie half was the women’s goalie. Same grade but more experience than me. I probably wouldn’t have ever amounted to anything as a goalie if it hadn’t been for her. She was stronger than me in most ways and could out work me on my best day. Also when you’re a goalie there is a certain understanding that only another goalie can have. They are the ones you can talk to honesty post game and they are the best at getting you out of your own way. You spend every day for most of high school suffering for hours together and a bond forms. One I miss every time I get back in the water. And as I prepare to put this old and broken body through an hour or two of old fashioned hell I wonder where she is and what she’s up to.
Then I remember she’s training for the Olympics in bobsledding. Yeah, I won the goalie lottery on my other half. And if you happen across this, I hope you’re kicking ass.
Sadly no woman running through my head(OAR reference if you don’t get it)
Also a little past 3:00am but that is when I woke up, but after two hours of trying to get back to sleep it is game over.
So last night I returned from the Naval Academy where I finished up my last weekend of assistant coaching for Salem International University for this school year. In 3ish hours I will teach my Multicultural Literature class. Between those two things I ran 13.1 miles last night(why I can’t sleep, body is unhappy).
Between the 5 or so hours in a van, the 2 hours watching myself run in a window, and the last few hours of being awake I have had more time to think on my life than is usually good for me.
Many times when I start focusing on my life I can end up in a tail spin. I’m nearly 30 and most of the things I thought I would have completed five years ago I am still likely five years away from.
The past day though, this hasn’t been the case.
Things are good. Could they be better, yes, but they are good. And for me, that is pretty damn great.
I am coaching the two sports I love, getting to teach English, and have time to write. Things are good.
I have lost 20ish pounds since January.
I’m nearing the end of the first draft on my third book.
I am healthier than I have been in a long time.
I am making enough money that I don’t worry about money.
I am getting to travel.
Short of missing my dog every day I don’t have much to complain about these days.
I have enough and that is all I can ever ask for.
Now that I got the fingers warmed up, I’ve got some writing to do.
Those of you headed off to your 9-5s cheers to that cup of coffee, to those of you getting of your night shifts, bottoms up to that beer. To you other insomniacs, don’t forget to hydrate.
I do my best to never set impossible goals for my goalies. So I tell them that I don’t expect them to shut games out.
You will get scored on. I’ve never had a perfect game, and I’ve coached a few, and only see a couple more on top of that. The rules of the game are continuing changing to make it a higher scoring game(Your average game will finish around ten goals).
You aren’t perfect, and I’ll never ask you to be. I will ask for your best. Nothing more, nothing less.
The reason I don’t ask them to be perfect is I need them to be at their best when things are going wrong. If they give up three in a row, I don’t want them to shut down. I need them to be prepared to be scored on and still move forward without cracking.
In life things will never go perfectly. No matter how much you train or practice or try, things won’t go perfectly. Ever.
You’ve got to be prepared for things not to go your way. You can still get scored on and win the game.
Besides being a writer, and poker fan, I also coach water polo and swimming. This is an observation I have made over the years of many athletes. The moment they start feeling pain their brain tells them they are working hard. Sadly, this is usually just the beginning of working, and it is far from hard.
Most people take that first sign of pain and feel like that should be their target excretion level, but we as human beings can push so far beyond that. I’m not advocating that while training for the Primal Age you should push yourself to injury, but you should test your limits. By testing your limits you will slowly push them farther and farther. Before you know it you might actually be working hard.
Justin Kassab 