People must sometimes think by the statements and catch phrases I make in classes that I am not all there when it comes to coaching and getting everything in the right order. First I have told my students in prior articles how much I want them to fail, now I want them to be average?
This is why……..
I have been coaching men and women, boys and girls, athletes, housewives, accountants, lawyers, office workers, Police, Ambos, Military and everything in between for the last 21 years. In that time there have been some EXTRAORDINARY people. So gifted it cannot be measured. Show them a move, or a form just once, and by the end of the lesson they could be graded on it, or they are using that move to a point where it’s happening as if they have been doing it forever.
Then there are the students that almost NEVER get anything right the first time (or the first 100 times for that matter). They struggle with EVERYTHING, and to get just to the same ball park as the first group they have to struggle for hours upon hours and work their butts off.
These guys and girls are the people I enjoy teaching the most. You know why?
2 things…..
- They have had to work hard right from the start. Every single milestone they make they have had to work and slave away to achieve.
- Because of point number 1, they have learnt how to “suffer”.
Why is suffering good for you? Here’s a little quote….
“We suffer for the simple reason that suffering is biologically useful. It is nature’s preferred agent for inspiring change”
We need to learn how to suffer to get what we truly want in life, and then truly be grateful for what we have. Average students know how to suffer, they know they need to do extra reps, they will spend that extra half hour after class working on some drills, they will make sure their diet and sleep is right because every little bit is needed to get them across the line.
Because of that mentality from day 1, average students become GREAT MARTIAL ARTISTS. They become leaders, movers, shakers, and people both us and our kids want to be. They have a story. A fairytale that got them here. Their war stories are the best you’ve ever heard – because giving up and quitting is not an option. They are prepared to SUFFER.
Now – If you are a gifted athlete, I still like you. It’s not like I’m going to turn you away. But…… Be prepared boys and girls for the time when your talent runs out, and you must incorporate your talent with hard fucking work…… I’m warning you, that’s going to be tough. Suffering isn’t fun. But like those average students, if you really want it, you will do it.
The amount of fights, frustrations, arguments, and banging my head against a brick wall moments I have had with gifted students I’ve lost count of…… And the result of a lot of those arguments, is usually their departure. It’s a shame really, because had they learned how to suffer, some of them would have achieved the stuff legends are made of.
But they didn’t……..
If the two different athletes (average and gifted) combine their mentalities, the results are unparralled. In 21 years, I have seen only one. That kid was (and still is) so gifted at what they do, and suffer – man that kid would rather die than lose – literally. I have seen him put his body into a near state of shock because quitting was not in the fucking contract. Some would say that’s crazy – I think that shit is admirable.
I remember when I got my first BMX. It was a black and yellow Repco Hotfoot. I mowed lawns (everybody’s damn lawn), did job after job, and my father met me half way with the money, but I had to get that first half. When I got it, I looked after that thing because it was gold. I had worked my arse off to get that thing. I cleaned it so much I reckon I came close to rubbing the paint off it. We value what we have worked so hard to achieve. Average students stay – Gifted students sometimes don’t. They don’t truly value how much work needs to be done.
I have what I am calling a “team” of students at the moment training for what will be for some of them the most physical test they have ever done in their lives. Some are very gifted, and some are very average. At the moment they are all I think having this revelation to themselves and asking themselves nightly “do I really want this”, because I am riding them harder than they have ever been before. I’m doing that because when they do that grading, they will do the best they have ever done, and it will be a moment in time they will tell their Grandkids about. They will have more than their share of war stories.
So the idea is…….. Always think you are average, right from the first session. That feeling of hard work and knowing to never quit is something mentally we all need in our daily lives. To not be happy with “that’ll do”, to do “one more round” or “one more lap” and accept the struggle – learn how to suffer.
By doing that, all the achievements you WILL make, you will have earned fair and square, and they will mean a ridiculous amount more to you because you know and have felt all the shit you went through to get there.
Be average – Be the best – Stay forever.
#cma4life
