Raider Athletics 2016 Year in Review (Part 3) -- The Power to Fulfill our Dreams

Happy New Year to everyone!

The final question I was asked in my 2016 Year in Review was what was I looking forward to next year the most. Let me take a round about way to answer that based on a couple thoughts, stories and experiences I have had lately.

I think one of the best things about sports is the opportunity to be a dreamer. I was a labeled a day dreamer in my elementary school years so it might be my natural fate. I was a pretty good runner at one time in my life, and I dream of being able to consistently compete again. I dream of this so much a couple of my old running friends tease me now that it will never happen and I am a lot of talk. But I am still going to dream about that just as I hope some of our athletes will dream of winning a state or national championship, going to the olympics, or playing sports professionally one day. Just because dreams seem unattainable doesn't mean they are not helpful in our lives. But how do we teach our student athletes the power to accomplish their dreams.

I recently watched the 30 for 30 on Canadian Terry Fox entitled Into the Wind. Most Americans younger than me probably don't remember the story of Terry Fox, but he was about my age. Terry Fox was a determined young athlete who was diagnosed with cancer and had his leg amputated at the hip when he was 19. During his post operative treatment he saw so many cancer patients giving up and then dying, he came up with a dream to run across Canada with one good leg and one prosthetic to raise money for cancer research. It became known as the Marathon of Hope.

Terry Fox

There was struggle all along the way to fulfill this dream. On the first day he began training for the run he went out to a public track with his college basketball coach, and in the first 100 meters Fox fell 3 times because he had so much trouble coordinating the movement. The scene of Terry struggling was upsetting to a mother whose children were playing in an adjoining playground. So the mom ran up to the coach and said "get that freak out of here!"

So Terry Fox, unwilling to be deterred, began training at night.

His run across Canada in the summer of 1980 started with almost no attention and became a national movement. By the time he got to August, he had raised over 1.7 Million dollars for Cancer Research, covered over 3000 miles, and had daily TV and press coverage as well as cars and runners following him.

But Fox's dream of running across Canada was never finished. After 143 days and 3,339 miles, Fox stopped just outside Thunder Bay. He was eventually admitted to the hospital and doctors discovered his cancer had returned now in an even more lethal form. In June 1981, Terry Fox died. The Marathon of Hope was never finished.

When I arrived at North Shore in the 1990's, there was a teacher who was not on the coaching staff but seemed to come into the gym every day -- and if my memory is accurate as this was over 20 years ago -- this included lots of Saturdays and Sundays. He had a regular routine of getting a basketball and shooting endless jump shots. It was both his daily exercise and almost a meditative practice for him. He used to tell me that this daily practice was what was missing on our teams. No one was in the gym every day practicing like he was.

Things have changed a lot since then. A few years ago, former Raider Coach Lou Kinder shared an expression with our athletes from the Cal Bear Crew team that she was on. They used to refer to their practice habits by saying: "It's called Sunday. Not a day off!" Sunday obviously can be replaced with, its called Christmas, New Years, my birthday etc. not a day off. And although that expression is not unanimously endorsed by our athletic community, you will see it appear on our whiteboard in the weight room regularly.

Coach Jim Radcliffe has been the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Oregon for the last 30 years. He has been often sited as one of the greatest reasons Oregon athletics has transformed in the last 3 decades. I have gotten to know him a bit as he is a faculty member at the GAIN conference I attend and he has a number of expressions I love to share. My favorite is "it's all about consistency.

Van Niekerk & Botha

My favorite moment of 2016 in sports was Wayde Van Niekerk's gold medal and world record performance in the 400m. This was incredible because no one had threatened Michael Johnson's record in years. Van Niekerk broke it from lane 8 where he got no advantage of pacing off his other competitors and has never been done before in that position. And he did it on the biggest stage the sport has. Van Niekerk was relegated to lane 8 because his semi-final performance was sub par as he was overcome by nerves. He then was convinced he could not perform well in the final until his coach Anna Botha came in. Botha is a 74 year old grandmother in a world dominated by male coaches. Botha believes in a philosophy of discipline, hard work, and laughter. Botha's coaching between the semi-final and the final is widely attributed to the ultimate performance success of Van Niekerk.

There are lessons from all of those stories. First, you have to have a dream. You have to have hope. You have to practice. You have to be consistent. And lastly you have to have people who share your dream and are their to support you.

Where does that happen most in sports -- practice.

So to finish this year in review off, what I am looking forward to most in 2017 is better and better practices for our teams and athletes.  What I love about practice is that is where people learn the power of personal transformation -- a power they can use not just in sports to accomplish their dreams.

Terry Fox's legacy in Canada is incredible. He became a national hero. There are monuments to him around the nation. Through the Terry Fox Foundation, they have raised over $500 million for Cancer Research. He has inspired millions of people. Basketball star Steve Nash considers Fox a major influence. All because of a dream that was unrealized -- Fox never finished his run.

Some people are saying that 2016 was a bad year.  I should be pretty upset with myself because I did not meet many of the resolutions I made. My running buddies were right again. I was a lot of talk about getting back in shape. To my credit, I got off to a good start in 2016 but somewhere around Spring Break 2016, I lost my discipline.

But I went back through my pictures and I put together a mix of 100 of my favorite school and family pictures and I have to admit that although I accomplished few of my 2016 resolutions completely I have nothing to complain about this year -- 2016 was pretty good for me, for my family and for most of the people I know. My year of unrealized personal dreams, didn't inspire a national movement like Terry Fox. But the dream continues into 2017.

Here are 100 pictures from my school work and family from 2016. I hope you had as good a year as I did. But I am dreaming for both of us that 2017 is even better. Thanks in advance to the following photographers whose pictures ended up in this feed: Art Jessen, Inge Hondmann, Steve Bates of WCS Photographer, John McHugh, Bill Hague, Frank Dachille, and Rob Dickey of the Winnetka Talk. And Sorry if I missed anyone. Happy New Year once again!

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100 Picture Slideshow from 2016