WHAT ARE YOU DOING THE "REST OF THE TIME"

The following is a great passage from "What Drives Winning" by Brett Ledbetter and makes a profound point about opportunities where we create value without being involved in the actual action.  It's the "time between actions."  What is your self-talk like at those opportunities?  Are you focusing on what's next or what just happened?

College golf can teach us a great lesson. I was working with a high-level college team and I asked the team a few questions:

Me: How long does it take for you to complete a swing?

Team: One second.

Me: How many shots will you take in a normal round?

Team: 72.

Me: How long does a normal round take to play?

Team: 5 hours.

Me: Let me get this straight, you’re only swinging a golf club for one minute and twelve seconds out of 300 minutes?

Think about that for a second. The great golfers are the ones who can manage the other two hundred, ninety-eight minutes, and forty-eight seconds the best.

RICHARD SHERMAN ON THE PROCESS ORIENTED MINDSET

I love the PlayersTribune.com!  It gives great insight directly from those involved -- the athletes.  They share so much in an open forum that can benefit your players as well.  We share many of them with our team.

One example is the most recent post by Richard Sherman, cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks titled, "On To The Next."  It's a concept that we constantly talk to our players about.  The best move on to the next quickly -- instantly in fact.  On to the next shot...the next possession...the next day...the next game.  Live in the present -- the past and future are irrelevant.  Be process oriented.

Of course it is much easier said than done -- even for veteran professionals.

Sherman opens the article with this:

Earl Thomas was sitting in front of his locker after the game, and I could tell he was frustrated. Then he stood up, put his backpack on, left the locker room and walked out to the parking lot. He didn’t really talk to anybody. He just got in his car and went home.

That was in Week 1.

After we won.

That’s one of the things that makes Earl great. Anybody who knows him knows that he holds himself to an incredibly high standard. That day, he felt he didn’t play up to that standard. We got a win, and that was great. But Earl understands — like everybody else in the locker room — that just because you win doesn’t mean you did everything perfectly.

And conversely, just because you lose doesn’t mean you did everything wrong.

That's process oriented thinking.  It's not the result that makes a difference in the evaluation of your level of execution.  This is the mindset of the best that allows them to grow and improve as opposed to becoming complacent.

As Sherman than points out, this is the outcome of that type of thinking:

That’s one of our many mottos: Control what you can control. That expression was why Earl came in the next morning — after walking out of the locker room on Sunday frustrated, without talking to anybody — and went on to have a great week of practice. Because he knows that come Monday morning, you can’t control what happened on Sunday, and every minute you spend living in the past and dwelling on it is a minute you won’t be spending looking ahead to the next week and the next opponent. And that’s an easy way to lose back-to-back games.

Sherman goes on to talk about the culture of the Seahawks that allows them to hold themselves accountable in part due to the philosophy of Coach Pete Carroll:

Our coaches are probably tougher on us after a win. Coach Carroll always tells us that he wants us to be ourselves, because that’s why he brought us here. Because we’re competitors. We’re the kind of players — and the kind of people — he wants on his team.

Part of being a competitor is being self-motivated. We don’t need a coach to get on our ass after a loss. I’ll get on myself about it, and so will each guy in our locker room. Like I’ve said before, we have a crazy team with some chaotic dudes — a bunch of alphas. Take Earl, for example. He’ll do everything he can to get better, even after a win, because that’s how Earl is. That’s what makes him great. He’s never satisfied, even when he plays well.

The result is a process-oriented mindset displayed in this great quote by Sherman:

"Was I angry that we lost? Of course. Winning never gets old and losing always sucks. But you have to treat those two impostors just the same."

HOW A PLAYER CREATES THEIR IDENTITY

We posted this in our blog for players HoopBoost, but I wanted to share it on our coaching blog as well. It comes from "Coaching The Mental Game" by H. A. Dorfman which is among my top 10 books for coaches wanting to learn and master their craft:

"The measure of a man's real character is what

he would do if he knew he would never be found out."

-Thomas McCauley

What I say it, "You identify yourself by what you do when no one is watching.  The supervised athlete may be the hardest worker, the most selfless and responsible competitor.  But how he practices when no one sees him, how he interacts with teammates when the coach is not within listening distance -- that's when he defines himself.

Theodore Roosevelt extended the definition to self-awareness and independent self-evaluation, saying, "I don't care very much about what I think of what I do.  That is character!"

DO YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR SUMMER WORKOUTS? HOW ABOUT PRACTICES?

One of our discussion points with our team this past week is their ability to maximize their workouts.  Not just the individual workouts with the coaching staff but those workouts on their own -- unsupervised.  We have stressed the concepts of "deliberate" and "intentional."  Don't just roll to the gym and jack up some shots -- have a plan before you leave your apartment...a goal to accomplish during your time on the court.

I read somewhere this past week that Kobe Bryant would go to the gym and work on the same shot or same move for one complete hour...deliberate...intentional...that's how you grow towards mastery of your skills.

Whether its a summer workout or even practices during the season -- how much better would a player be if they mentally and physically prepared for a practice. If they made sure they had the proper rest.  If they were following the correct diet.  If they got there early and actually took time to map out some objectives for the workout.  And if you could get a majority of your players dedicated to pre-practice preparation, you'd be well on your way.

There's an old Adidas video with Bob Knight where he talks about preparation -- and he's referring to practice preparation.  He speaks about when the ball is tossed up, everyone wants to win.  But the successful players are those that want to win "the day before, and two days before and three days before, because the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win."

Most players however think preparation is solely directed towards readying for your next opponent.  But tremendous improvement can come about by being deliberate and intentional in your summer workouts and preparing for practices during the season.

As Jay Bilas wrote in his book "Toughness" --

"If I could go back and be a player again, one area in which I would strive to be better would be my daily preparation.  I would take more time to mentally prepare myself for practice.  It would have made me a better player if I had consistently taken the extra time to mentally prepare myself and focus on what I expected to get out of that day's practice, and to mentally preapre myself to truly compete that day from the first drill to the last."

Deliberate.

Intentional. 

JAY BILAS ON PUSHING LIMITS

Our team passout today via the book "Toughness" by Jay Bilas.

COACH SUMMITT ON TEAMWORK AND MENTAL TOUGHNESS

In honor of Coach Pat Summitt's birthday, here are a few of our favorite blog posts on Coach:

Great Thoughts On Teamwork from Pat Summitt
This came via Greg Brown's book "The Best Things I've Seen In Coaching."

Ultimate Coaches Clinic: Pat Summitt
A great list of philosophical thoughts from Coach Summitt comprised by Pat Williams.

Coach Summitt on Mental Toughness
An excerpt from her book "Reach for the Summit"

ELIMINATE THESE TWO PHRASES

I got this from my friend Sefu Bernard at the LLABB.  It's interesting insight on self-talk and how it can effect your effort, energy and more importantly your habits:

Mental mistakes. If you want to minimize them, then take these two phrases out of your vocab:

1. IT’s – “I’m tired”
2. DFLI’s – “I don’t feel like it.”

If you do, I’d argue that you will have essentially removed over 50% of the negative mental habits you’ll face as a high performance athlete. Those two phrases are typically the tipping point for a downward spiraling conversation, in thought, that’s not in the best interest of any athlete – or coach for the matter – interested in optimal performance.
These phrases are (self-) sabotaging.

Why 50%…?

Good question! It’s probably more. I just like to under-promise and over-deliver.
At the end of the day, from having worked with thousands of athletes at all levels of the performance spectrum, both male and female, I’ve noticed that there’s an ever so subtle difference between the ones that excel amidst adversity and the ones that get ‘stuck in the muck’ of the common challenges faced in elite sport.

Little Things Make A Big Difference

Tired, bored, down, headache, sore, bad day, hard test, mad, frustrated, break up… Awesome! That’s the life of a high performance athlete.

Every athlete that’s playing competitive sports is going through a similar set of challenges. (In fact, to take it a step further, someone, somewhere, would love to have YOUR problems!).

Flip the mental script. Learn to think about adversity differently. It’s a choice. Think of it as an opportunity to respond famously to a less-than-ideal situation.

The athletes that are able to perform at consistently high levels, when it’s most required, think about themselves and their circumstances differently than their teammates and competitors.

This is only a portion of Sefu's blog post -- you can read it in its entirety here.

FREE THROW SHOOTING MENTALITY

Players always ask me what they should think about at the free throw line, something to make them forget the pressure, block out the crowd and the noise and all the distractions. First of all, I can’t give you a made-up thought; it has to be something internal that means something to you. But ideally, I want you thinking about nothing. If you’re truly in the Zone, it’s just you and the ball and the hoop, as if you’re alone on the playground or the driveway or the practice floor. I’d rather have you tell yourself, “it’s just a couple of free throws, not the end of the world either way.” But if you have to go somewhere in your head, go somewhere positive, to your kids or something that’s all about pure relaxation and happiness.

From "Relentless" by Tim Grover

KEY NAVY SEAL CONCEPTS

The following are a few notes from the book “Damn Few” written Rorke Denver, former Head of Basic and Advanced SEAL Training.  This is one of the best books I've read in sometime and I recommend it to coaches and all that are building teams or in positions of leadership:

Be excellent.

It pays to be a winner.

The only easy day was yesterday.

Don’t ever let your teammates down.

 
Carry your full measure of the load.

Don’t disrespect the game by not preparing fully or playing it as well as you possibly can. 

Be present always.

 

WINNERS GET UP...CHAMPIONS GET UP A LITTLE FASTER

The following comes from an article in Success magazine and was written by Chelsea Greenwood:

If you’re a coffee fan, you may already know of Bonnie St. John. In 2006 she was quoted on a Starbucks cup during its “The Way I See It” campaign: “I was ahead in the slalom. But in the second run, everyone fell on a dangerous spot. I was beaten by a woman who got up faster than I did. I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.”

That anecdote refers to St. John’s Paralympics run in 1984, when she became the second-fastest female amputee skier in the world and the first African-American Olympic ski medalist. “That’s a powerful metaphor for today’s business world: There’s change, there’s competition, there’s technological shifts, and we will get knocked down,” says the upstate New York resident. “The prize often goes to the team that can get up the fastest and get back in the game.”

To read the entire article on St. John, click here.

PEAK PERFORMANCE DOWN THE HOME STRETCH

Another great newsletter from the Texas A&M men's basketball staff and Coach Mitch Cole.  If you have already, you need to sign up for it -- each edition is outstanding. Simply email Coach Cole at Mitch Cole mcole@athletics.tamu.edu and ask him to put you on the list.  Here are the Aggie thoughts on peak performance as we head down This time of year, everyone is searching for the best ways to get their teams to play at peak performance in February/March. Every staff asks the questions:

What is the best way to prepare our players for a late season run? What is our strategy if our team is favored and playing well?…Or what if our team is the overwhelming underdog? What approach is best when our team is inconsistent, good one game and poor the next? 

The following are a few concepts that are some helpful reminders to stress to our players in February, regardless of where our teams rank in the standings:

1.EMBRACE "THE MOMENT"

This month is the reason you (the player) work so hard in the off-season. Don't have a mindset of "I can't wait for the off-season." You are working for February (and March) when you spend countless hours in an empty gym the other 10 months of the year. Stay in the moment. The time is now! 

2."TRUST" THE PROCESS

Regardless of the final outcomes of games, ask the question, "Are we improving in certain areas?" For good teams, "are we eliminating mistakes that could cost us when the competition gets tighter?" For struggling teams, "are we seeing improvement and building toward a successful culture/program?"

3. HOW DO YOU MEASURE ON THE  "GRIT" SCALE?

Some educational researchers have defined GRIT as "passion and perseverance to achieve long term goals".  When struggles come, do you get more DEJECTED or more DETERMINED? 

Studies have shown that the attribute of GRIT,  is one of the most powerful indicators of success. The most GRITTY people usually succeed on and off the court.

4. STAY TOGETHER, PRACTICE "TOGETHERNESS"

 -Teams can become selfish during good times and turn on each other during tough times. Teams that stay together can resist the temptation to be selfish, can withstand tough times, and even conquer insurmountable odds. I love this clip of the movie Gladiator.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWRfWr65rlg 

Is it possible that a more "together" team could be worth 1 point in a game? Have you ever won or lost a game by just 1 point? 

 5. KEEP FIGHTING, BE "RESILIENT"

Most people can appreciate a team or athletes that refuse to give up no matter what the circumstance. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from difficulty and in some cases, be better than before. This can happen when the other team goes on a run and things look most bleak, or even within a season. Teams that "Fight" and show tremendous Resilience over and over again have the best chance for sustained success.

 

 

THE PETE CARROLL PHILOSOPHY

In honor of the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl victory, here is a list of some of the blog posts we've done over the years on Pete Carroll:

Pete Carroll on always competing.

Pete Carroll's approach to practice.

Pete Carroll -- practice is everything.

Pete Carroll -- "recruiting is another opportunity to compete."

The Pete Carroll Success Plan.

Pete Carroll on playing in the absence of fear.

Pete Carroll's promise to recruits at USC.

MENTAL DOMINANCE

The following is an excerpt from Tim Grover's book "Relentless" --

Because no matter what you want for yourself, whether your ambitions take you to the gym or the office or anywhere else you want to be, your ultimate power source will come from the neck up, not the neck down. In sports, we spend so much time on the physical component—training, working, and pushing the human body to be fast and stronger and more resilient than most people ever thought possible. And then eventually, we get around to paying some peripheral attention to mental conditioning. That’s completely backward. Excellence isn’t only about hitting the gym and working up a sweat; that’s the smallest part of what you have to do. Physical ability can only take you so far. The fact is, you can’t train your body—or excel at anything—before you train your mind. You can’t commit to excellence until your mind is ready to take you there. Teach the mind to train the body. Physical dominance can make you great. Mental dominance is what ultimately makes you unstoppable. You will never have a more powerful training tool than this: get your mind strong, so your body can follow.

RELENTLESS

"Being relentless means constantly working

for that result, not just when drama is on the line. 

Clutch is about the last minute. 

Relentless is about every minute."

 

-Tim Grover

From "Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable"

DO YOU WORK...TEACH...EMPHASIZE TO YOUR TEAM THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING HARD

Often times coaches can get caught up a little too much in evaluating execution and not focus or emphasize how hard their team is playing or not playing.  Sometimes we assume we should just come out and play hard each and every night.  Developing a mindset of playing as hard as you can for as long as you can is just as important as developing skills, and your system of play.  That's why I loved this short post by Broderick Turner of the LA Times on Clippers head coach Doc Rivers:

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers talked about how much he admired how hard the undermanned Utah Jazz played in a 98-90 loss on Saturday night at Staples Center.

In that same vein, Rivers said his team has been playing hard too. The Clippers played hard in losing at Golden State and Portland last week, and they played hard in defeating the Jazz.

“I think we’re getting that way for sure,” Rivers said. “I think we play hard most nights.

"When you have the talent that we have, it’s more trying to get guys to play in the right spirit every night. And we’re getting there. I think our team is really close."

Rivers has been stressing that to be a good team, you have to play hard every night, no matter the opponent.

“I’ve been saying it for a week or two," Rivers said. "You can feel it. We’re close to being like really good.”
 

ON GRIT AND PERSEVERANCE

Earlier this week I was fascinated by the following tweet from Eric Musselman:

@EricMusselman      

U of Penn study found that "grit" (passion & perseverance for long-term goals) is best predictor of success. "Grit is unrelated w/ talent."

 

I retweeted it of course but found myself very interested in the finding so, as we all do these days -- I Googled it.  In doing so, I found the actual report from the Duckworth Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.  There is a long research statement that you can read in its entirety here but below are some excerpts that I found interesting.

 

The Duckworth Lab focuses on two traits that predict success in life: grit and self-control. Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals. Self-control is the voluntary regulation of behavioral, emotional, and attentional impulses in the presence of momentarily gratifying temptations or diversions. On average, individuals who are gritty are more self-controlled, but the correlation between these two traits is not perfect: some individuals are paragons of grit but not self-control, and some exceptionally well-regulated individuals are not especially gritty. While we haven’t fully worked out how these two traits are related, it seems that an important distinction has to do with timescale: As Galton (1892) suggested, the inclination to pursue especially challenging aims over months, years, and even decades is distinct from the capacity to resist “the hourly temptations,” pursuits which bring momentary pleasure but are immediately regretted.

 

In terms of Big Five personality, grit and self-control both load on the conscientiousness factor, which also encompasses dependability, punctuality, and orderliness, among other facets.

 

Some educators typically prefer the umbrella term “social and emotional learning,” whereas many other educators, as well as philosophers and positive psychologists, embrace the moral connotations of “character” and “virtue.” So, grit and self-control are facets of Big Five conscientiousness, but are also conceptualized as dimensions of human character, social and emotional competency, and non-cognitive human capital.

 

Predicting Consequential Life Outcomes

 



Our research has established the predictive power of grit and self-control, over and beyond measures of talent, for objectively measured success outcomes. For instance, in prospective longitudinal studies, grit predicts surviving the arduous first summer of training at West Point and reaching the final rounds of the National Spelling Bee, retention in the U.S. Special Forces, retention and performance among novice teachers, and graduation from Chicago public high schools, over and beyond domain-relevant talent measures such as IQ, SAT or standardized achievement test scores, and physical fitness. In cross-sectional studies, grit correlates with lifetime educational attainment and, inversely, lifetime career changes and divorce.

 

Cultivating Grit and Self-Control

 

The language we use to describe grit and self-control – words like “character” or “personality trait” -- may connote to some immutability. However, it is now well-established that traits change across the life course. So, while there is enough stability to traits to sensibly describe one individual as grittier than another, it is also true that children and adults change their habitual patterns of interacting with the world as they accumulate additional life experience.

 

In terms of intentional change, one promising direction for research is the correction of maladaptive, incorrect beliefs. For instance, individuals who believe that frustration and confusion are signs that they should quit what they are doing may be taught that these emotions are common during the learning process. Likewise, individuals who believe that mistakes are to be avoided at all costs may be taught that the most effective form of practice (deliberate practice – see research by Anders Ericsson) entails tackling challenges beyond one’s current skill level. 

DON MEYER: THINGS WE HAVE TO LEARN EVERY YEAR

This is one of my absolute favorite pieces written by Coach Meyer.  It's not the first time I've posted it but the first time I've posted it in its entirety:

You Can Pick Captains But You Cannot Pick Leaders (The Foxhole Test)

When we think our team is ready each year, we have our players take the foxhole test. They draw a circle to represent their foxhole. They write their name at the front of the foxhole. They draw a line at their rear, their left, and their right. On each of those lines they write the names of teammates they would want in their foxhole if they were fighting a life and death battle. The position to their rear is worth three points and is awarded to their most trusted, courageous, and tough teammate. The position to their left is worth two points and is awarded to the second most trusted, etc. teammate, and the position to their right is awarded to the third teammate they would pick and is given a value of one point. This test cuts through all the friendships, cliques, and is the truest measure of what players really think of their teammates. It might be a good idea for each coach on the staff to do this with his/her coaching staff, administrators, teach associates, and of course your team. There are many people who you would love to have around on the golf course or in a duck blind but deep down you know that defeat is assured if they are in your foxhole.

Your Team Is Never As Tough As They Can Be And You Can Never Assume They Are Tough Enough

When looking in the dictionary you see descriptions for toughness such as: hard to break but not necessarily hard to bend, difficult to get the better of, apt to be aggressive, able to resist, etc. When we think of toughness we immediately think of mental toughness and then physical toughness. LET ME SAY AT THE OUTSET THAT A TEAM WILL NEVER BE TOUGH WHEN THEY ARE COACHED BY A STAFF OF COACHES WHO ARE NOT. The hardest thing we have to do each day as coaches is saddle up and face the day with the attitude we want our players and team to adopt. WE CANNOT SELL THEM SOMETHING THAT WE DO NOT OWN. My most difficult task as coach is to be tougher on myself and more demanding than I was the day before. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WHEN YOUR PROGRAM IS WINNING GAMES. For every 100 who can handle failure, there is but one who can handle success. Winning can weaken the resolve of those who worship winning and do not plan, practice, play and coach to a higher standard. THE BEHAVIOR OF YOU R PLAYERS IN THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF FATIGUE, BAD CALLS, TURNOVERS, MISSED SHOTS, BEING OPEN AND NOT GETTING THE BALL, HARRASSMENT FROM THE OPPOSING FANS, TRASH TALK FROM OPPONENTS, AND THEIR TEAMMATES' FAILURES AND SUCCESSES will tell you all you need to know about how well you are teaching the life long lessons of toughness.

Players And Coaches, Everyone In Your Program Must Be Willing To Change When It Is For Their Improvement And The Betterment Of The Team

This is the thing that always concerns us in our recruiting of players. We are not for every

player. The solid programs will have attrition because there is a standard, a level of excellence, a desire for learning and improvement on and off the court that is demanding and is therefore character building in nature rather than a look the other way. That is probably why we have not had many transfers in our program from four year schools or junior colleges in our 30 years of head coaching. The few that we have had were outstanding kids and developed into great team players. As a coach you are constantly studying to find a new and better way to teach the game and YOU USUALLY FIND THAT THE OLD SCHOOL WAYS ARE STILL THE BEST. The TEST OF TIME is the master teacher and is cruel but the fairest of all teachers. You will never have a team if the best athlete on your team is not someone willing to be molded and taught to play the game and conduct them self in the proper manner. If your leader is of suspect character, the fabric of your team will be torn apart when the first negative winds attack from outside the program. If your best athlete is a great leader, no amount of negativity will rip the team apart.

Thinking As A Team, Becoming A Team, And Always Remaining A Team Is the Single Best Thing That You Can Teach Your Players For The Present Time And For Their Life After They Leave The Program

When you play a game, travel on the road games, register for classes waiting in long lines, eat in a restaurant, befriend or ignore a young child after a game, respect or taunt an opponent, deal with winning and losing, you are making a statement about what the core values are in your program. Coaches, players, and teams are teaching lessons in every encounter along life's way. We hope it can be said of our program that EVEN WHEN THEY LOSE THEY WIN. The way you accept the hand life has dealt you vividly tells everyone else what your true character is. The great boxer Sugar Ray Robinson said, "You can tell the most about a man when he is getting whipped". That is oh so true in a basketball game and life. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE A CHAMPION. As a coach, you are responsible for the actions of your players and team. You are not a coach if you look the other way and ignore bad behavior. It must be dealt with or you are harming your players for a lifeti me. Philippians 2:1-8 gives a description of what a team attitude should be like for coaches and players.

Transition Defense, Intensity On Defense, Rebounding On Both Ends Of The Floor, And Turnovers Are Key Factors You Can Help Your Team Become Aware Of In Practices And Games
 
Transition Defense---Try to develop a philosophy of transition defense that fits your style of play on both ends of the floor. It might vary some each year depending on your personnel. Stick with it in every shooting drill, all break down drills, 5/0 work, and 5/5 scrimmage. This will be a key to not giving the game away.

Intensity on Defense---Too many ways to defend a particular offensive move means no way to defend it because players think too much. It has to be instinctive quickness. If a player lacks quickness, then this is even more vital. As Jerry Tarkanian said, "The more they think, the slower their feet get". Keep it simple on defense and lean to the aggressive way of doing things and your team will make more plays defensively.

Rebounding on Both Ends of The Floor---You must chart effort in order to see if players really value possession of the ball and realize that rebounding is most often the way you gain possession of the ball. Turnovers---We got a great idea from Porter Moser, the head coach at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. He puts so many basketballs in the ball rack and removes one for each turnover. When all the balls are out of the rack it means that there will be morning running. We have modified it some because our coaching staff does not like to run in the early mornings. Porter is a very young coach. We put two balls in the rack and when we have turned the ball over three times the offending team will run or do whatever consequence we think is best. We like it, it is simple. It drives home a point. BALLS IN THE RACK makes our players realize that everything they do in practice will effect what they do in a game.

 

 

BRENDAN SUHR AND 5 TRAITS GREAT COACHES POSSESS

From A Step Up Assistant Coaching Symposium, Brendan Suhr shares five traits that great coaches possess.

1. Energy, enthusiasm and passion -- everyday.
2. Determination -- mental toughness.
3. They are optimist = competitive advantage in being optimistic.
4. Develop skills -- Tip: become an expert in some part of the game.
5. They love their players -- can be tough on them if they don't know you love them.

DIANA NYAD'S THREE MESSAGES

WSVN-TV -
Diana Nyad's three messages upon completing her historic Cuba to Florida swim today:

#1 We should never, ever give up.

#2 You are never to old to chase your dream.

#3 It may look like a solitary sport but it's a team sport.

BREAKING BARRIERS

As I keep track of Diana Nyad today, pushing strong towards her life-long goal of swimming from Cuba to Florida, I am reminded of a few quotes of hers that I'd like to share.  The first one is my favorite and one that we share each year with our teams:

"I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can that the experience will take me to a new level.  I am interested in the unknown and the only path to the unknown is through breaking barriers, an often-painful process."

"But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line?

The journey has always been about reaching your own other shore no matter what it is, and that dream continues."

"It's not too late, I can still live my dream."

Track Diana's process here http://www.diananyad.com/