"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
As we delve into a new decade, I am driven to evaluate my life. What I can say, with ease, is that I LOVE my life. While I have literally hundreds of more goals to achieve in this lifetime and I don't have all of the comforts and security that I desire, I do, nevertheless, LOVE my life. I love coaching, I love working with our GMA families and I love building a stronger GMA team. Moreover, I feel so lucky to live with such passion and I hope to share this passion through my GMA work.
As coaches, we have the opportunity to work with our athletes for many hours each week and many years out of their lives. We hope to promote enthusiasm for life in each of our GMA team members through the sport of swimming. We encourage our developing young people to bring great energy into their lives. We do this in several ways. First, we try to foster a love for the water. We teach our athletes to move with strength and confidence in the water. By celebrating our athletes' successes and improvements, we share the joys of competition. Our athletes discover, through their efforts on GMA, that it's fun to spend time working hard in the water to achieve meaningful goals with caring teammates. In learning to love the sport of swimming, GMA athletes bring great energy into their daily experiences.
Second, we ask our athletes to love GMA and our GMA teammates. We help our athletes learn about themselves and their teammates. As they gain this interpersonal knowledge, GMA athletes are better able to appreciate and care for their teammates. We want our GMA team members to recognize how fortunate they are to spend hours each day around people who care so much about them. GMA teammates and coaches value hard work, goal setting, focus, commitment and excellence. They are also unique, smart, funny, insightful and compassionate people. When our GMA teammates learn to love each other, they develop their love for life.
Third, with greater experience in the sport and more time invested on the team, our GMA athletes incur greater responsibilities. Our oldest athletes and our most seasoned competitors are expected to serve as team leaders. While some young people could consider these team obligations with disdain, our best GMA leaders embrace the challenge of serving their teammates. We teach our older GMA athletes not only to love the water and to love GMA, but also to love dedicating great energy and time to reach tough goals. One approach that we try to teach our athletes is to stay focused on doing their best “in the moment”. This is an excellent technique for maintaining focus and enthusiasm, even during a long, hard set; a long, hard season; or a long, hard swimming career. We help our athletes recognize that what we are doing right now can help us achieve our short and our long term goals. When GMA athletes learn to stay present and focused in the moment, they learn to love the challenges in our sport and to embrace the work ethic that is required for success in any endeavor. It is with this enthusiasm for putting great effort into each and every moment that our GMA athletes can serve as terrific leaders in life.
Finally, we ask that our GMA athletes bring a positive outlook into all areas of their lives. We want to know what is going well in their lives, what their favorite part of the week has been and what they do well in training. We ask that our athletes appreciate the good in their lives. With that appreciation, we ask that our athletes work hard in the areas of their lives that they want to improve. By acknowledging the good and working on areas of improvement in their lives, GMA swimmers approach their lives with passion.
If there is one feeling that I want to bring to all of my work and all of my interactions within our GMA team, it is LOVE. We work to foster love in our swimmers by teaching them to love the sport, love their teammates, love the moment and love life. I hope that 2010 is a year in which GMA swimmers learn how to train and race with enthusiasm. 2012 draws closer and more GMA swimmers have their eyes on the 2012 Olympic Trials. No doubt, it will take tremendous focus, energy and passion to reach our team goal of having four GMA swimmers race their best at the 2012 Olympic Trials. We are working together today with love and energy, so that we are ready to celebrate the joy of Olympic competition in the future. GO GMA!
As we delve into a new decade, I am driven to evaluate my life. What I can say, with ease, is that I LOVE my life. While I have literally hundreds of more goals to achieve in this lifetime and I don't have all of the comforts and security that I desire, I do, nevertheless, LOVE my life. I love coaching, I love working with our GMA families and I love building a stronger GMA team. Moreover, I feel so lucky to live with such passion and I hope to share this passion through my GMA work.
As coaches, we have the opportunity to work with our athletes for many hours each week and many years out of their lives. We hope to promote enthusiasm for life in each of our GMA team members through the sport of swimming. We encourage our developing young people to bring great energy into their lives. We do this in several ways. First, we try to foster a love for the water. We teach our athletes to move with strength and confidence in the water. By celebrating our athletes' successes and improvements, we share the joys of competition. Our athletes discover, through their efforts on GMA, that it's fun to spend time working hard in the water to achieve meaningful goals with caring teammates. In learning to love the sport of swimming, GMA athletes bring great energy into their daily experiences.
Second, we ask our athletes to love GMA and our GMA teammates. We help our athletes learn about themselves and their teammates. As they gain this interpersonal knowledge, GMA athletes are better able to appreciate and care for their teammates. We want our GMA team members to recognize how fortunate they are to spend hours each day around people who care so much about them. GMA teammates and coaches value hard work, goal setting, focus, commitment and excellence. They are also unique, smart, funny, insightful and compassionate people. When our GMA teammates learn to love each other, they develop their love for life.
Third, with greater experience in the sport and more time invested on the team, our GMA athletes incur greater responsibilities. Our oldest athletes and our most seasoned competitors are expected to serve as team leaders. While some young people could consider these team obligations with disdain, our best GMA leaders embrace the challenge of serving their teammates. We teach our older GMA athletes not only to love the water and to love GMA, but also to love dedicating great energy and time to reach tough goals. One approach that we try to teach our athletes is to stay focused on doing their best “in the moment”. This is an excellent technique for maintaining focus and enthusiasm, even during a long, hard set; a long, hard season; or a long, hard swimming career. We help our athletes recognize that what we are doing right now can help us achieve our short and our long term goals. When GMA athletes learn to stay present and focused in the moment, they learn to love the challenges in our sport and to embrace the work ethic that is required for success in any endeavor. It is with this enthusiasm for putting great effort into each and every moment that our GMA athletes can serve as terrific leaders in life.
Finally, we ask that our GMA athletes bring a positive outlook into all areas of their lives. We want to know what is going well in their lives, what their favorite part of the week has been and what they do well in training. We ask that our athletes appreciate the good in their lives. With that appreciation, we ask that our athletes work hard in the areas of their lives that they want to improve. By acknowledging the good and working on areas of improvement in their lives, GMA swimmers approach their lives with passion.
If there is one feeling that I want to bring to all of my work and all of my interactions within our GMA team, it is LOVE. We work to foster love in our swimmers by teaching them to love the sport, love their teammates, love the moment and love life. I hope that 2010 is a year in which GMA swimmers learn how to train and race with enthusiasm. 2012 draws closer and more GMA swimmers have their eyes on the 2012 Olympic Trials. No doubt, it will take tremendous focus, energy and passion to reach our team goal of having four GMA swimmers race their best at the 2012 Olympic Trials. We are working together today with love and energy, so that we are ready to celebrate the joy of Olympic competition in the future. GO GMA!
No comments:
Post a Comment