Must Read for Coaches and Parents

I came across this story while checking out Mike Boyle's blog. I thought I'd repost it

I’m not even sure if this a true story or an urban legend. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you read it to your kids!



One day, when I was a freshman in high school,


I saw a kid from my class walking home from school.


His name was Kyle.





It looked like he was carrying all of his books.





I thought to myself, ‘Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?





He must really be a nerd.’





I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.







As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.





They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.





His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him…





He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.





My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.





As I handed him his glasses, I said, ‘Those guys are jerks.’ 










They really should get lives.





’ He looked at me and said, ‘Hey thanks!’





There was a big smile on his face.





It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.





I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.





As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.





He said he had gone to private school before now.





I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.





We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.





He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.





I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
 with my friends.





He said yes.





We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.





Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.





I stopped him and said, ‘Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!





’ He just laughed and handed me half the books.





Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.





When we were seniors we began to think about college.





Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.





I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never 
be a problem.





He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.





Kyle was valedictorian of our class.





I teased him all the time about being a nerd.





He had to prepare a speech for graduation.





I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak.





Graduation day, I saw Kyle.





He looked great.





He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school..





He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.




He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.





Boy, sometimes I was jealous!




Today was one of those days.





I could see that he was nervous about his speech.





So, I smacked him on the back and said, ‘Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!’





He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled….





’ Thanks,’ he said.





As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began…





’Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.





Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach…but mostly your friends….





I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.





I am going to tell you a story.’





I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the first day we met.





He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.





He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.





He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.





’Thankfully, I was saved.





My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.’





I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.





I saw his Mom and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.





Not until that moment did I realize it’s depth.





Never underestimate the power of your actions.





With one small gesture you can change a person’s life.





For better or for worse.

What I've Been Reading

Closing The Gap by Willie Davis: I have taken an interest in the Vince Lombardi Packers teams of the sixties and Willie Davis was a huge part of their success. This book tells an amazing story that starts with Willie growing up in the segregated South as the son of a sharecropper. In regards to his childhood, Willie said "anyone who thought slavery was dead in the 1930's and 1940's hadn't heard of sharecropping". From there it takes you through his journey as a football player. First as a star at Grambling State, then becoming the first African-American captain of an NFL team to Hall of Famer and later in life as a successful businessman.

The book is filled with classic quotes from guys like Bart Starr, Vince Lombardi, and Eddie Robinson. Good read for anyone interested in the history of the National Football League and the Green Bay Packers.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis: This is the third book I've read by Michael Lewis and enjoyed every one of them. (I have little to no interest in stocks or finance so don't ask why I purchased this book in the first place)

The moral of the story is the adage "one man's liability is another man's asset". The story tells two sides: those who lost record sums of money and those who made record sums of money off the 2008 Stock Market crash. As individuals bought and sold stocks preceding the crash, nearly every major financial institution did not expect the market to bomb the way it did. The basis for their opinion: because it never happened before. On the flip side, a small handful of individuals were able to foresee the upcoming problem and purchased stocks that basically bet against the large institutions. They were ridiculed by just about every known "expert" that they met. In the end, we experienced the worst financial crisis in decades and we still haven't totally recovered. The books also poses the question: Why were the people in position to resolve the crisis, the same people who failed to foresee it?
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One interesting quote in the book was from Warren Buffet and he said: "to succeed in spectacular fashion you had to be spectacularly unusual". And believe me, when you read this book, these characters were 'spectacularly unusual' in more ways than one.

Live by Night by Dennis Lehane: I dont read much fiction but when I do, Dennis LeHane does not disappoint. His books Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River, Shutter Island and Prayers for Rain are some of my all-time favorites.

This book takes place during the Prohibition Era of the roaring twenties. The story begins telling the tale of the main character who begins his life as a petty thief and over the course of the book, he rises to power as a rum runner but his past life catches up to him. There are many twists and turns (just like all of his books) and would recommend this to anyone looking for a solid read.

Common Sense and Other Writings by Thomas Paine: A few years ago I bought a bunch of "classics" in the hopes of becoming 'enlightened'. Turns out that never happened and four years later I have only been able to get through about a third of them. With that being said, I recently made it a goal to finish every last one of them...at some point.

The introduction leaves you with some interesting tidbits. For one, Paine was like many who left Great Britain for America after a record of failures with frequent job switches, multiple bankruptcies, and two failed marriages. Thats quite the resume for a critical part of the American Revolution.

I will say I did find two interesting quotes: the first, "character is much easier kept than recovered" and second "nothing but Heaven is impregnable to vice". There are plenty of other interesting topics that still apply today. It is just not the easiest read.

Essentials of Strength and Conditioning: As I prepare myself to become a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, this 600+ page textbook has become a daunting task. I am trying to enjoy the process as much as I can but I find myself wishing I could recall everything that I have read so far. It is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in health and fitness. There is stuff in here supported by scientific evidence, not stuff you will find in the latest issue of Flex Magazine.

X&O Labs: The Quarters Study. This site is a tremendous resource for all football coaches or anyone interested in learning the nuances of the game of football.

Thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed!

Chris Fluck

Back to the Basics

     A few weeks ago I was sitting in a conference room in Baltimore, Maryland listening to a Division I football coach speak. At one point during the session, he said something that blew my mind: we have kids who come into camp and they can't even jump rope. I sat there thinking,  how is it possible that a Division I athlete can not perform a basic movement skill that most athletic ten year olds can do?

     This statement got me thinking. I went home and dug around in some of my notes. It did not take me long to answer the jump rope dilemma: overspecialization. The days of the multi-sport athletes are coming to an end. America has gotten into sport specific training and forgot all about the fundamentals. This football coach went on to tell us that his player was an offensive lineman and spent his entire athletic career doing one thing: playing on the offensive line. He spent his summers at camps specifically for offensive lineman and never really learned any other skills. This premature specialization may deliver a quick increase in sport skill, but it is then followed up by stagnation. The National Strength and Conditioning Association believes that "the development of skills in a wide variety of sports and activities may be more related to later sport success than early specialization". The reason? The more movement skills you have in your "bag of skills" the easier it is to learn and develop new skills that you learn later in life.

     For proof you don't have to look much further than professional sports. The most well-known examples are guys like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders who were professional athletes in multiple sports but there are tons of lesser known examples. There are guys like Ray Lewis and Warren Sapp who were state champion wrestlers in high school. Or how about Lynn Swann. This Hall of Fame football player took ballet class during his NFL career to improve his footwork and balance. One of my favorite examples is of Tony Dungy. He once stated that if he was forced to choose a sport while he was in high school he would have chosen basketball. This is coming from a guy who made history by becoming the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl.

     Tony Dungy's story is important because it speaks of the potential pressure put on young kids when it comes to athletics. There are coaches and parents who believe it is beneficial for their children to focus on one specific sport. I have been coaching high school and middle school athletes for the past six years and see this occuring every year. There are kids quitting Track to "get big" for football, or kids quitting football to focus on wrestling or basketball. Each sport offers a unique skill set and when kids begin to focus on one thing, they totally miss out on the benefits of acquiring new skills. As John Madden once said, “I would have all of my offensive lineman wrestle if I could."

     There is one thing that all great athletes and that is that at one point in time, they were all considered to be youth. My advice for the young athletes: get out and get active. I came across a quote from Strength and Conditioning coach Dan John that exemplifies what this article is all about: "By the time I entered organized sports I'd probably been fouled 10,000 times and caught hundreds of touchdowns".


Hope you enjoyed,
Chris Fluck