"If you've made a
positive impact on one person, then the effort was worth it." Countless times, dad would tell me that after
he and I would be discussing a practice that I came from and was frustrated with
the progress my athletes were making. His first comment would always be
regarding his sales experience and people's retention of new concepts.
"Lindsay, when learning something new, remember individuals' attention
spans are short and they are retaining about 20% of what you are instructing or
informing them." Sound bites. Coach in sound bites. Do you know how hard
that is when you want to impart all of your knowledge on them to help them
achieve greater success than yours? And after rehashing practice by five minute
segments with dad on my drive home, and discussing the accomplishments, light
bulb moments, and the tribulations of practice he would remind to take a step
back and remember the big picture. What
was it all for? To make them a better athlete, sure, if possible, but the
greater purpose to make them better individuals prepared for life outside the
gym. So if one girl left the gym with more self confidence in her abilities on
the court, then it would most likely transfer to her day-to-day life, and that
was the true purpose of an effective practice. It was worth it if you took two
hours of your busy day to make one girl even slightly realize her potential.
That was my dad forever altruistic. I
wish more people could have that vision and thought process and I wish it was
an easy mindset to stay motivated within...because it can be utterly disheartening at times. But that is not necessarily the point of this
post. It goes back to positively impacting one person's life.
Saturday, I received a visit from my old teammate, Mickey
Carey. Mickey walked on as a freshman my
senior year at Clarion. Mickey was a
work horse and earned every second of playing time she got while I had the
opportunity to play with her. Positive attitude and hard worker. It paid off in
the end, earning her a scholarship (which warms my heart a little). My kind of
girl and my favorite kind of story. Due to the age gap at that point in time,
aside from volleyball and sharing a few professors, Mickey and I didn't spend
much time getting to know each other. Not due to lack of desire, just time. I
knew more about her from mutual friends then actual experiences. So when Mickey
showed up this weekend, I was excited to catch up, as I always am with friends,
but had no serious expectations. But it was awesome! This girl is doing amazing
things. Picked up, moved to a city, essentially started a business and kicking
butt. "The harder you work, the luckier you get." - one of my
favorite John Woodenisms.
The purpose of this preface is to better understand a
story Mickey shared with me this weekend and I hope she doesn't mind me
including in this post (and I hope it is accurately depicted). Mickey told me
about her visit to Clarion when she was first looking at schools her senior
year of high school. Her mom and her had made the trip to Clarion and in the
process her mom's car had broke down while they were in Clarion. Who came to
their assistance alongside the road, but Mr. Tony Banner. Dad apparently told her where to get her car
taken to and where to look for a new one if that should be the case. Allegedly that made an impression on Mickey's
mom that a random person would take time out of their busy day and pull over,
help and guide. During their interaction, Mickey and her mom learned that he
was my dad. Hours later while meeting
with Ms. Lynn Hepfl in the Honor's office, Mickey was informed that I
apparently was doing all of the things Mickey was interested in doing. And the
rest is history. But the point is, who
knows where Mickey would have ended up if dad hadn't run into them during their
unfortunate travel affairs. Sure, he may
not have made that big of an impact on her, but he could of, and Clarion
University is lucky to have Mickey as an alumni as she has just began her
journey. It's rare that you get to hear or see the fruits of your labor. I wish
dad was around to tell him, but I'm sure he already knows. So I challenge you
to take a moment out of your busy schedule to do something that might be a
nuisance and see what positive impact that makes.