Mindset
Hello, 60!
Wow, it’s really here, 60 trips around the sun have been incredible.
All the things I’ve seen and done in 60 years, crazy!
I was born December 3rd, 1963, just days after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It’s an event that has always intrigued me, maybe because my angel was coming down while his had just risen?
The 60s were a tumultuous time, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated as well, Malcolm X, and Jimmy Hoffa disappeared!? And the Vietnam War was a fixture of the times surrounded by the hippy-counter-culture.
Canada wasn’t quite so intense.
Born in Ottawa, I was adopted by my parents and soon after found myself in Singapore, the new son of a neophyte diplomat and his fish out of water wife (she didn’t love the foreign service).
Back to Canada in the late 60s, adjusting to the snow with my new adopted brother.
The late 60s early 70s began with Man on the Moon! One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!
We moved to England, my father’s diplomatic career in high gear, my mother’s unhappiness in full view.
Then the wheels fell off at the Watergate hotel, and so too in my parents’ marriage.
By my 16th birthday I was the man of the house, and I grew up fast, my brother didn’t. He struggled.
Everything blew up, and the only thing holding me on the ground was playing football and the deep connection with friends.
I loved music and conversation, and at one point I thought I might become a radio talk show DJ, but that dream got shelved, not something my father wanted for me…….
So, I fell into Athletic Therapy, Strength and Conditioning too…..who knew either of these things we even professions when I was a kid. Someone just taped my ankles and when they got sprained, I iced them until I could run again!
And thus began an incredible career, never contemplated, always inspiring.
I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my 60 years
- Man on the moon
- Canada vs Russia – Paul Henderson and the boys!
- More PM’s than I can count and 11 Presidents
- The Home Computer and the Laptop
- Elvis, Lennon, Jackson, and too many others too early
- Regan, Princess Diana, OJ
- 9/11
- The Cordless Phone and the answering machine
- Vinyl, tape, cassettes, 8-track, DVDs, and Digital
- Rabbit ears, cable, satellite, 1000 channels, streaming
- The Internet, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.!
- Too many wars
- Pin-ball, Pong, Super Mario, Video Gaming
- The cellular phone
- The iPod, iPhone, iPad, I can’t imagine!
- All the Super Bowls and the halftime shows!
- Many Grey Cups (been around longer than the Super Bowl)
- Hockey Dynasty: Bruins, Canadiens, Flyers, Islanders, Oilers, Devils, Penguins, Red Wings, Avalanche, Black Hawks, Kings, Lightening.
- Orr, Lafleur, Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, McDavid
- And the list goes on……..
My career really began in 1988, 35 years ago I became a certified Athletic Therapist, and shortly after a certified strength and conditioning coach.
I created my own job at Concordia University as the first full time hire as an S+C coach in Canada. It really wasn’t a thing back then. A few people in Olympic sport, but few and far between.
I’ve seen it all blow up in Canada over the course of the last 30 years. It’s really quite incredible to see where the world of human performance has gone in such a short time, but then again, so has the world in general.
In my time, I’ve traveled the world, and seen many interesting places and things. I’ve been to several Olympic Games, World Cup races, cities, arenas, and fields.
I’ve been blessed to work with some of the world’s greatest athletes, doing things that are just so unimaginable, and doing it with grace, power, and speed! (it really is something incredible to see the best of the best do what they do best, what an honor!).
I’ve seen triumph and despair……I’ve seen it all, been at the bottom looking up, and the top looking over it all.
I am blessed to have worked with incredible people, and to have so many really good friends who matter to me, I hope they know how much.
But the best things that ever happened to me…..meeting my best friend and partner, Jaime, and having our incredible daughter Gretchen.
The last 20 years of my 60 so far have been the best, and I have no doubt there is more amazing stuff to come.
Now my intention is to give back as much as I can, help others reach higher, and use all 60 years of experience to provide insight to those who care to listen.
“Some men see things as they are, and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?” RFK
