Monthly Archives: July 2012

This summer I have had the opportunity to see many of the Lehigh Valley’s top coaches in action.  We travel daily to many of the top programs and push the athletes to maximize their speed, agility, and overall conditioning.  But much more than just taking the athletes through drills, we push the athletes to be the best that they can be.  One of our coaches made a comment during one of our sessions.  He said to his players, “It’s all about effort.”  When he said this simple statement, I thought back to my days as an athlete.  I heard this many times from the first time I put the pads on and the last play of my career.  It has resonated with me throughout my life and has helped me build the life I currently live.  Success is all about effort, regardless of what you pursue.

FASST has a record of building champions.  This is what I had envisioned when I first began our training program in the early 2000′s.  I took the same effort I took to condition myself as an athlete to build the skill set, create programs, save money, and mentality to push my athletes to become the best in their sport.  Along with my vision of building champions in sport, I wanted to build a climate of excellence in life.  Life is tough and like most people, I have experienced my ups and downs.  Without a strong work ethic, commitment, and belief in my abilities, I would be nowhere close to where I am today.

Back in 2009 I was fortunate to have the birth of my third child, good job, growing business, and had recently invented the reaction trainer that we were actively marketing.  This was a high point of my life that would soon turn into one of my lowest.  Five days after my wife gave birth to our third child, I found out that my teaching position was being eliminated.  To say that I was scared is an understatement.  I was terrified.  Even though I had my training facility to fall back on, my wife had recently switched jobs and I had invested a large amount into the development of the reaction trainer and the patent.  I thought to myself that this was the worst time for me to have lost my job, spend to invest in my idea, and for my wife to switch jobs.  This was one of the moments in my life that I experienced a tremendous amount of self doubt and uncertainty.  I wasn’t sure if I had what it took to move forward and pursue my dreams, build a stable family that I had envisioned, and live the life I dreamt of living.  This was a moment that I had to embrace, hold firm, and begin to utilize the same strength I needed when I lost my parents to cancer and get back on track.  From this experience I utilized the following strategies to not only get back on track but to thrive in the face of adversity.

1.  Believe- All of us have had our back to the walls and had to overcome adversity.  Instead of beating yourself up on what you lost or what you thought you would have, begin to write down what you have accomplished.  Believe in the talents that have gotten you to this point in your life and rest assure that these same talents and work ethic will help you get back on track.  Dwelling on what you can’t control will only push you further back and away from your goals.

2.  There’s no place I’d rather be than right here, right now- If you have ever watched the movie Cinderella man, James J. Braddock is asked during one of his fights, “Is there any place you’d rather be than here” and his response was no.  This is one of those scenes that inspired me to ask myself when times were tough if there is any place I’d rather be than in this current situation.  When I asked myself this question each day, I was able to inspire myself to get up and out of bed and move toward pursuing my goals.  Instead of sulking and asking myself, “why me,” this little saying helped me get up and get moving.

3.  Effort, effort, and more effort- after working with tons of athletes over the years, I find that the one’s who succeed are the ones who give consistent and steady effort.  The easy response during difficult times is to give in and ease up.  I see this when athletes get tired, the exercises become more demanding or the weather outside isn’t ideal.  It is easy to pull back than to push through.  If you are able to recognize these instances and develop the breakthrough mindset and give outstanding, consistent effort, you will be able to achieve regardless of the situation.  Persistence is key when facing challenge and when you consistently breakthrough, your confidence level will increase in the process.

Remember that tough times will come.  So will success and failure.  If you are able to have a consistent approach on how you handle both the good and bad times, you will be better prepared to achieve your goals regardless of the circumstances.  Good luck in this trek we call life and be the best you can be.

Coach Brader