Jason Price, MS, CSCS, ATC, LAT, CPT, USAW Club Coach

In part one I discussed Michael Holley’s book Patriot Reign and how some of what is in that book really hit home on how I train athletes.  While I was laid up with Back surgery I read another one of Michael Holley’s books called Red Sox Rule.  In this book he discusses how the Red Sox have rise from being a team without a championship for 86 years to win two in 4 years.  Just like the New England Patriots the Red Sox have become an organization that is emulated throughout Major League Baseball.  Much of the Red Sox success is due to the relationship between the General Manager Theo Epstien and the Field Manager Terry Francona. 

The relationship between Epstien and Francona is one where two men are able to put their egos aside and work together to create success.   In the Book their relationship is described as “being built on the principle that neither man needs to tiptoe around the other.”  Their relationship makes me think to my relationship with the athletes I train.  We need to come together as one to achieve optimal success.  As the coach I need to learn how to motivate, restrain, push, and much more for them.  My athletes needs to trust in me, listen to my coaching and suggestions and communicate with me on how they feel.  Being too stubborn with each other will develop a coach/athlete relationship which is doomed to run either dysfunctional or never reach full potential.  I fully expect from myself that I am going to give my clients and athletes my best effort each day.  If I am not bringing my “A Game” then I hope my client or athlete will pick me up just as I pick them up.  I in turn expect from my athletes to place their faith in me as their coach to push them toward optimal performance.  Epstien’s and Francona’s Relationship is one where both have a particular job to do and they both trust in each other that they are doing what is best for the team and moving them closer to the prize which is a World Series Title.  My Athletes and I have trust each other that I am going to program their workouts towards helping them gain optimal performance and that they are living their life out of the gym in a way that is helping them move towards the ultimate goal which is optimal performance.

Another Lesson I learned from Red Sox Rule is how to coach the greats.  Terry Francona had a unique opportunity where he got to coach one of the truly great Basketball Players of all time in Baseball.  While managing the Birmingham Barons a minor league team for the White Sox Francona managed Michael Jordan.  While Michael Jordan was playing there, Jordan hit a pop up and didn’t run hard to first.  Francona instead of blasting Jordan and making an example of him to the rest of the team he just went up to him and said “just tell me now; are you going to do that everytime?” MJ knew the error in his way and knew he was the most watched and maybe the most looked up too; but not the best player on the team.  So it was up to him to bring the most effort and show through how he played the game that he was a leader. MJ assured Francona that it would never happen again and it didn’t.  To truly become a great player most athletes have an internal fire to push themselves and they don’t need to motivate themselves very often and as a coach if you come at them with all this fire and brimstone to “motivate them”.  You are just noise to them.  Sometime coaching the truly great athletes we can out coach ourselves.  Often the simplest solution is the one that works best.

The last lesson I took away from this book was how our journey through life is just that a journey.  If we are not happy with where we are today then do something about it and eventually you will be where you want to go.  This is important not only for coaches trying to build their career but also for athletes trying to build their bodies or to achieve optimal performance.  Two stories in Red Sox Rule help me realize this simple philosophy.  The first story has nothing to do with Baseball and includes a football coach and a Baseball GM, but it is so true.  In the book Holley tells of a great story about Bill Parcells the famed NFL coach and Mark Shapiro the Indian’s GM.  How the story goes is that Scott Pioli who used to work in the front office of the New England Patriots marries Parcells’s daughter.  At the wedding Parcells asks Shapiro about how things are going with the Indians.  Shapiro goes into a long winded answer about why the team is not meeting expectations and etc.  Parcells turns to him and says. “Hey Mark, always remember this: nobody gives a shit. Okay? They really don’t.” and then walks away.  Parcells explained later to Shapiro that ownership, members of the media, and fans really don’t care what your problems are.  All they want to know is if the team is winning or not.  What this has to do with our journey through life is simple people don’t give a shit about what troubles you have.  They don’t care why you are not where you want to be or why you aren’t achieving your goals.  Only you are in control of what happens in your life and much of the time people forget this.  Put yourself in position to succeed and often you will.

The second of the two stories is about Terry Francona and how his fortitude and drive to move forward moved him past his struggles as he was building his career.  The story is about when he was a minor league manager working his way up the ranks.  The francona’s bank account hit zero.  Earning 32K a year managing in the minors and having his wife work part time as a nurse they lived paycheck to paycheck but had the belief they would be fine in time.  As a couch building my career often times it is difficult to keep the eye on the prize.  It is easy to get distracted and think that I deserve this and that or to think I don’t have this and I don’t have that.  I have the best job in the world.  I get to work with young athletes and people who look to me to help improve their life, improve their game to challenge them.  Often times I find the strength my clients and athletes help prove to me that I can get over a difficult time.  A few months ago I had the pleasure of hearing world renowned strength coach Mike Boyle talk about how to excel in the fitness and strength & conditioning industry and he too had a story similar to Terry Francona.  What he got across to me is that if you focus more on improving your craft and becoming a whole professional the money the fame and the accolades will come in time if you are truly great at what you do.  With young athletes often times the turn to the quick fix or the quick method of improvement instead of focusing on small steps and having faith that with hard work dedication great things will and do happen. 

I find that as a coach there are lessons to help me improve my craft all over.  Often times they are right in front of you.  It all depends on how you interpret them.  I would love to hear stories from fellow coaches and athletes about how they have learned lessons from books like these.