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Maintenance & Mariners Dear Parents and Athletes: First, I want to thank several of you for sharing the link http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2011190695_mari26.html. This is an article about the "New" training for the Mariners. I am very happy to see this as I have been advocating this for the last 20 years. Sometimes you feel you are talking to deaf ears, or people think you're a quack. However in any event, it's nice to see. In fact about 6 years ago I was in the Mariners workout room in Peoria talking with my old friend James Clifford (Mariners Minor League Strength Coordinator) and some of the guys were coming in, pulling their workout cards and going out and doing barbell bench presses. I looked at James and asked: "What's going on”? (Well those of you, who know me, know I probably didn't say it like that, hehe). I queried, "Why are they Benching?" James said they like to and he thought it was a decent integrator of upper body strength. I was shocked and about drenched him in spit as the words were flying out of my mouth. Anyway, I couldn't understand it, cause in my world, it doesn't fly. But, what the hell he was in charge....enough said. And yes, folks, that's where I am still at today, function, movement, explosion, hips, hips, hips! Pretty cool to see the evolution of this industry, even if it does come 15 years late. But, at least we're here. Now, regarding this last year. We had a helluva off-season, with some great athletes and attitudes to boot. Yee haw! Damn, we had fun. Ya know it was one of the most productive and fun winter sessions I've ever participated in,...period! We kicked some serious ass. Ya know, it was like everybody just "Wanted" it. We were and are family, with everyone pulling for each other, being there for each other. As I've told the athletes: At some point in your life whether it's in your favorite sport, your hobby, your career, whatever, in order to be successful you will have to own whatever it is that is important to you on a deeper visceral level, a level that only You, when you slip between the sheets at night, know as your TRUTH. Hopefully we all find this sooner rather than later, but it is a journey that we will all take at some point in our existence. And, only we truly know of the honesty we share with ourselves regarding our goals and our life's dreams. The piece, that lies so deep that it sometimes scares us. At 13, everyone wants to play shortstop for Arizona State or go to the Olympics in Snowboarding, or play in a rock band at Key Arena. But, as time goes by and life's challenges and distractions come and go, what if anything will be left of our Dreams,...our Truth? This, my friends is the great sifting process of life, the piece that has always intrigued me. So as we go forward and into the next phase of Our Life's Development in Sports, Education, Career, Family, etc, I encourage you to welcome the challenges of competition to push yourselves to the point of being uncomfortable in something for something,...for Yourself. I encourage you to push hard enough and long enough, until one day as you are tucking yourself in at night, it comes to you, that inescapable feeling, the knowledge that is....YOUR TRUTH! LET'S NOT LOSE WHAT WE WORKED SO HARD FOR THIS YEAR!!!!!!! Take Care My Friends, Coach Potts |
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