Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning.  Wow!  I remember those mornings when I was a child.  I was the first one up, long before my poor parents would have liked. 

I can remember the smell of the tree and the thrill of opening gifts.  Even then, I knew how special the feeling was to see someone open up a gift that you just knew they would love.  Little did I know that my mom, in particular, would love whatever I came up with.

I'm sure that they felt the same love and delight that I did when I watched my own kids wake up and run to see what they could find under the tree.  Truth be known, I was already awake anticipating their delight.

Growing up, a lot of our family life  was entwined with our church family, especially at Christmas.  I remember the wonder of the season in that church that seems so tiny now.  There was always a choir concert.  And a nativity scene.  I remember a small bag of goodies that included an orange, an apple, and some candy. 

We all need to remember that this season is not easy for everybody.  Somebody has to die today and that means that every Christmas Day forever will remind their family of the loss. 

This is my first Christmas without my mom, who passed away in October but it really isn't even bittersweet--such is the world of dementia.  She's in a better place.  I'm certain of that.

 Christmas Day certainly makes me think about things like life, birth, growth, eternity.   Reflection is good for the soul and what better day to self-reflect than today?  (OK, I'm writing this on Wednesday but I'm in the Christmas spirit and pretending it's Christmas morning anyway which is, by the way, when you are reading this!)

The hot topic of the week has been the departure of George Quarles.  I've spent 23 years on the sideline with him and I am grateful for that time.  I will miss him.  I wish him well (except when they play Clemson). 

He's a great coach and a better man and I appreciate what he's done for this community.  I also look forward to seeing what is next for this storied program.

Speaking of tomorrow, what will tomorrow bring?  We never know.  I'm at an age where some of my friends are dying.  Since I'm writing this on a Wednesday, I know definitely what's on the schedule for tomorrow.  Right now I know that tomorrow morning I will get up and go to work and ride my bike then work some more before going home to my lovely wife.

Will it happen that way?  I don't know.  Will I be there?  I hope so.  I don't have any plans to go anywhere.

What about you?  What does tomorrow hold for you?  What do you have planned for tomorrow?  And all the tomorrows after that?

And what are the positives in your life?  What is there in your life that you really look forward to?  Go do it.

Who in your life supports you?  Who tells you that "you can do this" regularly?  Embrace them.  Believe in them.

What makes you more alive?  What inspires you?  Hang on tight to all of them.

Use this day...this wonderful, wonderful day...to start living the life that you want to live.  The life that you dream of.  The life that was intended for you.

Never More Alive

I rode my bike last Saturday.  That should be no surprise.  Except that it was 19 degrees.  And you know what...my wife didn't tell me I was crazy a single time!  (It was more like 8-10 times.)

It did soon warm up into the 20's (warmed up?) but it stayed cold most of the morning.   It really isn't as bad as it sounds.  Once you start to generate some body heat, riding a bicycle in cold weather really can be fun.

So we're riding down the road, the sun was coming out, we were in a comfortable pace, and then it hit me--I maybe had never felt more alive than I did at that moment.

Sure, there was a little discomfort but by and large I was in a really good place.  With friends.  Doing something I love.  Something about dealing with the cold made it even better.  Sort of shared misery I suppose.

I've got cares and troubles;  I am human.  But at that moment, in that place, things that might have been bothering me ceased to exist. 

Now think about those people in Gatlinburg.  Any trials and tribulations I might have are nothing compared to what most of them are going through right now.  Utter devastation is what people that have been there have described.  A way of life has been upturned.  Families and homes destroyed. 

I read a story this morning about a man who had visited one of the distribution centers in search of dog food.  That's all he wanted.  Dog food.  24 years old.  No vehicle--he walked to work in downtown Gatlinburg from a shared apartment.  His name wasn't on the lease so he might not qualify for much of the assistance becoming available.

He had found work but his paycheck wouldn't arrive until the end of the week.  And his dog was hungry.  Forget his needs.  Forget that he didn't having housing or food or clothing.  He could deal with that.  His dog was hungry. 

There were a lot of folks in the same boat.  Minimum wage workers sharing an apartment and their job and shelter are gone.  It's highly unlikely that they had much in the way of savings to help them through a crisis.

When the World Trade Centers were hit on September 11, 2002, there were questions about whether our sporting events should be played.  Some were cancelled.  Others played on, often criticized for doing so.

I think we need our sports.  We need diversions.  We need to get lost in something.  A lot of times, sports give us that. We need that place where we can go and everything is OK, even for a while.

I find myself thinking more about those Gatlinburg folks.   I'm not worried about the buildings or the trees right now.  It's cold and I'm worried about the people.  Neighbors, friends, relatives, without the life they built. 

I pray for their relief and I hope for success in building their lives again.  I am proud that my state is coming to their rescue but I know that the process will take years, even lifetimes.

And on that cold morning, on the back of a bicycle, with a little bit of a headwind and blue skies above, all was good, even when maybe when it wasn't.

Dare To Be GREAT!

I've had the good fortune to speak to a lot of groups over the last few years.  Most of the time it is physical therapy students.  Just this week, I was in Johnson City, sharing with the ETSU physical therapy class that is about to graduate.

I enjoy doing that.  A lot.  My first college degree was in education so I guess I'm still a teacher at heart.  My first career decision was to be a preacher (I was about 12) and my mom always thought I had missed that call but I don't think so.

Still, I can be quite preachy, whether it be live in front of a crowd or in this space.

I do think I have something to offer.  Part of that is likely due to the candles on the birthday cake.  Experience can be a great teacher. 

Goodness knows that it isn't because I have everything all figured out. I definitely don't.  I've made pretty much every mistake in the book (which will be the title of my parenting book, if I ever get it finished). 

My personal mantra about all that is a paraphrase of Proust and goes something like this:  Embrace those that seek the truth--beware of those that have found it.

But I obviously do have some advice to give.  Thirty years of writing this column means I must have had something to say about a lot of things.

Lately, the message that I'm shouting the loudest to those students is simple:  Aspire to greatness.

That's it.  Think about it.  Nobody aspires to mediocrity (which is the rest of that story).  When we're young and full of ideas and dreams, woe be it to the one that discourages those ideas and dreams.

I think there's a special place in purgatory for them.  Probably because of some negative experiences in my own past, I've tried my whole life (what portion of it that I've had so far) to be a positive influence on young and old alike.

With my own kids, it was always the sky is the limit.  They heard from an early age that there is nothing that you can't do. 

I've chased my share of dreams.  I wanted a job that I enjoyed; a job that allowed me to give back.  Check.  I wanted kids.  Check.  I wanted good health.  Check. 

My life has gone way beyond those dreams.  I know for a fact that every English teacher (but one) that I ever had would never have predicted that I would have a newspaper column that has been printed weekly for this long.  Guarantee it. 

And I've traveled and seen places I didn't even know existed and I've been married to the same wonderful lady for over 40 years.  And I've been a part of a lot of cool things and have some of the best friends you can ever find.

The naysayers tell us that you can't have it all.  I say "why not?"   If you want it bad enough, you will achieve it.  Oh sure, there are limits.  The 5'4" female is not going to play offensive line in the NFL.  There are realisms there.

And I'm not here to tell you that all your dreams will be fulfilled.  Life does get in the way.  Priorities change.  There are roadblocks along the way.

But chase those dreams with vigor and drive and persistence and you will build a life that is everything.

Looking Back...

High school football is officially over.  Alcoa High School won their 15th state championship in football while Greenback's stellar season fell one win short of that gold ball.

It's this time of year that all of our Athletic Trainers stop and look back on what we might have done differently.  It's the nature of the beast.  Could we have done anything to reduce the incidence of injuries?  Could we have done anything to reduce the severity of injuries?

It's not that we aren't always doing our best.  We really have to bring our "A" game every single day.  It's just that self-reflection is part of how we make sure that we are always doing all we can.

You may not know that our sports clinic (Total Rehabilitation-Cherokee) is open at 7 AM for evaluation of athletic injuries of all kinds, for all sports.  Monday through Friday.

You may also not know that Ortho Tennessee-Maryville (formerly known as Maryville Orthopedic Clinic) opens their doors early just in case we need to send an athlete up for an orthopedist to see.  That's unheard of.  I know of no other community where the orthopedists provide that service.

But what I'm sure you don't know is that to provide that athlete evaluation clinic at Cherokee every morning, we bring most of our athletic trainers in to take care of those athletes.  One of the really great things about that is the collaboration that we use to make sure that we are doing the very best job that we can.

If I'm unsure about something, I've got a bevy of colleagues to call on for help.  And if we still don't know, we can call on the doctors at Ortho Tennessee-Maryville for advice and/or evaluation.

So with all that said, what did all that retrospection reveal?

Shoulders need to be stronger.  I have forever been against using the bench press in strength training.  It's not so much that the bench press is a bad exercise, part of it is that kids just put way too much emphasis on it and end up with shoulders just looking to be injured.

Ankles need more training in changing direction.  Lots of athletes run for training.  What I'd like to see them do is work more on ballistics (look it up) and changing direction.  If their sport is on grass, then they need to train more on grass. 

Everybody needs better core strength.  Everybody.  What is the core?  Everything from your kneecaps to your armpits.  Pretty much every high school athlete we see has an inadequate core. 

Necks need to be stronger.  We know that this helps prevent concussion.  More education is needed in concussion prevention as well.  Kids need to know what happens when the head is used in play.

Weight training needs to emphasize "whole body" exercises.  Isolating muscles for development is a waste of time when considering athletic performance.  The best example is probably curls.  Isolated curls are a waste of time.

The closer to the time of injury that an athletic trainer can look at an injury, the better the outcomes will be.  This year, I had one football player that got Turf Toe and didn't tell me about it for 2 weeks.  I learned about the injury 3 days before a big game.  That's way too late.

There's no reason for that.  We are there.  We are at every high school football practice held in Blount County.  If you're in sports, you know how to find us.  Our 7 AM clinic is just part of our outreach programs.  So there's no excuse for not checking in with us.

None.