Reason ###,### I love my job

Received an email today. It's the kind of thing that makes you sit back and realize why you wouldn't want to do anything but what you do. I get to help people everyday. What could be better than that? And the better I am at what I do the more monumental the affect can be for that person. But when you get to help a little kid do something that he didn't think he could, now that's more than just feel good. That's something special, something that s/he'll carry with them for the rest their life. I get to help'em out along the way and couldn't be more happy to do so.

My pal Clay (almost 7 yrs old) and I have been working together for about 3 months now on speed and agility. To be honest when we first started he had trouble picking up his feet, he was already weak through his glutes and core, and tight through his hip flexors, and was very self conscious of how he ran and also had some proprioceptive issues. This is pretty uncommon for his age and can lead to some big problems. Non of which would be good for him to know about, so from the beginning it was a challenge to progress him in the right way to make sure he was getting what he needed physically and psychologically.

I try and keep my sessions fun and with little kids especially, so I almost have to trick their bodies using games and different types of training that doesn't seem like they are actually training but that they're almost playing around. For instance, a shoulder bridge for gluteal activation is boring. So instead we did crab crawls and sometimes we'll even race. So we did tons of this kind of thing, catch with medicine balls, bouncing tennis balls, etc... It's a good time and Clay responded very well.

The other day I get this. Chalk it up as another countless reason why I love what I do. This is a message from Clay's dad.

First of all I wanted to thank you again for working with Clay. The improvements on the field are quite noticeable and he’s much happier playing sports now than he ever was.

Let me share a recent soccer game experience with you.

Clay is in front of the goal line waiting for a pass from a teammate. A kid from the other team intercepts the pass and starts working the ball down the field and passing it to his teammates. Clay, who started behind all those kids took off after the ball and not only caught the other kids but passed them and was able to kick the ball away before they could take a shot on goal. Let me tell you, that is something that never happened before. One of the parents even turned to me in a look of disbelief and asked “did Clay just run that down?”

Really Adam, he’s a different kid out there this spring. He actually engages in the games since he has more confidence that he can contribute. For that and more I say Thank you.


Couldn't be more happy for him. Show's what consistent hard work can do. Even though it seemed like we were just playing around most of the time.