Brain Waves

Sitting at the airport, waiting for my flight that starts my Thailand adventure. I may have checked in a little early. Oh well... Time to write something cool :) I the mix of getting ready and checking that I had my passport 5 million times, I forgot to have dinner, so I grabbed myself some dodgy airport Thai food (how fitting). The first bite was actually really nice! The rest, I'm sure tasted just as nice but my mouth was SO burnt that I couldn't really taste it. You would've though after 24 years of eating, I'd know to check the temp before slamming in a fireball of food! Obviously not... Canberras' brand spankin' new airport which looks a million bucks, doesn't have wifi... Seriously?!?!? What a hard life I'm living! I mean, no wifi! How am I supposed to kill an hour like that! Anyway. So, over the next 16 days, I'm heading to Singapore, Phuket and the Gold Coast with my dad who I see maybe twice a year and my sister who I would be lucky to see twice . How good is that! 2 days in Singapore which looks very cool, 5-10 in Phuket which looks like a slice of heaven and then my Blue boys play on the GC! I'm looking forward to Lazing about in a 5 star resort like the old me but something has changed this time. Even though my physical taste buds have been destroyed by chicken, my metaphorical taste buds have taken a more 'grown-up' turn. I want to explore. I want to see these other countries and experience everything they have to offer. Although, in saying that... I refuse to eat an egg with a fetus in it! I think I'll put it down to the fact that my lady is exploring half the world and enjoying herself no end! Maybe I'm growing up. Maybe I'm jealous. Maybe I'm more accepting of the world. Whatever it is, it's good. :)

Have a good weekend to all of my followers... If there are any... I don't think there are... but oh well, have a good weekend anyway :)

I can't help but crave the day she steps off the plane and back in to my arms. I can't wait to feel our closeness so close. Once I feel it again, I'll hold on to it forever!   

Interesting!

Yesterday was not a great day. Or was it? I woke up like any other day, but it didn't pan out the way I would have liked. It was an UN-PRODUCTIVE day. I don't like un-productive days! I was really feeling quite down by the time it came to go to the gym. So, reluctantly, up I got, laced my shoes and walked to the car to find a yellow kick in the guts under my windscreen wiper. $186!! The last thing a poor uni student needed on a crappy day. I drove to the gym with thoughts racing through my head stirring the already negative mindset I had brewed. By the time I arrived at the car park, I really didn't want to get out, not because I didn't want to go to the gym but because I felt like hiding away. Then came the rain. It was like everything was trying to push me in to a state of misery. After sitting there for 10 minutes, I thought "What's the alternative?" ... There wasn't one. I had the choice to either sit there and be exponentially miserable or I could get up and just go in. I just went in. Immediately after getting out of the car, I felt a little better. I went in, trained the house down, enjoyed being with my gym mates and left with sweat all over. I don't know whether it was the endorphins released from my exercise or the self satisfaction I had created by JUST DOING IT, but I felt good! I preceded to dinner with a bunch of people who I love and who make me happy. The rest of the night consisted of only a smiling face. I had won. Be it a little win, but a win none-the-less. It lead me to think about the battle of the little men on your shoulders. I suppose you can either listen to them and let their words control you OR beat them and know that only you have control over what you do. Create and environment for yourself to prosper. It's a decision! Make the right one for your well-being.

A bit if a messy blog entry but the blog is my head and at the moment it’s messy… I’ll clean it up though!

The role of the bench player is interesting. How do these guys maintain motivation while accepting that they're one of the less talented players? There must be some who strive to be a starter and others who just hope to fill their duty in the team and play a selfless role. Would be very interesting to talk to second tier veterans and young players looking to break in to the side. I'd assume the second tier veterans have developed a wise outlook and accept their role as a bench player as long as they can contribute to the team. Sure this outlook is humble towards the end of a career but its far from ideal for a rookie! Aspirations must be high for a rookie to progress to starting player. Just "filling their role" is not enough for those improve and become elite. In saying that, a mixture of the wise old veteran mindset and the aspiring rookie compliment each other perfectly. A wise head can lead aspirations through experience and provide them with a role model. While an aspiring rookie can motivate a veteran to keep his game up because motivation motivates. When the rookie comes in with enthusiasm, surely it has an affect on the veterans and their possibly wilting enthusiasm. I wonder how many coaches utilise older players to mentor the younger ones to try and develop respect and comradery rather than becoming a dictatorship under one iron fist (the coach).

Hi everyone! This will be my fourth blog entry and its definitely the one I've enjoyed the most! Watching videos and reading about Kai Greene is inspiring! Some people think he's a fruit cake while others aspire to have the same understanding and wisdom as he does. Kai grew up with no parents, skipping from one orphanarium to the next. I suppose this is a big reason as to why he's so philosophical. With that much time and no one to share your day to day life with, I'd imagine a lot of people would become pretty involved in their own thoughts. Kai expanded his thinking and is an avid reader of other peoples philosophy as well. He talks about the tremendous power that each of have in our hands, "whether you're the king or the slave, you have this tremendous power". He's speaking of the mind. If you have power of your mind, he says, "I can be whatever I want to be, not because I'm cocky, because If I say it, not only with my mouth but with my thoughts and then my thoughts cover my actions and my actions become the work that will produce the desired result. I can do whatever I want to, not because I'm cocky or arrogant, but because I hold this tremendous power in my hands. Whether you choose to acknowledge it is up to you". I personally find Kai inspirational. A strong believer of mind over matter, which I very much agree with. I'm not going to say that I'm as wise or understand like Kai but I have made a decision to put these ideals in to practise. Embracing tasks and passions whole heartedly is important and your success will drive you further for your next task. If someone was to be coaching me, this is the style and idea that would work. It may be different to others but that's exactly what you need to find from your athletes and if you discover it, you're 90% of your way to the goal!

Watch this… Interesting!! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2SXcnkNtM

I was thinking prior to our lecture today about how I'm always interested in going to these lectures and why it doesn't feel like a chore. Not trying to suck up or anything but Keith's lectures always get me thinking and I'm always engaged. I got to thinking, "I wonder if everyone else feels this way too?". Surely there are some that find it less engaging than me. Attracting people's interest has to be one of the most important attributes in being an educator of any form. As soon as you have their interest, the learning becomes much easier and no matter what you're teaching if you have their interest then surely it's more efficient. I suppose this is an example of the 10,000 hours being brought down to 1,000. The real questions in this are how do you attract someone's interest, how do you keep their interest and how do you adapt to a group situation where there are different learning styles? There are always going to be external factors in motivation for interest and that's largely out of the control of the teacher/coach. But what can we do to attract FASCINATION to the subject? I personally am fascinated by anatomy. My interest makes it much easier to allocate time to study anatomy and therefore grasp information. The more information I grasp, the more I enjoy it. It's exponential. This is the sort of motivation and interest that is surely un-paralleled in teaching and learning. I didn't read the entirety of the attached document but I found the first couple of pages to be very interesting in explaining motivational differences between adults and children. https://www.msu.edu/~dwong/CEP991/CEP991Resources/Deci-Interest&Motiv.pdf I'll certainly be researching the question, "How do we inspire interest and motivation?" Hopefully I'll find some good notation that supports various theories. If not... I suppose I'll use my INTEREST TO MOTIVATE me to write my own!

- I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.