A very wide net
Several attractive positions have posted over the last 36 hours including a brand new start up program at a university not far from here.
As a side note, I really want George Fox University to consider starting a women's rowing program. The section of the Willamette River they are near is very calm, very flat, and rarely has water level issues that plague other schools.
One of the biggest things that I've had to work on as a coach is my patience. I'm not a patient person in general, and that rears its head from time to time when I'm coaching. There are days where I might ask you to do something, you do it in a very reasonable amount of time, and I might ask you why it took so long. In general, my lack of patience has helped my coaching because it's forced me to learn to slow down, to take time teaching, and to plan ahead. One of the reasons I detail out everything I do, and write everything down is an effort of self control. I force myself to take the time to work out problems, and put together extensive plans because I know that in the heat of the moment, I'm going to want to go 100 mph, when 10 mph is the smarter choice. By having plans, I force myself to stick to a thought out structure. This also helps me see tangible results. By seeing step by step progress, I feel that we are progressing, and I'm less likely to just toss the book out the window and go for broke.
That being said, the control I put into my plans hasn't translated well over to my career. There are many things that I want to do as a coach including winning a national championship, and eventually making it onto a national team. My person dream would be to one day be at the Olympics as a coach. As my 32nd birthday comes around the corner, or as all birthdays have come and gone, I stop and look at where I am, and where I want to be, and see if I'm still working toward those goals, or if I've been side tracked.
I've been thinking about this often this year, especially over the last two months as I've made the decision to head off to graduate school. This means taking a year off from coaching as I prep for it through the GRE, getting a job to start saving money for school, and other essentials.
I'm always looking at the jobs that are available. NCAA Job Market and Row2K are staple websites that I check religiously, some times 5 or 6 times a day. And every year it seems, there's several jobs that come along that make the travel bug kick in, and have my polishing my resume.
This year has been no exception, and last night, when I found several attractive jobs on NCAA Job Market, I had a momentary crisis of conscience. I want Division 1 experience. I also want to coach my own program. I've got years of plans and practices stored away that I'd dearly love to try out. I have a coaching staff in mind that I'd love to put together. Last night, while seeing those jobs up, I found myself automatically bringing up my resume and cover letter, and preparing to fire off the applications.
And then I stopped. I shut down the browser, closed the files, turned off my computer and got absorbed in a fascinating program on D-Day. In short, I closed myself off to the rowing world.
So where is this all going?
In my head, and occasionally in my heart, I believe that I am never going to make my goals at this pace. I wonder aloud, some times to close friends who have been there since that day in 2004 when I started down this path, if I could go faster, work harder, get to where I want to be sooner. I wonder if life is passing me by, and if I'm simply spinning my wheels.
This decision to head to graduate school and pass over so many of the current jobs has been both an easy one compared to the past, and the most difficult.
In short through all this rambling, and in reference to the title, I want everything now. I want my program, but I want my graduate degree. I want to be leading a big time program, but I also want a couple years of mentoring at a great program. I want, I want, I want.
It's only recently that I've come to realize that my net is only so big, and that I can only do so much. I've been working hard to realize that while the specific jobs might not be around when I'm ready, there will always be jobs, attractive jobs, waiting, that rowing and coaching and my passion for it doesn't stop simply because I'm not currently involved in a program. And I'm forcing myself to realize that getting a masters degree isn't a round about way to get to a job, but a very direct way to get where I want to go, or at least get pointed in the right direction. And I have to realize that through graduate school, and the two I'm most interested in, I can still coach, so at most I might be missing only a single year. And finally, I've come to realize that graduate school is most likely a more direct route to the "promised land" than the route that I'm currently on - coaching.
So despite everything being posted, I will stay on this course. I will continue to remember that this, like my push to get my coaching certifications, my CPR and First Aid certificates, the computer skills classes I'm going to take, will only serve to enhance my resume, and help me down the road, and will help me sooner and not later.
And finally I will realize that while my personal net is finite in size, it doesn't make what I choose to do any less significant.
As a side note, I really want George Fox University to consider starting a women's rowing program. The section of the Willamette River they are near is very calm, very flat, and rarely has water level issues that plague other schools.
One of the biggest things that I've had to work on as a coach is my patience. I'm not a patient person in general, and that rears its head from time to time when I'm coaching. There are days where I might ask you to do something, you do it in a very reasonable amount of time, and I might ask you why it took so long. In general, my lack of patience has helped my coaching because it's forced me to learn to slow down, to take time teaching, and to plan ahead. One of the reasons I detail out everything I do, and write everything down is an effort of self control. I force myself to take the time to work out problems, and put together extensive plans because I know that in the heat of the moment, I'm going to want to go 100 mph, when 10 mph is the smarter choice. By having plans, I force myself to stick to a thought out structure. This also helps me see tangible results. By seeing step by step progress, I feel that we are progressing, and I'm less likely to just toss the book out the window and go for broke.
That being said, the control I put into my plans hasn't translated well over to my career. There are many things that I want to do as a coach including winning a national championship, and eventually making it onto a national team. My person dream would be to one day be at the Olympics as a coach. As my 32nd birthday comes around the corner, or as all birthdays have come and gone, I stop and look at where I am, and where I want to be, and see if I'm still working toward those goals, or if I've been side tracked.
I've been thinking about this often this year, especially over the last two months as I've made the decision to head off to graduate school. This means taking a year off from coaching as I prep for it through the GRE, getting a job to start saving money for school, and other essentials.
I'm always looking at the jobs that are available. NCAA Job Market and Row2K are staple websites that I check religiously, some times 5 or 6 times a day. And every year it seems, there's several jobs that come along that make the travel bug kick in, and have my polishing my resume.
This year has been no exception, and last night, when I found several attractive jobs on NCAA Job Market, I had a momentary crisis of conscience. I want Division 1 experience. I also want to coach my own program. I've got years of plans and practices stored away that I'd dearly love to try out. I have a coaching staff in mind that I'd love to put together. Last night, while seeing those jobs up, I found myself automatically bringing up my resume and cover letter, and preparing to fire off the applications.
And then I stopped. I shut down the browser, closed the files, turned off my computer and got absorbed in a fascinating program on D-Day. In short, I closed myself off to the rowing world.
So where is this all going?
In my head, and occasionally in my heart, I believe that I am never going to make my goals at this pace. I wonder aloud, some times to close friends who have been there since that day in 2004 when I started down this path, if I could go faster, work harder, get to where I want to be sooner. I wonder if life is passing me by, and if I'm simply spinning my wheels.
This decision to head to graduate school and pass over so many of the current jobs has been both an easy one compared to the past, and the most difficult.
In short through all this rambling, and in reference to the title, I want everything now. I want my program, but I want my graduate degree. I want to be leading a big time program, but I also want a couple years of mentoring at a great program. I want, I want, I want.
It's only recently that I've come to realize that my net is only so big, and that I can only do so much. I've been working hard to realize that while the specific jobs might not be around when I'm ready, there will always be jobs, attractive jobs, waiting, that rowing and coaching and my passion for it doesn't stop simply because I'm not currently involved in a program. And I'm forcing myself to realize that getting a masters degree isn't a round about way to get to a job, but a very direct way to get where I want to go, or at least get pointed in the right direction. And I have to realize that through graduate school, and the two I'm most interested in, I can still coach, so at most I might be missing only a single year. And finally, I've come to realize that graduate school is most likely a more direct route to the "promised land" than the route that I'm currently on - coaching.
So despite everything being posted, I will stay on this course. I will continue to remember that this, like my push to get my coaching certifications, my CPR and First Aid certificates, the computer skills classes I'm going to take, will only serve to enhance my resume, and help me down the road, and will help me sooner and not later.
And finally I will realize that while my personal net is finite in size, it doesn't make what I choose to do any less significant.
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