As a kid, there was always one word (among others) that my Dad would never allow me to say- “can’t.” In many ways I was a miracle baby so to speak. I was 3-months premature, not even weighing 4 pounds when I was born. Along with loads of initial health issues to work through, there were also many projections placed upon me from medical professionals. They said my eye sight would never fully develop, and I would be deaf by the time that I was 5 years old. This would lead to struggles with learning and motor skills as well.
Fortunately, this wasn’t the case. My Dad would always ask me “Why do you think that you can swing a bat like you do?” or “why do you think you’ve had success in basketball and soccer?” His explanation was always, “no one ever told you that you couldn’t.” This is one of those life lessons that has always stayed with me, as well as carried over into how I parent my son.
Shep sometimes will be sitting on the floor, and I will hear him say “Help Dada, I can’t do it”. He could be trying to put together Legos, or simply be putting on his shoes. I always make a point to correct him and say, “yes you can,” as I show him how to do the task at hand.
We are in a bit of a lull in regards to our race seasons. We’ve worked hard all winter preparing for races that we thought would take place this spring. Now we find ourselves in a period of months to simply train with no “races” in the near future. During this time, I want to challenge you all to turn your “can’t” into “can.” At no point in your training in the future will you be given this amount of time to simply work on your weaknesses. Is it cadence, endurance, power, pace, technique, or a combination of these? Take this time to get better. I want us all to be able to say that we turned a “can’t” into a “can” when this is all over.
Ryan Middleton
Director of Coach Operations
