A positive experience: getting hit by a "Brick".One of the oldest problems in coaching is failing to train and improve your young athletes as much as you would like. As the saying goes, "The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win." Most athletes can grasp a concept that they can see and touch much better than one that is simply articulated to them. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What they fail to realize is just how short their high school careers are. To the typical ninth-grader, four years seem like an eternity. But by graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. , you will hear most of them mourn mourn v. mourned, mourn·ing, mourns v.intr. 1. To feel or express grief or sorrow. See Synonyms at grieve. 2. : "It all went so fast." Though the average lifespan is about 78 years, most kids don't have the attention span to work on their goals for even one year--assuming they have any goals at all. That is where our "Brick" concept comes in. It provides a simple answer to the problem of why so much focus is needed for those four years. Although most high school athletes will not go on to compete at the college level, they do want to receive a good high school education. A way to help do it: A brick or cinderblock wall can be used as a time-line in the gym, hallway, or classroom. With the use of a magic marker (or possibly paint), you can outline a single line of bricks at about eye level. A total of 19 1/2 bricks may be outlined with the magic marker. By "outlined," we mean the coloration col·or·a·tion n. 1. Arrangement of colors. 2. The sum of the beliefs or principles of a person, group, or institution. of the mortar around each brick, not the brick itself. The 1/2 brick should be placed at the left end of the bricks. It represents the athlete's first two years of life. Each of the 19 bricks that follow represents four years of his life--making for a total of 78 years. We color in Verb 1. color in - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" color, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour or paint the fourth full brick from the left. This one brick out of the 19 1/2 is a visual representation of the athlete's entire high school career. Just one brick. So "use your brick!" Kids (like most adults) tend to procrastinate pro·cras·ti·nate v. pro·cras·ti·nat·ed, pro·cras·ti·nat·ing, pro·cras·ti·nates v.intr. To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. v.tr. , put things off. Many people take five or six years (or longer) to complete a college degree; adults may have 20 or more years to start a family, but the athlete has only four years to fulfill ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. his goals, his athletic dreams. Seeing that lone brick out of the long row of 19 1/2 will help many kids understand just how limited their high school career really is. All successful coaches discuss focus and goals with their athletes. The "Use Your Brick" concept gives the athlete a visual reference to relate to. As such, the best places for this wall would be: the gym for the basketball coach, the wrestling wrestling, sport in which two unarmed opponents grapple with one another. The object is to secure a fall, i.e., cause the opponent to lose balance and fall to the floor, and ultimately to pin the supine opponent's shoulders to the floor, through the use of body room for the wrestling coach, or a meeting/locker room for other teams. At the end of their careers, most athletes will have some regrets. It is part of the coach's job to let the athlete know that he gave it his best, and that he was as successful as his ability permitted. We want our graduating athletes to know that they had a positive, successful experience. So, being hit by a row of "Bricks" causes little pain to the athletes at D.H. Conley H.S. By Milt Sherman, Retired Wrestling Coach D.H. Conley H.S., Greenville, NC Recently retired from D.H. Conley H.S. in Greenville, NC, Milt Sherman racked up 470 victories in a storied career. He is a member of the East Carolina University East Carolina University is a public, coeducational, intensive research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statue and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina Hall of Fame and is currently teaching part time at Pitt Community College Pitt Community College is located in Greenville, North Carolina and has an enrollment of over 10,000 students. External links
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