This morning I woke at 5:30 am and decided to go out for a walk. You would think that the streets would be relatively quiet. Wrong! The streets were filled with hustle and bustle and people going to work, kids bicycling to school, old folks out for their exercise, shop owners getting ready for the day, street vendors displaying their wares, and this strange westerner walking by with an ipod, oblivious to the outside world. It occurred to me this morning that people around the world are just like us. They have the same wants and desires, same aspirations for their children, feel the same happiness and same pain as us.
Listening to one of my all time favorite bands, the Doobie Brothers, (I’m really dating myself now) I’m reminded of their lyrics, “What the people need is a way to make them smile, it ain’t so hard to do if you know how.” I realized that a smile and a “nihao” or hello as I walked the streets this morning might be the only smile or acknowledgement that that man, women, or child might have today. Life is too short not to enjoy every moment, every experience, every meal and every encounter with a stranger. It occurred to me this morning that I might be the only person from America to ever speak to that Chinese person. I’ve always used my travels to spread diplomacy in foreign countries and am always amazed to see the smiles reciprocated back to me.
As I walked by a group of middle school boys waiting for the bus, I high fived a couple of them and the surprised looks on their faces and giggles made my day! Today is going to be a GREAT day!
This morning I helped the rehab staff with some exercise questions. We take for granted our education system and what we have access to in the way of academia. This morning was pretty slow but I was told that I would be working with the women’s badminton team this early afternoon so I was taken over to their training complex and videoed some of their training. Later in the day I would be working with the women’s Gold medalist from the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. As it turned out, I worked with both the women’s Olympic champion and world champion. Both of these girls worked extremely hard and I had a blast training them. I’ve found women athletes work hard, are appreciative, and don’t have the attitudes that some of the elite level men athletes have.
I warmed them up with my ballistic dynamic warm-ups to get their core ready for work. I used the shackles to start the work. We did walking lunges, marches, step squat, backward diagonal steps, lateral slides, 3 step diagonal slides and finished with a suicide reaction drill. I then had the girls partner up and I started some resistance pattern reaction movements. I had watched video from the morning session and came up with specific movements that mimic the actual movements on the court without impeding the skills. They loved it and it made sense to them, train like you play! I did a couple of other different movement with the cords and punch belts and again both girls worked hard and both gave me a big hug when we were through. Oh, the benefits of my JOB!
Both champions asked if I would be in a photo with them and I was honored to be sandwiched between and Olympic and a world Champion! I knew it was going to be a great day today!
Tomorrow I have been told that I would be working with five Olympic Champions from men’s badminton: gold, silver, and bronze Olympians, plus gold and silver medalist from the World Games. It should be another great day.
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