Installment 2. Series of Fortunate Events. A short series.

Thanks for following the story here to my blog. 😜

Passion isn't always an overwhelming onslaught of energetic enthusiasm. Sometimes it’s the constant burning of a flame that keeps one warm and guided. I never thought of the word passion for the things I enjoy, until recently. It takes me a while to grasp things sometimes. Sorta a slow learner I would say. 

Stepping beyond the humbleness to put myself out there is the objective of this series. 

So many have influenced what I do and how I do it. Education is important. Continued striving to learn more and keep up with the latest. No one gets to where they are alone and sometimes those who influence us do so just by  the way they do their thing. 

Installment 2.  Coach Candrea

Life is variety, and those we cross paths with are always for a reason. Didn't really think about my going out to learn from others was much of a deal. I started coaching softball at 14 when we could no longer play because there was no league for us. Kelly and I loved softball so much that since we could not play, we coached. 

Decades later, when Mr. Coates, my boss and the High School’s VP/Athletic Director came to me and said that softball was being added to the athletics program. He wanted me to be the assistant coach for the first season for the softball/baseball teams. 

I coached alongside Don N. Later that same year I was given a brochure for Mike Candrea’s Coaches Clinic if I wanted to go. In October I was off to  Uof AZ.  What an experience! I felt very comfortable and met some legends, although I didn't realize the enormity of it all at the time. It was at this clinic where I actually learned HOW to coach softball. Coach Candrea is passionate about what he does. 

I coached for 9 years and then stepped away from the field after Kelly passed. I just couldn’t be on the field because I wasn’t sure I could keep myself together. A few years later I was once again asked to step into the coaching position as Head Coach. I accepted. I found another coach’s camp that he was a part of I attended yearly a few years. I am a firm believer that if you really want to be the best at what you do, you need to seek out others who excel in that arena. I spoke to Coach a few times, emailed as well. He always had time to answered. 

If you ever get the opportunity o hear Coach Candrea speak, please take the opportunity. He has many words of wisdom to share. Coach has a code of ethics, integrity and compassion that manifests from him. I sincerely enjoy watching college softball and when UfoU plays Arizona I go watch. The last time I got to watch them play, I emailed Coach and asked if I could get a picture with him after a game. He said sure. 

At the first game I met some diehard AZ Wildcat fans. They asked if I was one as well. I said, “Well, sort of. But it's
more like I am a Coach Candrea fan.” They sure lit up with that comment. They were a couple older gentlemen and started telling me lots of great stores of Coach. Some I already knew. The second game was a day game. After the game I hung out at the dug out as did many many others. I took some pics for others, then I stuck my hand out to Coach and introduced myself, letting him know I was the one that emailed him. I handed my phone to someone to take a pic of us. I was so fan-girling in the moment. 

Coach says if you find something you love doing, you won’t work a day in your life. He is one person I look up to and use to help me maintain integrity in what I do. Softball is my first passion. Spent lots and lots of days on a field in all capacities. Groundskeeper, umpire, coach, stats, announcer any and every thing. I stopped coaching softball for good in 2015. I miss being on the field, throwing the ball and hitting to the players, but isn’t my place any longer. 

The planets aligned just right for me to have been in the presence of this guy. Never underestimate what opportunities may present themselves. Sometimes in the most unassuming ways. Learn all things from all things. Being present in the moment will open those opportunities. 

Take it all in. 

My Journey: Series of Fortunate Events

CHAPTER 1

In no particular order. 

There are so many other people who have been a part of my getting to where I am. No one gets where they are alone. And teachers are not just those at the front of the class leading. They are those sitting next to us at any given moment. 

Seems like most of the people I’ve learned from have been guys. No reason it just worked out that way. When I started in karate back in ’82, there weren't many choices where I lived. I was fortunate to have started my journey with someone who was extremely knowledgeable. I was pushed beyond limits and achieved things I never could have imagined. The martial arts gave me a place to go, a place that not only relieved stress but put my spirit at ease as well. The dojo was always a place to balance my spirit and get me back on track. As new-agey as that sounds, the martial arts kept me out of dark places within myself. 

My core instructor talked a lot. There was a lot of history and other information relayed verbally. He also did not liked to be questioned and when he did not have answers his retaliation for asking such questions was not fun. Do as I say not as I do was the norm. I learned to stand up against all odds because of this guy. 

I also learned that I am the one person I need to trust completely. Others can be counted on, but if I cannot trust myself, my capacity, capability, potential and ability, then I would never be a strong and enduring as necessary. Perseverance and endurance was the mantra that ran through my mind throughout the nearly two decades of training in that system under that guy. That perseverance forged a lot of my reputation. Endurance got me through to the end when it came time to walk away. 

The significance of that early training set the foundation for almost everything else I do and the way I do it. But if I hadn’t already had the character I did, then the lessons learned on the training floor under this dude would not have had the impact it did. 

I know history stories martial arts. I know weaponry. I know dislocations, and broken bones and contusions and concussions. I have a lot in common with many colleagues that trained in the ol’ school manner. No mats and all out. This I hadn’t realized was anything special, it was all I knew. Apparently, from tales shared with non-old school people about some of the adventures, the looks of alarm are hints that not everyone shares the same sentiments about the good ol’ days. 

I learned a lot. But I did not learn how to defend against a predator. I learned to fight in a ring with training partners. Yeah, my training partners hit hard, but their goal was never to take annihilate or assault me. When I realized that what I needed was not a part of the training I had. I needed to figure out some things. The foundation was set and that meant that whatever I chose to build on top of it had a solid base to set upon.