Oh You Pretty Things / Don’t you know you’re driving your
Mamas and Papas insane / Oh You Pretty Things
Don’t you know you’re driving your / Mamas and Papas insane
Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the Homo Superior
– bowie

Well, I’m not sure how it happened.. Well I am.. I had someone keeping me on task.. anyway, I’m first-aided, CPR’d and ACA’d and ready to teach my first 2 day sea kayaking class of the new season tomorrow at Rutabaga in Madison, Wisconsin.  I don’t even want to think about how long I’ve been doing this now.  I mean, how many years can you do something before you can no longer play the “outsider” role?  I start getting weird chills when I start thinking I may be becoming part of the establishment.. ooooooh…..

With that I’m reminded of a conversation I had recently;

I was in a short conversation with another coach who felt that leaving the old crusty ways of the past was bad for coaching.  He felt that the more flexible, “safe, efficient & effective”  made it harder to coach.  Back in the day, there was only one way to do things.  If everyone thought and taught the same way it would be easier for coaches and for students. Yeah, I understand.  Opening the floor to new ideas and new interpretations is certainly more work sometimes.   It means you constantly have to listen, have your own opinions challenged, and examine a lot of new ideas before you can pass any sort of judgment.  It means you always have to be awake.  As we get older,( and if we’ve been doing this awhile) it can certainly be challenging to remain flexible.  I get that.  Still, it seems to me there’s probably a lot of stuff out there that I still haven’t learned and better ways to do things still waiting to be discovered.  I mean, it can’t hurt to listen.. can it?

Just something to consider as we put on our coaching hats for another year.

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4. 275,000 seals
5. No offence, but what you don’t know. . .