Think about it like this. Let's say a kid can only perform five push-ups, but they're sloppy. He barely bends his arms and his stomach is sagging toward the floor. You step in and show him how to tighten his core and lower his chest to the floor. Now, he can do 10 push-ups. When my eighth grade basketball coach told me to tuck my elbow, I was able to hit a few more shots. That's the purity of coaching. Direct instruction plus hard work equals results. When I met Derrick Johnson, he was 12-years-old and a raw weightlifting talent. He was what you wanted in a young athlete - strong, fast, flexible and hungry.
The hungry part was most important. I cut my coaching teeth with that kid. I tried every technique I could think of on him to make him better. We did two-finger pull-ups, loaded wheelbarrow carries. He broke concrete slabs with a sledgehammer for his abs. I had him push a 15-passenger van on the parking lot of Lift For Life Gym for conditioning. During one really intense training session, I kind of went overboard. We had one of those old sand-filled medicine balls at the gym and I would hit Derrick in the abs with it while he was doing sit-ups. One day he told me the hits were too soft. So, I hit him harder and harder and harder. I hit him so hard that sand began leaking from the medicine ball. Derrick didn't flinch. I never tried that with another athlete, but I knew I had a winner.
Combined with the Olympic Weightlifting training we did, Derrick got better - a lot better. He has won every major weightlifting championship in the United States and several on the international stage. All that's left for him now is the Olympic Games. I know he's training hard and I wish him the best. Derrick's 27 now and he's coaching athletes of his own. Even more than what he's done as an athlete and a coach is what he's done as a man. Derrick is the only college graduate I've ever coached and I'm more proud of him for that than any medal, trophy or plaque he's ever earned. The first video you'll see of Derrick in action is from what I think was the 2004 American Open in Shreveport, La. You'll catch a glimpse or two of me in the background (email subscribers click here).
The second video is much more recent. On Thursday morning, Derrick taped a segment with KTVI morning show host Tim Ezell. It's an Olympic year and the two are talking about several promising lifters that Derrick coaches (email subscribers click here).
Derrick is a better lifter and coach than I am and I have no problem saying that. It was always the goal. We should all teach our kids to be better than us. If they have more success than we did, they'll have that much more to offer the generation coming after them. This is a coach's reward - not money and not medals. Our reward is seeing our kids succeed. Until next time...
Be a Good Sport!
-Sol
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