motivation

Long brake since last time,
not because I dont want to write,
not because I have nothing to write about,
but my days are always about priority,
blogg is not the highest priority right now, I need to do my work first, quite a lot of work...

but it looks like I have few days "break" now,
yeap break, 7 days before I will start training camp as a firts step of preparation for next season,
season nr. 8 in my coaching carrier..
as usually few goals, goals on the way to reach my dreams..

do you know what is a difference between goals and dreams?
for me its quite easy..
difference between dream and goal, is just that goal has a deadline!

I have few deadlines in this season,
maybe its not so humble to tell everybody what are you gonna do,
but I think this is some kind of currage and ambition to do it.
its always how bad you want it, its about how hard you work for it, and how good prepare you will be when momment "its all about it" comes.

I keep some statistics, actually a lot of statistics,
competitions, practices, victories, defeats, and medals..
Its possible that I will write a book about it some day...

Maybe its little easier to get medals in Sweden, hard to compare for sure,
but my students won already 93 medals on Swedish Championships, (U13,U15,U17,U20 and seniors)
so first goal for new season is quite simple... I want to finish season 2013-2014 with 100 medals in my pocket!
7 left.. maybe not many, maybe quite easy.. but we will see,
When I count we got (average) 9 individuall medals during season..
sometimes even 13.. but sometimes just 4.
Im motivated to do it, work for it, so I just need to find fencers who are ready to do it too,
Fencers who want it really bad...
"challenge accepted"

I "didnt work" last 3 weeks but I havent holidays last 3 weeks
I think that fencing coaches have no such a thing like holidays
there is always something to do,
read, watch, think, plan
I had few days traveling, but my mind was busy.
to find new ideas...
to find motivation...
its not that I have no motivation.. I have a lot of motivation,
but its important to find new one, new goals, new things to believe,
I try dont forget about old goals, those who are still in progress,
but every year, every month I try to find something new, new possibilities, new oportunities

I found time to work my self, became frustrated how bad I became in few things I was quite good some time ago
so there is another goal.. work myself atleast 6h per week, make come back, be fit again,
as a very busy fencing coach and family guy.. it will be not easy (F..g not easy)

I found time to read a lot.. books, articles,
some of them not first time, and what is quite interesting I found new things in those words, new sense, maybe this is a matter of expierence, better knowedgle.. maybe I understand things better now,
so another goal is that I need (yes, not should, I need) read more,

Seems like I try do a lot off things to avoid this quite poppular quote:

"If you always do,
what you always done,
you will always get
what you always got"

So make changes, find new motivation,
new season is coming

Lessons

Its no doubt that individuall lesson in fencing is the most effective way to practice and learn fencing.
Its no doubt that fencing lesson is uniqe.. there is not so many sports that coach need to be "so close" to his students, maybe boxing, maybe tenis...
Please remember that individuall lesson in fencing can have many purpose, goals.
It can be best way to teach you new things,
It can be best way to practice this you already know and can
It can be best way to prepare you (warm upp) before match
...
It can be best way to improwe that you need to work harder
It can be best way to show you that you already can fencing too,

There are som standards, habbits, and maybe even "old" rules when you do lesson,
but I think there is no such a think as bed lesson.. offcourse lesson can be ineffective, or even wrong..
but is not bed lesson, everytime you have possibility to practice you learn something new, about yourself, about your fencing,

Sometimes you dont like it,
Sometimes you love it,

So here comes few clips with lessons

Christoffer Ejemyr lesson with Tomasz Goral

Yuki Ota lesson with Oleg Matcheythuk (starts att 14 min)

Marco Vaninni lesson with Antonio Di Ciolo

Valentina Vezzali lesson with G. Tomassini

Husayn Rosowsky lesson with Adam Blight

Andrea Baldini lesson with Paolo Paoletti

Simone Vanni lesson with Paolo Paoletti

Alesandro Puccini lesson with Antonio Di Ciolo

Andrea Cassara lesson with Massimo Omeri

Richard Kruse lesson with Ziemowit Wojciechowski

and offcourse you can find much more if you like...

Share passion

Its quite fun to share passion..
as a friend,
as a parent,
as a Godfahter too,

My Godson started fencing 2 years ago, after multiple trying I could take him on summer trainingscamp with me and hi could try fencing. After camp question was simple, should I take this equipment back with me, or maybe you will keep it and start practice.. same club Ive started, same Coach Ive started with.
So hi started, little late than hi should... but most important is to have fun.
Its a long way for him to be quite good, so long old, slow and overweight Godfather can give him lesson of real fencing.

Its quite interesting to see how hi develop, its totally different way Im looking on him.. Im coach, Godfather too... sometimes not best solution.
This situation gave me a lot of reasons to thing what happend if my son will try fencing.
I know a lot of father-coaches.. some of them make great job, but many not...
Hard situation, but life will show me for sure, how hard it can be.. or maybe my son will choose something else (hope not football).. but then what... be father who is just standing on side drung practices ? I dont think so..

 



 





mind is everything

May is very intensiv period in my life... always.
Same as december... actually.. always.

I need to believe that I can do everything what I need to do to succed. I always believe!
Thats why I succed already with few of my dreams
hope you believe that you can succed too.
I found one good quote, good enough to share it:

Mind is everything, Every thught you create manifests it self in real world,
if you didnt achieve something you strive for - you simply didnt believe in it enough.
Mario Novak.

be calm, work step by step, be patience

I remember how its feel sometimes.
Same practice, same exercise. day by day.
you are thinking " I already know it" .. its borring to do this again..
you are thinking " I already can this" .. its borring, i should learn something more..

but, really ?

Can you durring individuall lesson repeat any action 5 times identically?

I mean identically! same speed, same rytm, withuout losing balance, hit in the same place, without any not necessary moves.. identically.. 5 times in row. not mechanical repetition, but after few moments of preparation, find this perfect moment, and make this action, make this action perfect.

No?
so keep practicing! repeat until it will work...

Can you durring duel be so patience, effective and consequent that you can hit your opponent on the same way 3 times, way that you have planed, and you have chosen?

I mean not hit to get a point, hit not becaouse its easy and its work on him to make a hit by this way. Action that you choose to improve that you can hit him on your own conditions.

No?
so keep practicing! try it, try it again, until it will work..

Why Im writing it?
Becaouse I have a feeling, and I see that sometimes my students dont understand, why we do someting again. Motivation to practice is automatically lower because we do something that they thing, they already know..
Some practices are exactly the same, sometimes whole week seems like dejavu..

But how in other way (without thousand of repetition) became prefect?

I thing that many fencers just forgot that doing something as best you can att this moment, let you be the best in the next moment!

Are you doing your best on every practice moment?

Vitti ... Wratislavia ... Its nice to be here!

In the 90's it was "Challenge Vitti", it was qualification for Polish Championships U15.

Big and strong competitions, among those first ones with many international fencers I could fence against. I remember (and I checked) that last time for me was 1996 and I was 10th among 235 fencers. I lose L16 against Marcin Zawada 15:10. Michal Ponaczewny won this competitions in the final aginst Krzysztof Gracki.

I could check it in my "fencing diary"... yes, because I have one, since my very first competitions in 1994 until I start work as a coach 2006, all competitions I was, all places, all matches, always with best top 8 results and my result, if possible with article from newspaper..
who has something like this now??

After Challenge best 30 Polish fencers has qualified directly to Polish Championships, than another 18 fencers gets "ticket" after additional qualifications in regions... and few months later Michal Ponaczewny became Polish Champion, with Krzysztof Gracki in great final, 15:14.. last hit was "squat".. Michal was like 30cm smaller than Krzysztof, so hi just used oportunity.
its history.. I lose L16 again.

Challenge Wartislavia has long history.. 36 years, as a competition for kids, bigger and bigger every year. Since few years ago we have new categories U15, U13 and U11, all six weapons!

I think there is no chance to find any good european fencer who didnt fence there!
Offcourse succes in Challenge will not determinate your fencing future, but its always good memories.

Kids competitions with budget around 80 000 euro.
Kids competitions with all weapons and 3 age categories in each
Kids competitions with over 2000 fencers
Kids competitions with great finals and TV relations

I love come to Challenge Wratislavia.
Meet all people here,
Meet coach Glowacki who seems be always that same, that same since I was 15 years old.. but is already another 15 years later.
My coach Puza, "maestro" Kuzma, ... Im kind of sentimental guy sometimes.
All Coaches who remember me as boy.. boy, girl.. doesnt matter - you are "sword" as Syrio Forell says, Old coahes has always something to say, I like to talk.. and I like to listen about fencing.

I always get news who is coming to Polanica tranings camp during summer.
I hear news which are not always official...
I see many new talents, and what is most fun as a coach I can seee how few of them growing from U11 to U13 and than to U15

Fencing is great, you know, you meet people here who will follow you whole your life..if you just decide to stay with fencing. We were 15 when we compete here, we are 30 and we are still here.
I can imagine that I will meet many of those people even when I will be 50.

So, why I write about it?
Because I think that good competitions should get good "marketing" among fencing people.
And I always try to say between the words, that fencing is the best you can do in your life.

More about competitions here: Challenge Wratislavia

movie

Some people things that fencing is interesting, me too.
Some people are studing to be journalist and becaouse they thing fencing is cool, they do some small project with fencing.
Few Swedish students likes fencing, so they make small movie.. about coach.
Movie is in swedish..

Fäktare klarar sig alltid bra i livet

Becoming a better coach

Quite often I try to find something new, something what can be new inspiration for me. I need new inspirations to be better, to be motivated. Sometimes is just enough to see good fencing, sometimes is enough to talk with some coach, sometimes is enough to read somethin.
Today few tips from very good coach, about how to be better coach.

Allistair McCaw has trained some of the world's best athletes including four world number 1's, five World Champions, nine Grand Slam winners, two PGA Tour winners & six Olympians. He has trained the world number one player Dinara Safina, 2x Grand Slam Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, as well as the world number one & two squash players, Nicol David & Natalie Grinham.

And there are few "powerful tips" from him:

1. Never stop learning

Every single day I spend at least 45 minutes to an hour reading and researching anything coaching or training related. I also like to observe how other coaches carry themselves and speak to people. One of the great things about this profession is that you are never too old or knowledgeable to learn. The thing is to never stop learning and challenging yourself to improve. Remember that in order to make our athletes even better, we too need to become even better coaches.

 2. Talk to experienced coaches

It’s not enough to only observe great coaches in action, so if you have experienced coaches around you who inspire you, talk to them. Pick their brains about the technical and mental aspects of coaching. You will find that great coaches are more than willing to share their knowledge. Often they will tell you stories about when they first started and these stories will be of great comfort. The great ones were also once a little frightened and intimidated. They have also made mistakes along the way and still do.

My advice is that you hang out with people who simply make you better.

 3. Lead by example.

I was fortunate enough to have a good sporting career and competed in five World Championships in the sport of Duathlon. But you don’t need to be a world class athlete to be a great coach. However, I do believe that you should look the part, meaning partaking in a sporting activity and keeping yourself in good shape. I am a firm believer in the ‘Practice what you preach’ theory. I also ask my athletes and clients to step outside of their comfort zone and confront places of fear. In other words - take some risks, because if I’m not living by that, why should they trust me?

One last thing on this subject, take pride in your appearance and look professional.

4. Experience is your greatest teacher

I’ve been a coach and trainer for almost 20 years now. I started working as a fitness trainer whilst still in school to help pay my Triathlon habit. Over those years I studied as many subjects as I could and completed numerous certifications related to the industry. However, the place I’ve learnt the most is on the field, court, track and in the gym. You see, nothing beats the real raw time actually spent teaching and coaching. There’s no book or class that can prepare you for the reality of day-today coaching. Gain experiences. Make mistakes. Learn from failure. We all fail. Those who are ultimately successful are those who learn from their failures and do not repeat them.

 5. Evaluate yourself from time to time.

Even though I’ve been a coach for a while now, I still need to stay on top of things and make sure I’m giving my athletes the very best they deserve. A good self-evaluation can sometimes be hard, but is a fast track to becoming even better. The more comfortable you get with being uncomfortable and putting yourself on the spot, the more you will learn.

 Sometimes get another person to sit in on one of your lessons and afterwards give you specific feedback. Things like the way you brought across your message and was it clearly understood? Was the training challenging enough for the athlete or athletes? Was there maybe an ‘information overload & toO much talking? etc..

6. Become an even better motivator.

If there is one thing I can tell you all great coaches have, it’s this: They know how to motivate and get the best from their athlete/s. Sometimes, just some encouragement and positive words can make an athletes performance go from average to exceptional.

If you want to get more from your athlete/s, find out what motivates them and what makes them tick. When you tap into this, you will discover that you are more than half way there.

On closing, the road to mastery is a long and humble one, but it’s one that is rewarding to no end. My journey so far has been more than I had ever expected and It’s one I’m happy to be on. I have learnt that patience is huge part of the journey and I can only hope that someday, years down the road, while continuing a never-ending quest to learn, I will have motivated as many athletes, coaches and anyone for that matter, who seek to get the very best from themselves.

Swedish Foil Team on European Championship

Its time.
For many it was a main goal for this season, for few is just another Championships.
Sweden is sending full team in Cadets (8) and full team in Junior (8).
Chances for winning? ... not really
Chances for great results? ... not really (even if I want to belive, we need to be realistics)
Chances for good fencing? ... I hope
Chances to learn something and get more expierence? ... I wish
Chances to be more motivatet, and se what we need to do to be better? ... its my expectation

Usually to be in cadett or junior national team is quite a great thing.
I remember when I was in national team and get my "POLSKA" track suits..
Swedish fencers need to buy their "SVERIGE" track suits by them self.
They pay for travel, hotel, entry fee, referee fee and everything what you need to pay.

I always try to understand how cool is to practice whole season, travel on few national and international competitions (always pay for everything by them self) and when you get quite good results you can jump in to national team.. and pay by your self if you would like go to European Championships.

I do many things without reason, becaouse I want it, and I just hope that my fencers do fencing with same motivations..
I see no carrot in this system, so I can just wish that mine students parents have good economic situation and their kids likes fencing and has great motivation to work hard.

This is f..g annoying

I promissed to avoid criticism.. so I cannot write more about it.

So here we go, those foil fencers we can see on fencing pistes in Budapest:

Women - Cadett
Ester Schreiber, GFK, 1997, rank 1, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Linn Löfmark, FKC (but GFK actually), 1996, rank 2, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Harriet Rundquist, EGF, 1998, rank 3, coach Tomasz Goral
Julia Engström, EGF, 1997, rank 4, coach Tomasz Goral

Men - Cadett
Josef Rizell, GFK, 1996, rank 1, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Elis Wickman, EGF, 1996, rank 2, coach Tomasz Goral
Carl Ahlgvist, MF19, 1997, rank 3, coach Dmitri Lee
Vincent Mindelöf, EGF, 1997, rank 3, coach Tomasz Goral

Women - Junior
Ester Schreiber, GFK, 1997, rank 1, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Linn Löfmark, FKC, 1996, rank 2, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Alice Engström, EGF, 1995, rank 3, coach Tomasz Goral
Alida Falkenström, EGF, 1994, rank 4, coach Tomasz Goral

Men - Junior
Julius Martin, GFK, 1994, rank 1, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Simon Rizell, GFK, 1994, rank 2, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Josef Rizell, GFK, 1996, rank 1, coach Henrik Lundegard*
Ludvig Flyborg ÄFK, 1993, rank 4, coach Aliksandr Siniak

*You should know that Martin Roth Kronwall is working as a coach in GFK too, but Im not sure which fencers hi is working with, so as a know Henrik is a head coach, so I wrote head coachs name behind all GFK fencers, it can happend that Martin should be there too. :)

Maybe for few of you it seems little "boring" that 2 clubs has so many fencers in this team...
I will wrote about it little latter.

Good Luck for all fencers!
Remember is always just 1 hit which is counting right now... and than another one.

A Championship effort

I found very good text by David Littell . So I hope you will enjoy it too.

Maybe some of you will understand little more what coach are saying now.

 

Since retiring from competitive fencing I have turned my fencing energies toward coaching. I expected that this experience would require teaching fencing skills, strategy, and motivation. But I had not anticipated that it would be hard for students to understand what it took to be good at a sport. I had been an athlete for so long that this stuff was just part of me. Over the years I have been struggling to find the words to explain to my students what I think learning fencing, and for that matter, any sport is all about. Here it is.

 

I hope that you love fencing. Please, please, please, do it because you enjoy it. There are so many sports and other activities out there to pursue. Do yourself, your coaches and your families a favor, pick activities that your really love. I’ve never met a parent that doesn’t want that for their children. Also, I’ve never felt bad losing a student to another passion. I only feel bad losing a student to fear, lethargy or lack of commitment to anything. In addition, if you look around almost all the greatest athletes are the ones who simply love playing their sports.

 

I expect that you will try as hard as you can to master the skills. This is often the hardest. Although it seems simple, it’s really a complex idea. It requires that you appreciate several key concepts of sport. One is " it is not as easy as it looks". Each and every one of us is guilty of this one. Somehow, in the human experience, we think if you can do it, I can. The second concept is "mastery is in the details." Getting good is as simple as learning to master the skills. However, no matter how many times I say this most students don’t practice their lunges, extensions, disengages, footwork and other fencing skills. I wish I could come up with other ways to say it, but the bottom line is learning requires more practice then you can imagine.

 

Develop an appreciation for how hard it is to master your sport. Mastery is difficult. In fencing you have to master a million skills, put them together in some orderly fashion, develop strategies for different opponents, and learn to do this under pressure. Then you have to start over at every new level of competition. Getting good is hard. Truly knowing this also means that when you do succeed you will enjoy it more. If you ever listen to athletes on TV you notice that the best athletes have a sense of humility about competition. They know that every time they go out there anything can happen. This respect for competition comes usually after losing and getting up and trying again. And when these athletes succeed, you can sense the appreciation even the awe of their performance. On the other hand are those athletes who get frustrated and quit. In my estimation, many of these never appreciated how hard it is to get good. They act defeated and as if they have a lack of self-confidence. They say things like, "I should be farther then I am", and "I can’t believe how bad I am". When I hear this I don’t hear a lack of confidence, I hear overconfidence. In most cases the reality is your right where you should be!

 

Clearly decide where fencing fits in your life and go for it. This means figure out how important this is to you now, balancing your other interests and responsibilities. This requires looking at the time available, your level of interest and your goals. I primarily see the function of goals as helping you determine how much work your going to do. Once this is done, now get down to work! Establishing priorities helps you get what you want and also helps you to enjoy the journey.

 

Become coachable. This is easy for some and almost impossible for others. It requires the belief that you need something, that the other person can offer it, and a willingness to diligently try to master what they have to offer. It seems to me that most fall down in the first category. For many different reasons people have trouble opening themselves up to advice. Be it fear, embarrassment, bad experiences in other learning environments (like school) or overconfidence, opening up to advice and new ideas is hard. Also, know that if you’re going to be great, you have to learn to become coachable. At the same time, I don’t think being coachable means being blindly following the leader. You have to learn to be discriminating. At times, I am certain that you will have to reject some advice- and it might not feel easy to do.

 

Learn to make an honest and rigorous self-evaluation. This means giving full weight to both the positive and the negative aspects of your game, your training program, and your competitive demeanor. If you don’t appreciate your strengths, two things might happen. One, you’ll get depressed and discouraged. And two, even more dangerous, you might throw away what you do best. Another trap here is that sometimes what seems to be a weakness is really a strength. For example, if your best move is your counterattack- it may not mean that it’s time to start over. It may only mean that you need to figure out a better way to set up your counterattack. On the other hand, it’s also important to be able to look at your weaknesses openly and honestly. If you don’t you’re doomed. Saying after every loss "I choked" isn’t going to get you anywhere.

 

Learn to reach out for what you need . Think big. Many people have a closed view of where to get help. The coach, the coach the coach. You, not the coach is at the center of your fencing. This is your activity and the coach as well as the rest of the world is full of tools that will help. Please try and stay and touch with the fact that fencing is yours and where you go with it is up to you. Other life. Part of thinking big, means knowing that what is going on in your whole life can impact on your fencing. For me, those people in my life that support and value me for things other then fencing- have been crucial to my athletic success. They helped to keep fencing in balance and to never seem to important. Also, in many cases, the stuff that keeps us from getting good at fencing has to do with problems outside the sport. When I went to the Olympics I met many athletes, who were not problem free, but had overcome personal problems in order to get there. Keep your ears open. If you listened carefully, everything that you need to know to become an Olympic athlete was said on television by the athletes during the recent Atlanta Olympic Games. Be creative. When you read biographies of athletes, you see that each had a unique road to the top. Many times they chose unusual and creative paths based on their own personalities and experiences.

 

I expect that you will practice good sportspersonship This is not easy, and I have carefully chosen the word practice. It also means that if you fail, you apologize immediately. Still, I’m not sure that I say this enough to my students- it does really mean a great deal to me. One of the hardest parts of being a good sport in a one on one sport is appreciating your opponent’s efforts. It’s easy to be miserable, but it truly is important for you to say to your opponent, congratulations on your performance, today you were the better fencer. And the fact is, it’s true!

 

I expect that you will try to try to win until the last touch. All you can do is try. And as easy as that sounds, it is almost impossible. Almost all athletic contests are over before the end. Most times one of the athletes has conceded by the end. It’s so hard- yet so simple- try and win this touch, then after that try and win the next one.

I want to finish by saying that often fencers and their parents ask me if I think that they can make an Olympic team. This question is unaswerable, especially in a sport that has so many paths to success. However, what is almost always easy to say is "I believe that it will be a valuable experience for you to pursue a goal of making the Olympic team". Because, doing so means having to pursue mastering all of the goals that I just mentioned, and these can help you in any pursuit that you choose. Also notice that this same process goes for pursuing much less lofty goals. If you succeed at most or even some of these goals, you will take something away from the sport that will be invaluable throughout your life. Also, I, as the coach will be completely, totally, and absolutely satisfied, even if you lose 5-0.

 

When spotlights shut down

Nobody thinks about it, nobody thinks about it so much because everyone hope this is not about him.
But what if things go not exactly as we thod?

Most of us dont think that things can go wrong.
We do fencing, sometimes whole life, running after our dreams.
We achieve our goals and give great moments to our fans, federations and sponsors.
Big time when carrier is end. New life, sometimes just same but on other side, when you decide to work as a coach, or get great position in federation. Some of us are great lawyers, doctors, politics or businessman.
Fencing people usually get what they want, we are succesfull people.
We are great fencing family. Fencing give us our best friends, fencing give us our wives and husbands.
Here are people we can count on in hard times. Thats why Im writing this time about Jacek Gaworski. I hope, there is someone who will read it and can help Jacek as many others fencing friends already do.

There are things we cannot controll.
Illness or accidents which change our life in few seconds.

Jacek Gaworski was a great fencer, I hade oportunity to meet him on the piste. I was young cadett when hi was att the end of his succesfull carrier.
But after all fencing duells in his life, Jacek has one more to win... this time about his life.

Video with slideshow about Jaceks carrier

Multiple Sclerosis became a opponent that Jacek need to fight against now!
Jacek is great fighter, and never give upp. Hi is doing well! But hi need our help.
Fencing, this time on wcheelchair is helping him... and fencers helps him too!
Unfortunatelly health system in Poland cannot help him. There is many administrative bulshit rules.
MS get also help and try destroy Jacek together with cancer, but Hi got us in this fight!
We are members of Jacek Gaworski team..
Hi started foundation "Help fight about life"
Hi can count only on us, other fencers!

About Jacek Gaworski

About Foundation "Help fight about life"

About sport in Poland..

There is a lot of discussion about Polish sport now. Big changes, new ideas, seems like sport ministry has no idea how sport works.
I would like to share my opinion about it. Its about Poland.. my country, its about sport.. my love.. so this is important!
I have many friends working there, coaches, PE teachers, instructors.. all trying hard to make champions! I wish them well, but when I see what hapend there Im not so optimistic.

I was thinking about it, read about it a lot, so I have questions and few answers too, few ideas also.

Its a big reform in polish sport on the way. Sports became divided to 3 categories and depends on it will get, or not money.. team sports are separate categories.
Many questions, many very bad ideas, but I found also quite good, just quite good.
It can works, but is polish sport ready for changes like those?

Is it so hard to find a guy (for me guy means also women in this case) who know his things about sport, and has idea how to manage polish sport?
Is it so hard in 38mln people country to find a 1 person like this?
Our sport ministry Joanna Mucha maybe is a good manager.. but no shit about sport.. and in sport its not enough to be good manager.. you need to fell it.

I totally understand that is not so easy to find right person just because of politics reasons..
but fuck politics reasons!..
its about sport... NO GAMES (politics).. JUST SPORT.. as a Mell Gibson said in one movie,

Is it so dificult to make a team of people who can help a sport ministry to manage sport in country?

There are many specialist in Poland, in every sport! Very good coaches, sport directors, people who knows how sport works, people who has ideas how this sport can works better.

Is it so hard to ask every sport federation or the main organisation for it and delegate one or two people to represent their sport and present what this sport need to be better?

Maybe every sport should present some kind of program, without all this bullshit "we will" .. just write what kind of ideas is possible to start in practice, what can give more kids doing this sport, what chances for succe have they, show how situation looks today, how many coaches can and will work for it, how many clubs are interested to work hard for better future, what possibilities have they, what kind of projects can start together with schools, what kind of project can this sport start on "comercial" fields - becouse there are sport which have little easier to get money from there.

Later every project can get own budget.. no money just for ferederation or sport, just money for speciall projects and special group of people who will take care about it.. without totally unnecesary administration. this is olso part of new ideas, but the way how it became annonced and way how poeple from goverment make it its not best one.

What is important people who decide about it should understand that sport need a time and stabil situation, is impossible to start some kind of project "make a champion" during 2 or 4 years..
yes is impossible if you already have "almos champion"
but Im talking about working on the ground of piramids.. with small kids, with clubs, with schools...
we need a thousands kids trying be champions.. to get one champion!

Is it necessary to have sport ministry?
Many countries havent and they works some how.
How much it cost to have sport ministry? Many people working with sport "on the papper", many departaments... milions of polish zloty which can be used to work with kids

Poland have good Olimpic Committee and there is many great people there, everything they do around olimpics works, so maybe they can do everything around sport in Poland?
Offcourse its need bigger reorganisation to do it, but is it impossible?

How much money we can safe on administration and use to real projects when we have just one organisation takin care about sport?

How much money we can safe if we liquidate all regional administrations?

Is it so hard to look around and watch how others do, if they do good maybe is a worth it to try that same?

Its not so easy to copy some solution from another country, but there are always som details of whole solution which can help others be better.
Academic sport like in USA.
Army, Police sport like in Italy (especially in fencing)
more commercial solutions in sport like in GB or USA that people pay quite a lot for it becouse until some level you will not get any money from goverment

I read also that 1 $ invest on sport with kids can help save around 6 $ on health care
Is it not good idea to make som kind Super project with ministry of health, education and sport ?

Maybe even financiall ministry could help and arrange som kind of speciall rules for business, that companies can count "off" all money they put to the sport? its working in other countries (Hungary).

There is many ideas to get better. BUT
Ideas its not all, even if ideas works and money come, more places to make sports builds..
we need good people who can take care about sport!
Proffesionall people. Coches, instructors, PE teachers, sports managers.. with good education, knowledge, and what is even more important...passion!

I see one big problem in Poland... 50 years of communism!
It was a great time for sport! ... but there is no communism anymore around..
unfrotunatelly a lot of people still thinking like during communism..
"we should get money.. becouse.. we should" :)

Its quite easy to change some system, make it new... but change people its not so easy.
so maybe its time to say "thank you and goodbye" .. give chance to younger without "bad habbits".

Sport in poland need young blood, wise solutions, and time with stabil situaton around it.

Jag stödjer...

Jag stödjer En Garde Fäktförening Solna - Fäktning. Gör det du också!:
Genom SVEA fördelar Svenska Spels kunder 50 miljoner varje år till landets idrottsklubbar!

 

Dreams

I have a dream ...
Many knows those words, but there are dreams which comes true actually.

Many of us dreaming to be Champion..its quite simple and popular dream for every sportsman
(I think)..
and many sportsmen become National Champion, World Champion, Olimpic Champion, few of them even many times. Heroes!

There is always some one else who is standing behind those Heroes... I would like be this man standing behind a Hero.

Its always same draft..
It start with dream, passion, than you make a plan, plan how to do it, than you need a lot of consequence, maybe little luck to step by step come closer..sometimes earlier than You thod, sometimes later, sometimes.. never.

There are small dreams, plans raither.. "I will do it", "I want it".. and you do it, and you have it.
Simple. Because you are ready, you deserve it.
When it hapend, you say: it was good day, it was god practice, it was good, it feels good

There are bigger dreams, dreams which demand more from you, more work! more conseguence!
more efforts! more sweat! more tears! ... more pain!
And when it hapend, you cant stop you happines... few moments is the best reward for all this hard work.

There are great dreams, dreams you can reach only by heroic work, heroic conseguence, heroic effort.. and what is most magic in the sport.. without any guarantee that you will ever reach it.
And when it hapend, you cant stop you tears, you cannot breathe, you cant stop thinking "I make it.. now I can die"

If you are lucky, if you work hard enough you will get earnest of it.
Earnest of you dreams.
I think sometimes is just enough to go forward.. to run after you dreams.
Usually earnest make you stronger. Make you more motivated in your work.
But not always.. shit happends and you need to go forward!

There is no guarantee that you or I will reach our dreams!
But I think its worth to just try it..
Try to make it hapend.

I make my dreams come true.
Not all, but quite many, maybe I have quite simple dreams, or maybe I just choose right steps I should take to go still forward and reach my dreams.

I always have one rule:
Everything you do, do your best!
Its not easy rule... and I need to say that sometimes I need to give up.. go back or wait.. and try it again.

As I wrote before I never planed to be a coach... it wasnt my dream.
BUT
Im coach, and I believe that this is the best way for me, best way to create something!
I have dreams about creating, I wanna be great creator
Im not sure if I will create something as a coach... I will try!

Im quite sure that I will work hard to make it happend.
As a man with great passion for fencing.
As a man with dreams about fencing.

Some day I will open door to great fencing center...

Some day I will meet a boy or girl with great passion to fencing, and togheter we will do something no one have done before

Some day I will show them all results of my work, something speciall

Some day I will be surrounded by houndrets of my fencers, my pupils

Some day I will stand behind swedish foil fencer.. olimpian

Some day I will meet my old fencers with their kids who will start fencing too, with me, next generations

Some day, some one really good will replace me, some one who get this passion from me

What about your dreams?

Dont forget about tactic you fool

I had been in Warszawa this weekend.
ECC competition "Woyda's Foil" is nice competitions, I watched many fights, many fencers, and I realize that many, to many fencers just forget about basic tactics during matches.
I know that Cadett fencing is quite often more instinctive than planned. But I thing that arount 30% of all hitts are just because of opponents "unforced errors" . So if opponent will eliminate those errors match should be much harder. So what than?
So here we are, very basic tactics tips for fencers:

# Always believe in your opponents real possibilities. You can lose just because you don't believe in yourself, or you think that your opponent is better that hi is. (remember that "names" on jacket don't fence, ranking don't fence either)

# Use a time of your opponents fight to observe and analyze him. By this way you can save a time in your fight with him, time you need to recognize him. This way can help you also avoide simple mistkes on the begining of fight with him.

# When you are trying to rcognize your opponents remember to keep correct distance. To short distance give him always possibility to surprise you.

# You shouldn't fight schematic all time. Try always hide your real intentions and show him many marks to find the best moment to use your real plan. More marks are more reason to think.

# Your all moves should be dangerouse for your opponent, give him many reason to be nervous and not sure what you want to do, this is the easiest way to destroy his plans.

# Dont let him just take over initiative in fight

# Usually the best way to surprise your opponent is the simplest action! (with good preparation!)

# Don't give your blade to your opponent to easy (use low or high position of blade, change it!)

# If you fight against fencer who like attack be focus and try disturb him on every step back, or just go to attack by yourself

# You should be always active! remebmer that piste is 14m long, use your legs!

# Dont forget about "second intention" actions

# Dont hurry up to finish fight, even if you lead stay focus and fence active

# Always focus on "just one more hit".. and than another

# Continue fencing until referee say "halt"

# If your opponent is leading, don't try get back point as fast is possible, prepare every action. Yes, I know sometimes you need just 1 sec to prepare, sometimes is enough.

# Stay focus after fight, try to remember all mistakes and do not make it happen again

Im quite sure that hose few tips can help you all, just try to remember it, and follow it under single matches and competitions.

Water dance

I want to be dancing master, and I want to teach my fencers water dance.
Maybe is quite naive, but I belive that investment in technique is the best investment we can do in fencing, since first practice we should focus on it.. technique, technique.. rytm, flow, tempo.

Off course you cannot forget speed, strenght and coordination but this all are "just" motoric skills and it takes shorter time to train it, much shorter time than get good technigue.

Many can think that is very funny, but I love Syrio Forrel, from Game of Thrones
I think that this framgent is one of the best "fencing" fragments in tv.

 

 

About competitions and hatred

Competitions are very importand for our sport. Its help us to check how we practice.
Its help us to test ourself.
Its help us to improve something, something we want to improve for ourselfs (not to coach or parents I hope). Everyone should try to improve something.

I like competitions, I like this atmosphere, some kind of electricity in the air..
who will be the best today?
who will show something unexpected?
how will fence my fencers?

I like meet my magic people, I like talk with them.. about fencing.
I like watch how others "do their things"..with hope to learn something
I like watch focus on their faces,.. with hope to learn something
I love see emotions
I love this "game" on the piste,

Usually fencers try make their best on competitions, so I wonder why (sometimes) those who arrange competitions are not trying their best?
Why to arrange competitions if you dont want to make best competitions?
Why do not care about small or sometimes big things which interacts on me or other people and help me or other poeple decide to do not come here anymore?

There are many, many competitions I always try to go,
I like those competitions, ... to many competitions actually.
But there are competitions I dont like, I try to avoid,
Doesnt matter with country, or city.. just I dont like some competitions...
There are competitions I were once or two.. and I will never do it again.
Its doenst matter which competitions, but few are very bad...

Why?

- I hate when someone show "time schedulle" and its not working!
what is a meaning to inform everyone and do not follow it, ok shit can hapend, but there should be plan B.. and shit cannot hapend 3 or 4 times during last 3 or 4 times..

- I hate when nothing happend on competitions!
Sometimes we just seating there, 20 pistes, 20 referies.. 20 fencers... and seating.. what a fuck? I came here to see fencing, I came here to work.. not to seat and eat swedish distasteful sausages

- I hate when competitions starts very early! (or they have plan to do it)
Competitions starts att 8:00, ok, you need be there att 7:00.. so?
Doors open att 7:30 :)
Breakfast in hotell since 7:00 :)
Everything is fine, if those competitions with 30-50 fencers will finish att 15:00.. but, no!
"we love fencing" so competitions ends att 18:00 or 19:00 with 3 or 4 moments without fencing like 1 hour and no one knows when it will start again. Love it.
what happend if competitions will start one hour later? we will finish att 1800 or 1900 too.

- I hate bad food or no food on competitions!
Is it so hard to arrange some good food on competitions?
toast, hot-dog (specially swedish) and "warm" coca cola is not good food for any one

- I hate competitions without space!
space to leave fencing bags?
space to seat and watch fencing?
space to make warm up?
space between pistes? (3meters is needed)
space between scoring machines and piste? (should be minimum 1m)

- I hate competitions without speakers or plasma tv
there are two good methods to communicate with people..
talk with them - use speakers! and someone who know how to use microphone!
or show everything on plasma tv in good time, and hold this time.. so whats a problem?
best solution.. both att once!

- I hate competitions without "finals"
its should be lite more "prestige" more spectacular... is it so hard to present quarter or semifinalist and referies?
is it so hard to arrange final pist?
Yes I know usually there is no publicity on competitions.. but how to invite them if there is nothing nice to see?

- I hate competitions without prizes and podium
usually competitions has winners.. so winners should be on podium att the end of competitions, so easy... not bench with sticker 1,2,3... podium!
I always wonder if those who arrange competitions thing sometimes what a shit they give as a price?
It they would like to get it?
if you have no idea for prizes.. please ask fencers in your club...
football socks on fencing competitions are not the most wantet prize..

- I hate when is to many competitions :)
hate it, especially if some "important" national competitions with 30 fencers overlap with good international competitions with 2 poule and DE with repechage and 200 fencers

Is it so hard to look on international calendar first and then make national calendar?

hate it especially when few quite good internationall competitions and nationall competitions are just week after week, who can afford it?

hate it especially when competitions has a stupid date.. just after some holidyas or something

So, its seems that I hate competitions... no I love it, Im just disapointed when is not working!
Unfortunatelly Swedish competitions are quite on top those bad.. BUT there are people in Sweden who "know how".. "they know their things" as Silvo Forrel said (about him little later)
Just so,
I would like to inform:

Its possible to arrange quite big competitions during one day, or make it much more fun during two days
Its possible to arrange final presentations, podium, prizes
Its possible to arrange quite good food during competitions

And yes, its not easy, and usually its not cheap to make it... but If someone travel 500km for national competitions pay for 2 night in hotel, referies, etc.. its no big deal to pay maybe 5-10 euro more for entry fee and require good competition!

One more thing, if someone arrange fencing competition to make money... already lose

Magic people... Fencing people!

Everyone has friends, (I hope!)... I can be quite boring, but I have only "fencing friends".
Yes I have friends from elementary school, childhood, high school or university..but there are friends.. and "friends".

For me its f...g big difference when you know people.. and when you can call them friends.
I know thousand of people, but I havent to many friends..
Maybe it depends of my character, maybe its not so easy to be friend with me.
Maybe I dont want to have many friends..

There are few people I would like to present.
People who here in far, far away Sweden do some fencing.. not always like me, but beauty of fencing is that enyone can do fencing on his own way, and it can work pretty well.

I love fencing, and I have great respect to people who work with fencing, almost all of them.
So, please meet "my" Magic people,  "my" Fencing people.. here in Sweden.. my pack!

I need to start with Pawel Mancewicz, because its actually his fault that Im here (long story!)

 

Pawel "Mancek" is coming from Poland, from same city as me, from same club as me (Budowlani Torun), Hi was already national team epee fencer when I tried to be good in foil. Not as regular epee fencer, Pawel is also dangerous in foil! Hi is also FIE referee.. in foil.

Hi is a "Mrs Fencing" on Gotland island. Working as a coach and PE teacher.

Master degree in PE and fencing coach from AWF Katowice - "produced" by famous prof. Czajkowski.

His wife is an angel, if Pawel is "quite" impulsive, Ewa is totally opposite to him.

His two soons, Bartek and Mikolaj already fence, with quite good results. It can be quite loud about Bartek, Mikolaj can be another Zlatan too.

The best with Pawel is that we can call to each other and tell everything with many "kurwa" between.

 

 

Orvar "Maestro" Jönsson. The Old Fox, actually in my opinion the last one of those "classical fencing masters", the last one in Sweden, the last Swedish who got my great respect. Great Experience. Great passion.. to golf and his dog. Live in Malmö and working there, also as a PE teacher in High School. Orvar is Swedish Fencing Federations board member. I love old stories, and Orvar knows "few".

 

 

Pierre Thulberg, champion of diplomacy. Actually hi is a general secretary in Swedish Fencing Federation now, and I have great expectations to him on this position. Pierre know fencing well as a DT on biggest competitions include Olympic Games. Many people know him, and hi knows many people. I like Pierre for many things, one of those most important is that hi understand that, we, here in Sweden, need to change a lot of things to be better. I just hope that Pierre will make it happen.

 Ivan Makkai. Most famous Swedish among Hungarians, and almost most famous Hungarian among Swedish (I think Bella Rerisch is still more famous hungarian). Epee coach from Stockholm, Djugården, educated in Budapest.

There is some kind balance in the world. Jang and Jing, if there is one impulsive coach like Pawel or me (but in this compare Im calm), there need to be another very calm. Ivan is calm. Hi likes fencing and do his jobb, quite good distans between life and work. Hi always find a time to go fishing. Hi can be world champion in fishing on fly among fencers. I heard that Ivan likes slavisk music and "burnt wine". All nice girls should notice that Ivan is still single.

 

Martin "Rektor" Roth Kronwall, the guy who beat Salvatore Sanzo when they were juniors. Working in Gothenburg with Henrik (about him later). Hi is like sport menager and help coach in club. Hi was a principal in High School, but love to fencing (and to us) was stronger than good sallary. So hi is teaching som wired subject like culture history in part time and rest of his time spend on fencing gym. Hi can be record holder if you count all nights hi slept in fencing club. Martin is also autor of book about "cold swimming houses in Sweden"... I have this book, even with autograph, but Im not ready yet to start reading it. I will tell you about it when it will be done.

 

 Henrik Lundegard is this guy you se always with Martin, and believe they are not togehter!. Henrik became a coach few years ago, try learn everything from everyone by himself and create his own fencing phylosophy. Great motivation and very good results so far. Hi is a head coach working with foil in Gothenburg. Actually Gothenburg is a only one fencing club in sweden with 3 coaches! Yes, I know its quite funny, but this is how it is in Sweden.. in my situation 100 kids.. 1 coach - part time paid, and its not a club foult, this is "swedish model" its quite interesting so I will write about it some day.

Henrik is a "made in sweden" product. Involved to his jobb, with own instinkt and not always good teoretical base. Unfortunatelly Sweden hasnt any national education for fencing coaches, there are just very simple instructor courses, so Henriks "by himself" way is correct. Who told us that coach need to have a master degree in sport since? Yes, I know all coaches from post comunistics countries have it. But Henrik is from Sweden. On other side Henrik is try to beat Pawel on "go carts" as I remember, so long without results.

 













Mariusz Zimmerman is another Coach coming from Poland and working here, in far, far away Sweden. We are almost like mafia here :)  Hi is the "silent" one. Hi never gets yellow or black cards, not like Pawel or me. Representing Muszkieter Gliwice and educate as Pawel on AWF Katowice produced by famous professor Czajkowski. Mariusz like Ivan has a great distans between work and life. I dont have, fencing - my work, my passion.. is my life. Its make me dangerous.

Mariusz is like catalyst you can talk with him like with Pawel, but without so many "kurwa, ja pierdole" I have a feeling that Mariusz can produce great fencers, questions is only if there are any candidates out there.. in Örebro?

 

Alexandr Siniak, the newest one in the pack. Hi came to Sweden two years ago from Minsk, and hi replaced me in Ängby Fencing Club. Because of my moving with quite big group of fencers and starting En Garde Fencing Club, hi started almost from begining in Ängby and his small ninjas are already on top in youngest category. I can speak polish with Pawel and Mariusz, and with Sasha I can still practice my russian, which is great, unfortunatelly Sasha want to practice swedish more often.

Sasha like go carts to!  We like to talk about fencing, similar ideas, similar fascination. All nice girls should note that as I know Alexandr is already taken, but you can always try.

 

I think that Im quite magic too.

 

 
As you can read in my profile, coming from Poland, Torun, educated on AWF Warszawa. Walking always his own ways. Always something to say, and say always what hi thinks. Quite active in Students Union during studies, if I cannot succe in fencing, I will be a politican, the orthodox one.

Black and white.. there is no grey.

Maybe black sheep, but I dont care. No others hobby than fencing, have no time. Actuall focused on En Garde Fencing Club - the dream which comes true. But there are few dreams more to come true.

 

 

So here we are. No girls this time.. because fencing is a sport for real man!

There are few more in Sweden working with fencing, but not so many, unfortunatelly. Hope it will change some day.

I need to apologize all my friends in other countries! You are great too, but I will write about you all next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extraordinary

Maybe its hard to believe but Fencing is a fight sport, not same as boxing, judo or MMA, but still fight sport. You are practicing and then you need to compare yourself with someone else.
Yes, YOU NEED TO COMPETE!
Practicing fencing without competition is like be a great painter and never show your painting to anyone.
I will wirte about it much more, soon.

There are many fencing competitions.
Different levels, different age category, different competitions formula, individuall and team.
Some are very good, some are not really good.
Im thinking most about everything around competitions.
Informations, Hotells, Transfers, Time schedulle, Prices, Finals Ceremony.
But I need to say that more and more competitions are better and better.

Since few years ago Cadetts can compete in European Cadett Circuit - really good initiativ.
I havent possibility to fence and collect expierence on those competitions.
I had only Junior World Cups, even when I was a cadett, so it was much harder to qualiffy among those 12 juniors, than like now among even 20 cadetts.

This season I was in Manchester and Halle, I couldnt be in Cabries, but now Im going to Warszawa.

It can be little commercial now, but competitions in Warszawa are really good!
I like those competitions, yeasterday I saw it on Warszawas undergrund:

 

Its means that people who arrange this competitions want this competitions be good, its means that they want to promote it and inform many others "come, and see this, its worth it"

 

Fencing can be very nice sport to watch, not so easy to understand, but I was 3 times on Challenge Insternationall de Paris, and I saw it, I dont know how many, 3000 people, maybe more watched quater, semi and finals.. and they knew when make some noise. Everyone paid 10 euro for it.

I saw in TV finals in Turin, finals in Paris on World Championships... no free place left.

 

So if you are not sure what to do 26 or 27 january 2013... come and see this!

For Fencers is still possible to register your entry!

Witold Woyda's Foil





Prizes are waiting!

how bad do you want it?

I would like to give you all possibility to watch one of my favorite You Tube clip!
Its about motivation to be succesfull.
Nice work out there, but more important is what they say during this video!
For those who has hard to concetrate and listen, below whole text!
Please note that there are 2 parts.

How bad you want it part 1

There was a young man, you know, who wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to this guru, right. And he told the guru you know I wanna be on the same level you are and the guru said if you wanna be on the same level I’m on, I’ll met you tomorrow at the beach.

So the young man got there 4 A.M. he already to rock n’ roll. Got on a suit should of wore shorts. The old man grabs his hand and said: How bad do you wanna be successful? He said: “Real bad”. He said: Walk on out in the water. So he walks out into the water. Watch this. When he walks out to the water he goes waist deep and goes like this guy crazy.

Hey ( ) I wanna make money and he got me out here swimming. I didn’t ask to be a lifeguard. I wanna make money he got me in – so he said come on a little further – walked out a little further – then he had it right around this area – the shoulder area – so this old man crazy – he making money but he crazy. So he said come on out a little further – came out a little further, it was right at his mouth – my man, I’m not about to go back in this guy is out of his mind. And the old man said: “I thought you said you wanted to be successful?” He said: “I do.” He said: “Then walk a little further.” He came, dropped his head in, held him down, hold him down, my man (kept scratching) hold him down, he had him held down, just before my man was about to pass out, he raised him up. He said: “I got a question for you.” He told the guy, he said: “When you want to succeed as bad as you wanna breathe than you will be successful.

I don’t know how many of you all got asthma here today? If you ever had a asthma attack before your short of breath S.O.B shortness of breath, you wheezing (breath sound) the only thing you trying to do is get some air. You don’t care about no basketball game, you don’t care about what’s on T.V., you don’t care about nobody calling you, you don’t care about a party. The only thing you care about when you trying to breathe is to get some fresh air. That’s it! And when you get to the point where all you wanna do is be is successful as bad as you wanna breathe then you will be successful. And I’m here to tell you that number one, most of you say you wanna be successful but you don’t want it bad, you just kind of want it. You don’t want it bad than you wanna party. You don’t want it as much as you want to be cool. Most of you don’t want success as much as you want sleep. Some of you lost sleep more than you lost success. And I’m here to tell you today, if your going to be successful you gotta be willing to give up sleep. You gotta be willing to work with 3 hours of sleep – 2 hours of sleep, if you really wanna be successful. Some day your gonna have to stay up 3 days in a row. Because if you go to sleep you might miss the opportunity to be successful. That’s how bad you gotta (inaudible)

You gotta go days without – LISTEN TO ME! You gotta want to be successful so bad that you forget to eat. My ( ) said say, once she was on the set doing her thang, three days had gone by and she forgot that she didn’t eat. Cause she was engaged. I never forget, I went, 50 Cent was doing his movie, I did a little research on 50 and 50 said: that when he wasn’t do the movie he was doing the soundtrack. And they said: “When do you sleep?” 50, and 50 said: “Sleep, sleep is for those people who are broke. I don’t sleep.” See I got an opportunity to make my dream become a reality. Don’t cry to quits. You already in pain, you already hurt. Get a reward from it. Don’t go to sleep until you succeed. Source: LYBIO.net Listen to me, I’m here to tell you today you can come here and and you can jump up – you can do flips and you can be excited when we give away money but listen to me, you will never be successful, I don’t have to give you a dime if you ( ) You won’t be successful until you say I don’t need that money cause I got it in here.

Only The Strong Survive.

How bad you want it part 2

So you thought it was the end of the story. (laughs) So you thought just because the student was willing to be obedient to the guru and not only wake up but meet him at the beach early in the morning. You thought that was enough. [knocking] Ah I got it. So you thought he was willing to walk out to the deep of the ocean that that was enough you because the guru placed his head under the water, pulled it out and taught him that the secret to success is wanting it as bad as you wanna breathe. So you thought that was the end of the story. You thought that one single event that one single moment was enough for him to stand amongst the greats to make his dream become reality. Well you thought wrong. In fact, it’s far from over. That was the easy part.

NOW – Now it’s time to redefine the grind. You thought it was over? Well it’s just getting started. See, this is the part. This is the part where life demands you make a life long commitment, this is the part where life demands that you make a vow come hail or high water, that you’re willing to pay the price the full fare where you earn your spot with effort, with sweat, with blood, with tears. And so you say, you want it as bad as you wanna breathe. Then it’s show time! It’s examination time. It’s time to get tested, to test your will, your endurance, it’s time to test your art, to test your limits. This is the art where you re-invent yourself.

Sleep. I don’t sleep. You thought that was it. It goes deeper than going without sleep because you might miss the opportunity to succeed. No, no, no it’s about no days off – no weekends, no holidays, no birthdays. Listen to me! No days off! No half days! No holidays! No snow day! It’s about gaining the competitive edge. It’s about separation. It’s about separating yourself from the pack, the competition. It’s about being a little faster, a little stronger.

Listen to me. A little faster than you were last year, last month, last week. In fact, you gotta be a little faster today than you were yesterday. And you can’t afford on the road to success, you can’t afford to make excuses. No excuses when you feel pain. And trust me, you will feel it. You gotta go deep deep down, beyond, beyond exhaustion, beyond (a workout) and when it’s harder than you imagined it would be, when it takes longer than you thought it would take and when the load is heavy than you thought you could bare and all you wanna do is give up and all you wanna do is give in, when you feel like you’ve given all you got, you gotta take one more step, you gotta run one more lap.

You gotta throw one more punch and disregard how much more does it take. You gotta fight back. You gotta fight a little harder. You gotta defeat disappointment, annihilate weakness and punish the competition. It’s about pushing yourself beyond the limits. It’s about perfecting the you, not just doing more, not just being better but finding your best. Listen to me. It’s more than you want it so bad than you wanna breathe that’s not enough, you gotta be willing to face every fear, climb every mountain, defy every odd, on-slot every obstacle, one step at a time, one day at a time, until you – only you are left standing – there’s no one else and there’s nothing in your way. Until you reach the top.