Spikes and Flats

PINE TERRACE COURT , 34786 - 34786 WINDERMERE/ISLEWORTH

2010-03-05T20:15:03Z

9532 Pine Terrace Court, Windermere, Florida, 34786, was my original address when I came to Florida in the 90s. When Tiger woods came to Florida in the 90s we shared the same zip code ( 34786 ). Despite the same zip geographical zip code, we were worlds apart in almost every other aspect of our life except one, and we will get to that later in this effort.

Lenny Vaz is my very dear friend and classmate from Plymouth High School, in "America's Hometown", Plymouth, Massachusetts. We graduated together ( 1952 ) and over the last decade or so have stayed in pretty close contact with each other. When the Tiger Woods sex thing first broke, Lenny called me and asked,

"Hey, what is your boy going to do now ? "

"What "boy" ? "

" You know damned well what boy ! Your neighbor, Tiger Woods. "

" Lenny, he's not my "boy". He's not my neighbor and I do not have a

clue what he is going to."

" What the hell do you THINK he's going to do now with all this s--t !"

" Lenny, I don't know what HE's going to do,...... but if it were ME, I

would take my billionaire ass, get on my 135 foot yacht with my family,

tell the captain to turn around when my wife says its time to return to

shore, and tell the rest of the world to kiss my black billionaire ass " !

" Jesus Christ !!!! Don't you think he owes people an explanation ? "

" No. "

" C'mon ! He's an idol and role model to everybody for Christ's sake !"

" Lenny, I never heard him profess and preach that he was someone the

rest of us should look up to as some sort of representative of goodness

and righteousness. As a matter of fact I have heard people complain

because he uses the "F" bomb on the course and criticize him because

he has NOT taken up causes and issues of righteousness and stuff."

" I still think he should let everyone know what really happened with all

this."

"WHY ?"

" To clear the air for Christ sakes ! "

" Lenny look, I am reading a very thick book called THE DEFENCE OF THE

REALM - The Authorized History of MI-5, by a guy named Christopher

Andrew. It is over a thousand pages long....."

" Am I supposed to be impressed because you are reading a book or

something ?"

"No, but dam it, you interupted before I got to the relevant part."

"RELEVANT part ? WHAT,.."relevant" part ?"

" The part on page 498 that reads, " We know of no spectacle so

ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality."

"What the hell does the British public have to do with Tiger Woods ?"

"Lenny, you missed the point."

"Yeah, really,....just what hell point was that ?"

" WE KNOW OF NO SPECTACLE SO RIDICULOUS AS THE BRITISH PUBLIC

IN ONE OF ITS PERIODICAL FITS OF MORALITY."

" Yeah, I heard you the first time. So ?"

"So substitute "American" for British and "press" for public"

" Hmmm,....I have to think about that."

I mentioned above that there was one area other than proximate geography, that Tiger Woods and I shared. It is the basic shared knowledge that people who perform extreme feats, in any area of human endeavor, have extreme needs for which they have to compensate and over compensate.. This is the matter and motivation underlying greatness and superior achievements. No well adjusted and "normal" person will willingly subject themselves to the stress and duress necessary to train and prepare for real greateness. People who do make these sacrifices have serious issues, and even demons, that they have to exorcise or otherwise address. That does not mean they are "bad" people, because many are able to express and exorcise their demons in a manner that we find acceptable and even laudable.. Some are able to channel the drive that comes from the demons in ways that we find attractive and praiseworthy, even socially and morally redeemable, but that does not negate the fact that the demons are there. It is only the manifestation that is different.

Next week, for example, I will be at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar. There are athletes that I personally and directly train who will be there and there are some that I quasi-consult about their training. No matter, at the end of the day, any of them who attain the podium, and most that do not, will minimally be driven by a clinical neurosis and/or clinical psychosis that "ordinary" people simply do not have. Again, this does not mean that they will act in a manner that grosses us out, or offends us, in many instances just the opposite is the case. But all too often

PINE TERRACE COURT , 34786 - 34786 WINDERMERE/ISLEWORTH

2010-03-05T20:13:57Z

9532 Pine Terrace Court, Windermere, Florida, 34786, was my original address when I came to Florida in the 90s. When Tiger woods came to Florida in the 90s we shared the same zip code, Windermere, Florida, 34786. Despite the same geographical zip code, we were worlds apart in almost every other aspect of our life except one, and we will get to that later in this effort.

"Hey, what is your boy going to do now ? "

"What "boy" ? "

" You know damned well what boy ! Your neighbor,.... Tiger Woods. "

" Lenny, he's not my "boy". He's not my neighbor and I do not have a

clue what he is going to."

" What the hell do you THINK he's going to do now with all this s--t !"

" Lenny, I don't know what HE's going to do,...... but if it were ME, I

would take my billionaire ass, get on my 135 foot yacht with my family,

tell the captain to turn around when my wife says its time to return to

shore, and tell the rest of the world to kiss my black billionaire ass " !

" Jesus Christ !!!! Don't you think he owes people an explanation ? "

" No. "

" C'mon ! He's an idol and role model to everybody for Christ's sake !"

" Lenny, I never heard him profess and preach that he was someone the

rest of us should look up to as some sort of representative of goodness

and righteousness. As a matter of fact I have heard people complain

because he uses the "F" bomb on the course and criticize him because

he has NOT taken up causes and issues of righteousness and stuff."

" I still think he should let everyone know what really happened with all

this."

"WHY ?"

" To clear the air for Christ sakes ! "

" Lenny look, I am reading a very thick book called "THE DEFENCE OF THE

REALM - The Authorized History of MI-5 ", by a guy named Christopher

Andrew. It is over a thousand pages long....."

" Am I supposed to be impressed because you are reading a book or

something ?"

"No, but dam it, you interupted before I got to the relevant part."

"RELEVANT part ? WHAT,.."relevant" part ?"

" The part on page 498 that reads, " We know of no spectacle so

ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality."

"What the hell does the British public have to do with Tiger Woods ?"

"Lenny, you missed the point."

"Yeah, really,....just what hell point was that ?"

" WE KNOW OF NO SPECTACLE SO RIDICULOUS AS THE BRITISH PUBLIC

IN ONE OF ITS PERIODICAL FITS OF MORALITY."

" Yeah, I heard you the first time. So ?"

"So substitute "American" for British and "press" for public."

" Hmmm,....I have to think about that."

Next week, for example, I will be at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar. There are athletes that I personally and directly train who will be there, and there are some that I quasi-consult about their training. No matter, at the end of the day, any of them who attain the podium, and most that do not, will minimally be driven by a clinical neurosis and/or clinical psychosis, the depth and breadth of which, "ordinary" people simply do not have. Again, this does not mean these athletes will act in a manner that grosses us out, or offends us, in many instances just the opposite is the case. But all too often we find some that publicly "fall off the wagon" and we go into another fit of self-righteousness and "ridiculous morality" concerning conduct for which the potential was always lurking just beneath the surface. This is not to say that we should excuse "bad" conduct, but we also need to spread the blame around when we encourage and fawn over the exploits of these very special people. The more we reward, recognize and applaud what these special people do, the more we empower them to do the things we find so reprehensible . The more empowered they become, the more likely they will allow their neurosis to take on psychotic manifestations. Then we see evidence of extreme needs being allowed to explode and spurt to the surface, resulting in something that we now hypocritically find repugnant and unacceptable. They have "gone too far".

They have offended our sensitivities and sensibilities. My response to this,... is this. If you want girls scouts and boy scouts, then look to girl scouts and boy scout troops. If you are seeking altar boys, then look in church. However, if you want altar boys and angels, do not look to those who perform extreme feats in any field or endeavor, because the one certainty is that you will ultimately be greatly disappointed.

Brooks T. Johnson

WHEN JOHN SMITH RAN INTO LITTLE WILLIE JOHN

2010-01-20T17:02:22Z

As stated in previous efforts, John Smith and I go back to 1967 when he was the Junior Olympic 400 meter champion and I presented him with his medal. Since then, as an athlete, he set the world record at 440 yards. As a coach he has had outstanding success working with Olympic champions and world record holders. If I have to detail all his accomplishments, it means you are not clued in and tuned in enough to get what follows anyway, so why bother ?

John and I talk an average of twice a week, and depending on what is hot, perhaps as much as three times a week. For both of us it is a form of venting about things that we want to keep semi-private, but at the same time feel the need to discourse about. Some times it is just a basic exercise in talking with someone who sees the sport from a perspective similar to your own. And,....if I were to be totally honest, we sometimes just gossip about whatever is juicey out there.

After a recent seminar at which he was asked to speak, John was pretty heated because he felt he was not being fully understood and his work was not fully appreciated.

Brooks, man , I am really teed off at some people.

So what else is new ?

No, man, I mean I am really angry at some stuff, really upset.

Really, what in the hell can that be ?

I did this presentation recently and afterwards I felt like I was raped.

John, who in the hell would want to rape you ?

That's not funny ! I'll have you know that a lot of people find me atrractive.

Then what is your issue ?

People liking you, and then have some other people try to "punk" you and take advantage of you is two different things.

Okay, point accepted and duly noted. So what ? What happened ?

I got the feeling that the people at the clinic were not really tuning into what I was trying to get across. They only got the surface stuff and never really got into the depth of what I was trying to put across. They did not understand the authenticity of what I was telling them. They did not get down into the nitty gritty of what I was explaining about our sport. On the other hand, they acted so smug and smart like they knew my stuff better than I did. It was like they were taking something from me and misinterpretting it all to hell, then acting like they invented it. When they talked to me about it, it was all phony and light weight.

John, that kind of stuff happens all the time.

Yeah !

Yeah ! Have you ever heard of Little Willie John ?

Little Willie John ? What the ......you talking about ?

Little Willie John was a Rhtyhm and Blues singer in the early and middle 50s.

One of his songs went like this:

"Meet me in the alley down behind the barn

Don't worry baby I'll do you no harm

We gonna rock, we gonna roll

I'm going to satisfy your soul"

So he was talking about having sex, right ? Did he get raped too ?

John you are missing the damned point.

Well just what the hell is the point then !

The music in those days was not as explicit as it is now and double entendre was the order of the day.

Double what ?

Double entendre. What you say has two meanings.

I've run into a lot of experts at that ----.

The point I am trying to make is Elvis Pressley Bill Haley, and lot of white singers tried to copy the black Rhythm and Blues singers and made "covers" of their records, like Elvis covered Big Willie Mae Thornton's " You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog " and made it into big hit. The music that black Rhythmn and Blues singers were performing was called "RACE" music by whites and when all these new white artists started to "cover" black songs, they could not call it "RACE" music so white people started to call it "ROCK and ROLL".

So a black Rhythmn and Blues code for having sex became the name of the new white music ?

Yep, and every time I think about that fact I grin inside because it reminds me of the messy mistakes we can make when we do not fully understand the origins and authenticity of what is being played out on us.

You know what ? That's what I was feeling after my lecture to these people. They did not understand what I was saying about coaching and training on the authentic level, but they took the shallow and surface stuff and ran with it. They really think they got it. They just did not take the time to look deep into what I was saying, but ran with the easy stuff.

John, you just met Little Willie John face on.

Brooks T. Johnson

[FWD: LENIN/ TROTSKY/GLEN MILLS - DIALECTIC BEDAMNED !!!!!]

2010-01-01T19:12:28Z

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: LENIN/ TROTSKY/GLEN MILLS - DIALECTIC BEDAMNED !!!!!
From: brooks@spikesandflats.com
Date: Fri, January 01, 2010 10:15 am
To: blog@spikesandflats.com

The last edition of this stuff was focused on how we too often get stuck in a time warp of arrested development and progress. Near the end I made a slovenly and lazy mistake. In making the point that Dawn Harper was arguably the 4th best 100 meter hurdler in Bobby Kersee's training group in 2008, yet she won the Olympic gold in 2008, I listed Michelle Perry as the 2008 gold medalist. This obvious mistake was immediately caught and commented on by the "Gotcha" Birds. Apologies to both Michelle and Dawn. Bobby had me work briefly with Michelle in 2004 at the U.S. Pre-Olympic training camp in Crete, when she was still a heptathlete on the U.S. Olympic Team and we have remained close every since. So I was fully aware of her accomplishments from 2004 onward. Now on with further development of the point I was trying to make in that overall effort.

The whole discussion centers around the fact that we all too often demand and expect too little from ourselves as coaches and athletes. This is all too often the fault of the coach who does not have sufficient confidence in him/herself to make the demands necessary on the athlete and the coach involved. Coaches often find a comfort zone and tend to remain static in that area for most of their career. We think that the present represents the ultimate and acceptable level of accomplishment and get stuck in a static time warp. As a rule, a coach will establish their level of competence within the first 5-7 years of their career. It is no coincidence that we see the same coaches in America providing the overwhelming majority of our Olympic medals. If you exit, Tom Tellez, John Smith and Bobby Kersee from the Olympiads of the 80s, and exclude Tellez, Clyde Hart, Bobby and John in 90s, plus take away Hart, Kersee, and Smith during the first decade of the 21st century our medal count drops to a totally unacceptable level. At the 2008 Olympics, athletes that Kersee and Smith coached were involved in slightly more than 33% of the total U.S. medal count. If you add athletes Clyde Hart coached, the tally is up over 50%. That is three coaches who account for more than 50% of the U.S. medal count !! With more than 40 Olympic events and more 100 U.S. Olympic athletes, these three produce 50% of the medals. At a recent convention of college coaches in Orlando, Florida, more than 1000 coaches were in attendance. The fact as few as 3 coaches can, and do, produce these figures speaks volumes about how much room and need the coaching cadre has for growth and real excellence.

All of the above named coaches have several things in common, but the most glaring and striking commonality is the fact that all of them have coached people to world records. That means at some point they have shrunk time and space down to the point where athletes they coached skipped over and became today what a lot of other athletes will achieve some time in the future.

I have often tried to make the point that track and field specifically, and athletics in general, can move forward expediently if we learn and benefit from the lessons and history of other fields of historic endeavor. In 1917, right in the middle of World War I, the Russian ( Bolshevists ) communists, led by Vladamir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, found themselves victorious over the royal czarist regime of Emperor Nicholas II. The Marxist/Hegelian doctrine and dogma ( DIALECTIC ) that Lenin/Trotsky and the communists/socialists were supposed to be strict and faithful adherents to, called for them to follow the historical and orthodox mandate of Dialetic Materialism. For Marx and Hegel it was an historical certainty that the revolutionary progress to the utopian society of communism/socialism, should/would in accord with the concept of Dialetic Materialism which for them was a historical fact and dogma. It goes as follows:

     ( 1 )At the beginning there would be a society based upon agrarianism

     and the exploited labor of those who worked the fields and farms

     ( 2 )The next phase of the dialetic would occur when the society became

     highly industrialized and the exploited workers would unite and rebel

     against the factory owners and the repressive government that supported

     it

     ( 3 )The united and exploited workers would overthrow the government

     and nationalize the industry and through the "dictatorship of the

     proleteriat", create a utopian democratic society that would extract "from

     each according to their ability" and give "to each according to their needs"

Under Marxist/Hegelian rendering of inevitable history, this was an irrefutable dogma and doctrine. Lenin, as the leader of a revolutionary movement that supposedly subscribed and adhered to strict Marist/Hegelian theory, in October of 1917 found himself in a very difficult spot. If he were to strictly adhere to Marx and Hegel, he would be bound to allow the second of the three phases of Dialetic Materialism, namely a highly industrialized society, to come into place and wait for the united workers to rebel against the exploitive industrialists to establish the utopian socialist state. As it turns out, Lenin was not about to adhere to what was dictated and mandated by orthodox dialectic doctrine. He was not about to relinguish power and control and allow Russia to evolve into a democratic capitalist, industrial society. His expedient doctrine and reinterpretation was to "Telescope History". Namely, he was going to compress history is such a way as to make the independent and stand alone middle phase unnecessary. The industrial phase and the socialism phases would be merged into one, negating the need to turn over control to industrialists and capitalists. He essentially took what was supposed to be an orthodox, three phase process, and reduced it into a two phase process, saving time and effort and his rule.

Coincidentally this is essentially the same process we have seen with some successful coaches and athletes, especially in the sprint events. The orthodox litany as far as foot action was: ( 1 ) Touchdown, ( 2 ) Support, ( 3 ) Pushoff. The "front side" mechanics as practiced by Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene was based upon shortening the process. This meant combining and compressing phase #2 and #3 into one action rather than two. This meant less elapsed time on the running surface. This resulted in reduced contact time on the surface and a faster overall time for the event, and dominance of the event by the best of thsoe who could "telescope" the process .

Glen Mills, who coaches Usain Bolt, like Lenin/Trotsky defied the orthodox . In the past it was pretty much ordained that good Jamaican sprinters ( Donald Quarry, Billy Miller, Merlene Ottey, Veronica Campbell, Berton Cameron, etc. ) would matriculate to the U.S. for school and training. Glen Mills was one of those who led the way away from that orthodoxy in terms of keeping the good Jamaican talent on the island and developing it there. But more important, he was able to see beyond the current orthodoxy as it related to performance. His mind and imagination took charge and control of the moment and found a way to compress and telescope performances that we will see often in the future, to being unique and special for today. He was able as a coach to make the necessary demands on Bolt to perform in a futuristic fashion today instead of waiting for tomorrow. Like Lenin, he had a once in a life time opportunity thrust upon him. He could "go with the flow" or he could seize the opportunity and turn it into something historic. It is clear that the results he has attained are more successful than Trotsky's and communism turned out to be, but the creative seizing of the initiative and opportunity are parallel. He has been able to shrink and compress the time it takes to get to sub 9.6 for the 100 meters and sub 19.30 for the 200 meters. He has been able to successfully bypass the hubris and gravity of orthodoxy and fully exploit the talent he has been given rather than allowing it to wallow in mediocrity. He has been able reach out and grasp for today what is promised and supposed to take place tomorrow. That opportunity to shred time is out there for every coach and athlete in the sport on one level or another.

In order to overcome the inertia that keeps us bound too much to the present, track coaches and track athletes need to look and see things around them outside of the sport that have a direct bearing on their quest for excellence and success within the sport. There are lessons and beacons to guide and support us,.... all around us. The one thing we can not do is to rely upon "common knowledge" and the dialetic dogma that currently dominates most of the sport. The saying that " The Future Is Now" is most accurate when applied to our sport and what is possible and doable within it. "Coaches Unite" and throw off the chains of mediocrity should be our chant and mantra, and until that happens, then the Smiths, Kersees, and Harts will continue to account for a disproportionate amount of our Olympic and World and Championship medal count, and the Glen Mills of the world will out Lenin us. For three of them to make such an inordinate contribution to our overall success at the Olympics and World Championships speaks volumes. Our new mantra and chant should be " Track coaches of America unite and throw off the shackles of mediocrity". But this will not happen unless we develop a broader base of demand, expectation, and confidence. We will not develop these things unless we look outside our sport for guidance and inspiration.

May 2010,....... indeed be a NEW YEAR !!!!!

Brooks T. Johnson

KEEPING IT REAL !!!!!............REALLY ?

2009-12-24T19:52:20Z

Growing up in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the early 40s through the early 50s was a very special experience for a black male who had started life in the deep South ( Florida ). There are many things that experience that influenced and impacted my life, but the one thing I want to focus in on now is the fact that if you were black and could place one foot in front of the other without falling down, it was assumed that you were going to excel at sports. Being a black male that desperately wanted to "fit in" and "integrate" I allowed myself to be swept up in the demands and expectations of others. But there were even limits on the degree that I would totally comply and conform. I insisted on being the quarterback on the football team and the point guard on the basketball team. These positions were typically, and almost totally, reserved for white athletes who it was assumed were "smarter" than black athletes who were, of course, more "natural". Refusing to give into the typecasting was my quiet method of rebellion and revolt and the cause of my not staying with football and basketball when I went off to college where the quarterback and point guard positions were strictly off limits for blacks. But this is really not a "race" piece it has to do with the fact that I centered and focused my energies on track and field because I had to deal with less prejudice and could/would deal more intimately with raw reality. At its core, track and field is very cold, objective, and real. You either ran 10 flat,.... or you didn't. There is no room for excusing subpar results because of the failures of others who did not do their job. The line didn't block, or the point guard didn't get me the ball at the right time, are the kinds of excuses than can be offered in sports where we depend on others to make us look good. In track and field it is you against the science of the sport. The science of the sport is cold and without compassion. Sir Isaac Newton really does not care what your gender, color, or heritage happens to be. You either effectively applied force ( mass x acceleration ) in the right amount, and at the right angle or you didn't. There really is no in-the-middle, or "grey areas". Reality and objectivity cuts to the bone,.... and excuses do not cut it at all. Lauryn Williams lost the 100 meters at the 2007 World Championships by one thousandth of a second. It gets down to something as finite and definite as that. Where is the wiggle room ?

Too many of us ( coaches and athletes ) get too deeply involved in chasing the ghosts in the sport. We are too prone to make allowances and excuses for not measuring up to expectations and demands for excellence. We create and generate "boogey men" and ghosts to medicate and sedate ourselves against the harsh reality of failure or less than satisfying success. What a grand waste !!! Too many of us make ourselves too comfortable and complacent,... wallowing and basking in the hot tub of mediocrity. Why so harsh an assessment and accusation ? Because the reality involved in making excuses never leads to real excellence and total potential realization and accomplishment. Coaches and athletes both are often guilty of finding ways to deny themselves very attainable and doable deeds because they refuse to grasp and grapple with the difficulty that comes with accepting raw reality and the challenges that comes from this acceptance.

What is the justification and explanation for so harsh an accusation against the practitioners and participants of our sport ? It is staring and glaring right at us. It is presented to us with startling clarity and consistency, yet most of us refuse to recognize this reality for what it is. Up until 2008, anyone running 10 seconds for the 100 meters was considered to have "made the cut" for excellence. Anything under 9.8 seconds for the 100 meters was considered very fast. At least that was the case until Usain Bolt, bolted to 9.69 in his fourth race over a two day period at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China,... making it look like child's play and ridiculously easy. This fell on the heels of Tyson Gay running 9.68 windy at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In 2009, Tyson was able to improve on his 9.68 windy despite the fact that he had a serious sports hernia. So what does Tyson's and Bolt's times indicate,... especially when we consider the circumstances under which they achieved them ? They simply make the statement that what seems almost unattainable today ( the world record, for example ),....becomes ordinary tomorrow. It is just a question of time. The world record holder compresses time down and gets there before the rest of us. At some time in the future very ordinary people will equal what was considered unattainable and extra ordinary in the past. But only coaches and athletes that are willing to take on this reality will make that quantum leap NOW, rather than at some comfortable time in the future. Marilynn Neuville from Jamaica held the world record for 400 meters at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany at 51 seconds flat. Novlene Williams, also from Jamaica, ran sub 50 seconds in her semi-final and final 400 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany and finished 4th !!!

So the attraction of track and field for me is the cold hard, harsh, nasty reality that we do not have to "hold open" positions for certain people ( black people in certain events and whites in others ). What an insufferable insult to the science involved in what we do. We do not have to hold back in our demands and expectations on the coaches and athletes that are participating within the sport. What we have to do is to "keep it real" and not compromise and accept mediocrity. We should not complain because the demands are so high for now. We have to realize that the pain of failure is not the same as defeat. Failure is food for success when properly seen and understood. What we need to do is to embrace and celebrate what is yet out there to be accomplished and the accompanying difficulties and hurt that maybe involved in achieving it .

One of the people I admire most in the sport is Bobby Kersee. Bobby coaches his people to win. I have heard too many coaches and athletes talk about how great it would be to make the finals. Kersee has one goal, and one goal only and that is that the athletes he coaches be the best they can be. The high level of expectations and demands he makes on athletes he coaches was manifested in the results of the 2008 Olympic 100 meter hurdles for women. In 2008 Bobby was working with four female hurdlers:

Joanna Hayes - 2004 Olympic Champion

Michelle Perry - 2008 Olympic Champion

Virginia Powell - 2007 NCAA Champion and U.S. National Team member.

Dawn Harper - NCAA All-American from UCLA

Harper, who most considered the fourth hurdler in her training group, won the 2008 Olympic Games ! Why ? Because he only coaches athletes to win at the highest level no matter their standing and status within the training camp. All the athletes he coaches are treated equally in that they are all expected to perform at the highest levels no matter what. No compromises, no excuses, just the raw reality that it is out there to achieve.

Get out your performance telescope and squeeze the two ends together,...... and let reality take over.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Brooks T. Johnson

JOHN SADE MEETS ERROL GARNER

2009-12-07T17:34:53Z

John Sade was a hurdler at the St Albans School for Boys in the middle 70s. St Albans School is a preparatory school located in Washington, D.C. I was the track coach there. My first year there Al Gore was our #1 discus thrower before going off to Harvard and later the White House. I had Teddy Kennedy Jr. in a political science class I taught. In many ways it was a second generation distillation of political power in Washington,...and that was the reason I was there, but that is a subject for another time. In a recent visit on the phone John and I were discussing the training philosophy and approach I used while there. We talked about how jazz and music interacted with my coaching methods. There were also references to previous efforts there as how jazz and coaching track and field are connected and relevant to each other. This has been a regular question and inquiry after each time I try to make the point that a coach can get more out of observing and understanding what serious artists are doing than most coaches in their field. My art form of choice is jazz.

John was one of those young athletes that "got it". By that I mean there was an ability to grasp new things with a minimum of effort . That was because, like all of the other students at St Albans, he was very bright to begin with. However, what distinguished him was the lack of bourgeois bigotry that often resides within those who already see themselves as the "best and brightest". This represents an explanation to him that would have perhaps best been done 35 years ago, but then I was too busy "preparing" America for democoracy. Since I failed so utterly and miserably, this is the least I can do to catch up.

Right now I am listening to Errol Garner's CONCERT BY THE SEA recording. In many ways it represents the best example of what I mean when I say there is a direct connection between jazz music and coaching. The kind of jazz I prefer is relatively direct and basic. Typically and traditionally, a composer of a song will sit at a piano and work out the righthand melody and then backfill with lefthand chords that are in harmony with, and complement, the melody. The jazz musician reverses this process. He plays the lefthand chord changes and develops a new right hand melody to fit the chord changes. For me the left hand chord changes represent the basic science, knowledge, experience and expertise that a coach must possess as regards the sport in question. It is basic and constant and provides a foundation for the right hand to improvise and create, while at the same time remaining consistent with the chord changes. In a typical jazz trio the bass player also works within the harmonc structure of the chord patterns and lays down a deep and harmonic anchor for the group. The drummer, is responsible for keeping the time and tempo accents,......rhythm. The bass player also works this area as well keeping both rhythm and harmonic chord structure in play. The drummer and the rhythm represent for me the tempo at which both coaching and conditioning must be based. The actual track and field event itself must take on some sort of rhythmic relevance as well as harmonious movement. There are times when the emphasis has to be deep and syncopated and there are times when it needs to be subordinated to the melody and get out of the way of what the right hand is trying to do. The various interchanges between the soloist's drive and creativity with the bass and drums make for a very interesting and intriguing mix that can inspire, motivate, and elevate.

Errol Garner opens up CONCERT BY THE SEA ( Carmel, California ) with what is for me the classic format and formula that I see existing between jazz and coaching. He opens with a very strong and rich chord pattern, making a statement about what the basic left hand chord changes are. Then he segues into the melody which turns out to be " I'll Remember April ". He pushes and surges with rich and strong base line chords ringing out and punctuating the process, while at the same time with his right hand he punches and pulsates his own melody that falls into perfect harmony with what he is doing with his left hand. The whole thing is very heavy on the syncopation and rhythm accents and the whole thing just swings and jams in a very heavy handed, but melodious fashion. If I hand to make a comparison in the sport of track and field, I would say that on that tune Errol Garner was playing the piano the way Maurice Greene ran the 100 meters. There are short powerful thrusts,... bold, direct and distinct. With this show of rhythmic power and force there also co-exists a flow and fluidity that is compelling, much like Dayron Robles and David Oliver demonstrate in the hurdles.

Errol Garner is easy to follow and enjoy because his style is so direct and "in your face" in many ways. He stays pretty much within the jazz formula as outlined above. But one style does not fit all. Ahmad Jamal used to play in Chicago at the Pershing Lounge at Cottage Grove, just south of 63rd Street. Down in the basement of this building ( Pershing Hotel ) was a club called The Birdland. This was where all the rhythm and blues/do-wop groups would perform. Upstairs in the lounge Ahmad Jamal held forth. We would alternate sets between watching the rhythm and blues groups in the basement and going upstairs to catch Ahmad. There was no apparent contradictory in doing so because we could hook up and connect the basic values contained in both forms of music. In addition, across and up the street Gene Ammons and Jack McDuff would be holding forth at McKey's Lounge, while at 49th and Drexel Miles Davis would be blowing with Coltrane at the Sutherland lounge. On 43rd Street off of South Park, at Smitty's Corner, we could drop in and hear Memphis Slim, Guitar Red and Lil Walter, while at 35th and South Park Muddy Waters would have his mojo working. The point is we were able to find a compelling common denominator and connection between all of these different forms of expression and they were judged and evaluated based upon the reailty and relevance of their message, rather than getting hung up on the superficiality of form and style.

As Errol Garner reminds me of Maurice Greene, Dayron Robles and David Oliver, Ahmad Jamal reminds me of Allyson Felix. Miles Davis was very impressed with the way in which Ahmad used space in his music. He never appeared to be in a hurry, yet because of his unrushed style he was able to swing in a manner unequaled by other piano players. Miles was once heard to say of Ahmad, " Man, that mother------ is swining after three notes !" Ahmad's signature hit was "Poinciana" and in listening to it you can appreciate what Miles was so impressed with. There are long, syncopated strides within the music, but there is never anything frantic or frenetic about rhythm and improvisation. The drums and bass lay down a syncopated foundation that is repeated over and over again, puttin you in a modal frame of mind. At the same time Ahmad is light in his touch, but driving all at the same time with an unerring emphasis and time and beat. It is very intersting to hear the original "Poinciana" of the Chicago days and his latest release of the same tune. In it are subtle and definitive changes that manifest the fact that all great artists grow and develop, even in their seminal and basic style and essence.

It is through having the opportunity to indulge at my own leisure and pleasure these various and seeming diverse forms of expression that I arrived at the conclusion that all art and expression, when manifested at the highest levels, have common threads of relativity and connectivity running through them. Being able to shamelessly immerse myself and my curiosity into the very depths of what these talented and gifted people were doing right before my eyes provided me with an openness and receptivity that resulted in a slant and approach that allowed me to think that the very best at any endeavor basically work with the same fundamental factors. First the science and knowledge must be mastered and fully in place. Then comes the motivation and drive to be the very best. This is followed up by developing the ability to be creative and improvise based upon the science and knowledge gained as measured against the existing reality with which the artist has to deal. The defining and refining factor is the ability to be creative enough to get to the very core and essence of something while at the same making it appear to be as easy and as natural as Tiger's swing, Felix's stride, or Miles' muted horn.

For those interested enough to start this journey and inspection anew, start with Errol Garner , through Ahmad, Miles and beyond.

Brooks T. Johnson

FAILURES' SECRETS

2009-11-15T18:41:40Z

Anyone who enjoys success within the sport of track and field, just as it is with just about any other activity or profession, has to be able to juggle certain dualities. There always exists the need to be able to mesh and blend ART with SCIENCE. There is a need to understand and exploit NATURE and apply proper NURTURE in a timely and persuasive manner. When speaking of elite competitive efforts and human limits-challenging performances, there are other dualities that must be mastered and properly

understood. What follows is a litany of examples of how I failed miserably in observing the above and other dualities that I will outline in greater detail.

One of the first things I share with athletes with whom I am working is the fact that a significant part of my job in assisting them to ever higher levels of success is to make sure they avoid the mistakes and disasters I have seen athletes and coaches make over the last fifty years I have been involved in the sport at the elite level. At the very top of the class of classic screw-ups and mistakes,..... is your truly. Since I have been involved in such a large number of blunders, it makes me eminently better prepared to avoid them and thus do a much better job of coaching them.

One of the most important dualities and differences that must be observed has to do with mental profiles of athletes and coaches. For example, athletes tend to fall into GOAL centered and/or TASK centered mindsets. Goal centered athletes have as their primary focus and concern achieving a certain goal. The methodology and process is of secondary and tertiary concern. For them the reward is the sense of getting there first,.. and simply tolerating the processes involved in getting there. Very often task centered athletes get a great deal of satisfaction from the process itself. This is often the case with middle and long distance runners. Often times for them the process of running itself provides them with a grat deal of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment and this can often times diminish the need they have to "win". Years ago while Director of Track and Field/Cross Country at Stanford University I was fortunate to have two very talented female athletes who basically ran the same events. Patti Sue Plumer came from Montrose, Colorado as an unheralded and unscholarshipped athlete. Regina Jacobs came from Southern California with across-the-board credentials, after having qualified for the semi-finals of the 1980 Olympic Trials as a junior in high school. Let me establish at the outset, I am predominantly goal oriented and often get bored and impatient with the processes required to accomplish elite performances. It represents a constant internal battle for me, often finding me leaning too much in one corrective direction, which then requires an opposite corrective action. Patti Sue Plumer was very much like me. What she wanted to do was to "get after it" and get to the finish line first. So our training sessions were almost always slanted toward that psyche and that end. Regina Jacobs, at that time, was very task based and centered. She did not want to know who was in the race. What she wanted to do was to have the process and task outlined for her. To that end I would say, "Regina, go out in 63/65, come through the 800 at 2:08/2:10, hold on for the third lap in the 67 range, and kick the last 300 as hard as you can. Do NOT worry about who is in the race. Just run these splits and the result will take care of itself." To Patti Sue I would say, " Patti, that is the bitch to beat. Stay with her until a lap to go and kick her ass.". In her case I wanted to portray the competition as personal and the chief competition was a "bitch" and therefore deserving of the asswhipping we had in mind. I wanted her to see the opposition on a personal level, that was potentially positioned to take something of personal value from her. The idea was to get it down to a one-on-one struggle and have her personally triumph over someone seeking to take away the recognition and rewards she had worked so hard to achieve. With Regina, on the other hand, I wanted to make the race as non-personal and dispassionate as possible. Just stay with the objective game plan, do the task, and do not worry about the persons and personalities in the race.

Despite the fact that my race tactics and strategies for them may have been correct, the training was too much slanted to ultimate goal orientation and less toward the process and task orientation. This favored Patti Sue, but handicapped Regina. In order to be fairer to Regina, I should have included much more focus on her form and technique . Patti Sue already had what I felt was excellent mechanics, so all we had to do was to strengthen her in order to more effectively apply her naturally good mechanics. Regina had great inherent strength, but her mechanics were not as efficient and sound as they should have been. So when she mildly pushed back about mechanical changes I happily went along, and focused on goal focused training. After a while Regina realized on a subconscious level that the training she was getting was not inherently best for her. After graduating Stanford, she found someone who understood her needs and did a better job of making sure they were properly addressed. Patti Sue had been an Olympic finalist in 1988 at 3,000 meters and an Olympic finalist at both the 1,500 and 3,000 in 1992. She was ranked #1 at 3,000/5,000 in 1990. Regina Jacobs was ranked #1 in the world approximately 10 years later. Despite my desire for both of them to do exceptionally well at the elite level, I was not able to completely get out of my own way. By that I mean that I was not able to completely overcome my own personal psyche and mental orientation in order to train both athletes properly. By giving into my basic NATURE I was unable to properly NURTURE an athlete who had a mindset not consistent with my own. I applied the proper ART of coaching in developing strategies that worked for them, but did not evenly apply the SCIENCE to training due to my own personal preferences.

It is more than obvious and clear that in the diverse sport of track and field, that " one size fits all " is definitely NOT the way to go. There has to be accomodations made for the inherent psyche and competition comfort zones of each athlete. The NATURE and NURTURE dichotomy, the ART/SCIENCE symbiosis are constantly bearing down on us. How we handle these and exploit these more often than not determine the ultimate outcome in competitive athletes and athletics. As we mix and match these critical elements of success we have one principal factor that we must keep uppermost in our work. Athletes do not compete well outside of their own personal comfort zones. No one functions for very long at 100%. The definition of INJURY is TWO efforts in a row at 100%. Therefore to ask an athlete to, " give 110%" is on its face counterproductive and stupid. Something less than 100% is therefore the comfort zone of the athletes and they more or less settle into that during their event. The problem comes when we get athletes who have a comfort zone that is less than task, or race pace and therefore have trouble performing for long at that rate. Recently in talking with the athletes I currently coach I shared the following with them:

Gang, when I was at Stanford University I had athletes that would scratch, claw, perhaps do personal injury if they felt they

were getting a grade less than they deserved. The level of academic competitive zeal and demands they placed on

themselves were often well above Olympic level. However, when they got on the track, their comfort zone for performance

was some times less. So what we had to do was to work them in such a fashion in training that equalled the work load they

were used to in academics. It was not that they had a lack of competitive drive, in most cases it was the fact that we did

not stress them in ways that would allow their comfort zones in track and field equal task or race pace. When we were

successful in doing that, they competetd very well against all comers.

The reason I am sharing this with you is because some of you fall into the same category as the athletes I worked with at

Stanford. You all have very high competitive zeal in the final analysis, but in some cases I have not been coaching you to

the point where your comfort zone equals race pace. However, some of you exceed the race pace demands based upon

your training because you have a high level competitive comfort zone. When you relax and fall back into a race mode, you

do not fall back as fall as those with a lower comfort zone level and tolerance. People like David Oliver and Xavier Carter

have a natural competitive stress tolerance that allows them to compete in what is a comfort zone that is higher than

normal. On the other hand, those of you who do not have that, we have to train in such a manner that accounts for that

difference. That means we have to train at levels of stress that far exceeds what race pace requires. Once you have

adjusted to the newer and higher levels of stress, then when you drop off into your comfort zone you are right at race pace

and therefore have energy and reserves necessary to dominate the critical zone at the end of your race. What we have here

is the age old problem of how we combine NATURE and NURTURE. In some cases I have failed in not demanding and

asking enough of some of you in training to allow you to revert to your comfort zone and still be at race and performance

pace. That will change. We are going to increase both the velocity and volume stresses on you. But before we can do that

effectively, we need to make sure you have the mechanics and efficient technique necessary to handle the higher loads

without breaking down. But make no mistake about it,....... we are going to work much harder than ever !!!

There was a chorous of groans, but they all knew we had just addressed another one of failures' secrets.

Brooks T. Johnson

HOW THE WORLD'S #1 TRACK AND FIELD TEAM MORPHED INTO A TRAIN WRECK

2009-11-13T16:34:40Z

Friday, November 13, 2009

True to the superstition,...for some of us Friday the 13th turned out to be a bad news day. THE NEW YORK TIMES newspaper ran a story today headlined, " Tagliabue to Lead Panel On Structure of U.S.O.C. ". For some of us intimately connected to U.S.A. Track and Field this is a pathetic paradox. For years we fought against U.S.A. Track and Field being restructured along the very same lines as the U.S.O.C.. with the threat of decertification by the USOC being used as a prod and threat against us . We were met with all sorts of accusations of being reluctant and recalcitrant to change. We were accused of being divisive, disruptive, dysfunctional and dangerous within the board of U.S.A. Track and Field. We were labeled as being adversarial and non-colleagial as we fought against the internal efforts by USATF board leadership - Bill Roe, president and Lynn Cannon, secretary who lead the charge and external efforts by USOC CEO, Jim Scherr , Steve Roush, USOC Competitive Performance Head, and Jay Warwick Sports Partnership liaison to USATF.

The debate within the USATF board got to be so animated and heated it was determined that we needed to get a reading from a source that accurately reflected the wishes of the USOC. The USOC constitution makes it very clear that policy and philosophy of that group rests with the board and that the USOC staff has the responsibility for implementing what the board decides. To that end, we ( Stephanie Hightower, current USATF president, John Chaplin, Men's Sports Committe Chair, Bill Roe, then president of USATF, and me, Chair of the High Performance Division of USATF ) arranged a meeting with Peter Uberroth who was then the president of the board of the USOC. The discussion was wide ranging and covered topics of mutual interest and concern. What was obvious from talking with Uberroth was the fact that there existed a disconnect between what the board wanted and advocated and what was coming from the staff people at the USOC, through Scherr, Roush, and Warwick ( all of whom met early demises and were dismissed after the 2008 Olympics. I often wondered if this was some sort of "chickens coming to roost" thing)) down to the National Governing Bodies like USATF. What was also obvious and clear was the fact that certain people within USATF who were intent on pushing "restructuring" had fallen under the spell of the USOC staff. They often stressed the urgency of USATF being more amenable to reinventing itself along the lines mandated and dictated by the USOC staff . These USATF supplicants to the USOC held out that if we did not, then the USOC would have grounds to "decertify" USATF. It was obvious from Uberroth's responses to decertification that he did not share the sentiments of the USOC staff and the echoes coming from certain USATF leaders. When asked about what constituted the grounds for decertification he replied:

The NGB ( National Governing Body ) would have to be guilty of serious offenses like embezzlement or serious

malfeasance, or some other such grave offense. There is no one size fits all. Each NGB should be free to determine for

itself how it is structured and generally be free from interference by the USOC staff.

USATF was not guilty of any of the offenses he identified as grounds for decertification. Yet certain people on the board ignored this and repeatedly cited the threat of decertification as the reason why USATF had to move immediately toward "restructuring". When reminded what Uberroth had said, there were efforts by board members to minimize the significance of what he said.

When asked about the size of boards of NGBs, he responded

Size should reflect the constituent groups that comprise the sport. There is no magic number. USATF has 29/30 members,

whatever reduction in size should be left to USATF not USOC staff.

When further queried and pinned down about the size and shape of the board along the lines of the USOC board, he responded:

Honestly, we are not certain that our current board structure is even the best design for us. How can we dictate that it be

the model for NGBs ?

Today's article in THE NEW YORK TIMES echoes much of what Uberroth shared with us way back in October of 2006. The article states, " The board of the United States Olympic Committe has appointed Paul Tagliabue, the former N.F.L. commissioner, to lead an independent panel that will examine whether the board ........ should change its structure." Tagliabue's panel is to look into, "...assessing the size, structure, and operating practises of the USOC board." It further states, "...the work of a similar independent panel appointed in 2003 initially proposed reducing the size of the Olympic committee's board to 11 from 125. Some who served on the panel say the changes have had unintended consequences including limiting input from constituent groups and favoring outsiders with little Olympic experience."

These are exactly the circumstances that USATF finds itself facing right now. The new board is composed of 15 members, reduced from 29/30, with a significant number being mandated "independents" . In speaking to this aspect of the USOC board in the THE NEW YORK TIMES article, Harvey Schiller a member of the original 2003 panel, and formerly a leader within the USOC governance states, " .....too few members of the USOC board have Olympic experience." Starting with the CEO of USATF, the very same can be said for the board of USATF. The outcry and intense criticism about the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympic bid was centered around the fact that the people at both the USOC and the Chicago Olympic 2016 bid organization, did not know the Olympic culture, nor had strong ties and alliances within the Olympic movement, and thus were embarassingly ambushed and bushwhacked in the first round of voting. The USATF CEO joined in and echoed the very same criticism about Chicago and the USOC, stating that they did not have the expertise and knowledge of sport necessary to have a chance at winning the bid. This, while at the same time having publicly admitted at his selection as CEO of USATF, that he "...knows virtually nothing about track and field." Despite having admitted this, he has proposed legislation and amendments that would shift all significant decision-making power and authority to himself, and away from the various volunteer groups within USATF, totally ignoring the expertise and knowledge accumulated over the years by these people, in favor of him being able to supplent them with little or no intimate knowledge of what they do and the best way to do it.

Albert Einstein once stated that the definition of IGNORANCE , "....was expecting to get a DIFFERENT outcome from the SAME methodology.". What USATF has within its midst in a run away train that is going to end in the same kind of train wreck as the USOC and Chicago, as it tries to follow and emulate the USOC model.

Move over Albert, there's a train heading this way !!!

Brooks T. Johnson

MR. NEVER-NEVER & ROPE-A-DOPE

2009-11-10T20:37:19Z

1940 - CLEARWATER, FLORIDA

I remember him as being "light skinned" with blue eyes and "good" hair.. His name was Orientes Martinez. He was Cuban, but despite having light blue eyes, curly, almost blonde hair, in Clearwater, Florida in 1940 he was considered a "negro". It was only later that I learned that one 32nd per cent of "colored" blood was all it took for him to be classified as a "negro". However, It was not his ethnicity that concerned or confused me. It was something I overheard my mother say to a friend of hers regarding the Cuban that caused me to pause.

Girl, what is wrong with you ? He just another nigger. There ain't no such thing as "good" hair. Don't let that light skin

and light eyes fool you. You KNOW what he want !

If that is what he want, then he need to come over here and get some. I GOT something for his ass.

Hussy ! Hush your mouth. Don't you see my boy over there ?

I see him. But if he understand what I'm saying, then it already too late.

I don't see what all you women see in him. He's not all there in the head. He's tetched.

It ain't his head I'm interested in.

Again, it was not what they were saying about the Cuban that bothered me, it was something he always said.

Never told a lie,... Never did, Never will.

This was his greeting to us kids when we approached him with questions that we teasingly asked him to hear his sing song response.

Never told a lie,...Never did, Never will.

I never learned his real name at that time because to me he was Mr. Never-Never because of his refrain. But his pronouncement was also very troubling to me because of something my mother drove home to me at every opportunity.

Boy,... the two worsest words for a colored boy wanting to make something of hisself is NEVER and CAN'T . Don't EVER let

me hear you say them. They are the baddest, nastiest words you can say if you want to get ahead in this here world. You

hear me ?

Yessum. I Hear you.

So "never" and "can't" have been eliminated from my coaching vocabulary. Every time I catch myself about to use one of them, I think back to that six year old boy and what his moma said about them and the fact that she made me swear not to use them. She was critical in my not being able to set my mind in a place where I could even entertain them. Having Mr. Never-Never around from time to time help to strengthen my resolve against giving in to the thought patterns and concessions that make these words possible and probable.

1973 - Zaire, Africa

Muhammad Ali had a very famous fight with George Foreman in Zaire, Africa in 1973. It was called, "The Rumble In The Jungle". George Foreman was the most intimidating and formidable heavyweight in the world at that time. He had slugged and pounded his opponents into oblivion in most of his fights. He was generally considered unbeatable. Ali employed a very novel, but highly effective strategy against Foreman. He made sure the ring ropes were loose and leaned against the loosened ropes and allowed Foreman to punch away, throwing his heavy artillery with all the force and might he could muster. Ali merely covered up and protected himself as best he could and absorbed everything Foreman threw at him. Once Foreman had punched himself out, Ali proceeded to knock the expended and expired Foreman out. This tactic has been termed ROPE - A - DOPE.

Combining the two strains of thought manifested above pretty much sums up a part of my strategic view of drugs and druggers in the sport of track and field. On the surface they look so formidable and invinceable that many coaches and athletes simply throw up their hands and throw in the towel. Not I. I take something that I once heard the black female comic, Jackie "Mom" Mabley said in one of her routines. Please keep in mind that at the time she spoke these words she was well into her high sixties in age:

I can not stand old men! I want me a YOUNG man ! The only thing an old man can do for me is to show me where a

YOUNG man is.

When I first heard these lines back about forty years ago at the Regal Theatre in Chicago, Illinois,.... it was a very funny line. Now that I am seventy-five,.... I no longer see the humor. But I DO see the wisdom and practicality of what she said. For me, the druggers can only show me where clean athletes can essentially go. What they do is show the way to something that once discovered, can ultimately be achieved,......clean. This is no way an apology or excuse for the use of drugs. There are ethical, moral,medical, and economic reasons why they should be eliminated from sport. It is ethically and morally wrong to cheat ! It is medically playing Russian Roulette to do drugs because a certain percentage of users are going to have serious health issues later. Economically the cheaters are taking money away from honest and clean athletes by getting paid money that would otherwise go to clean atheltes. So there are no real redeeming qualities to drug use,....either for the drugger or the clean athlete.

Given the fact that drugs are used in our sport, and the collective will at the highest levels is not sufficient to eliminate them at this time, then I am left with my mother's wisdom and "Moms" Mabley humor for guidance. The first thing to understand is that "never" and "can't" are the most profane and obscene words in humor performance. The words, and what they conjure up, are the most negative and self-destructive elements of progress. They are vehicles to defeat. Once that is understood then we need to ROPE - A- DOPE. By that I mean we need to develop a strategy that will allow us to absorb what the dopers are throwing at us and then come back and knock them out the ring. That strategy is based upon a positive approach to human performance and the realization that left to our own devices we would no doubt settle for something less than is actually doable. We tend to stagnate and rest on our laurels as coaches and athletes, very rarely thinking much beyond the existing the world records. In many cases,...certainly not all, it takes dopers to lead the way into establishing what clean athletes can actually accomplish. A recent phone conversation I had with a very prominent and successful track coach went like this.

Brooks, I agree with you about what dope performances do. I can remember when anyone running under 10 flat for 100

meters was suspect. Anything in the 9.9 - 9.8 range was assumed to be tainted. Now clean guys run that routinely. Travis

Padgett, who I am sure is clean, ran 9.89 as a twenty year old. It was not that long ago that a similar time would have

everyone suspecting him. Once the barriers are pushed back, then clean guys follow right behind them.

"Moms" Mabley was right.

Who ?

She and Muhammad Ali have the answers.

Are you kidding me ?

Nope.

Then what is the hell are you doing ?

Just getting you in touch with your Mr. Never-Never.

My Never-Never ? I NEVER say never !!!

That's what I mean.

Oh.

Brooks T. Johnson

I do not have the time to spellcheck this ebcause I have to pick up my youngest son from middle school. How's that "Moms" ?

TRAINERS / TEACHERS / COACHES - THE HOLY TRINITY OF SUCCESS IN TRACK AND FIELD

2009-11-06T16:29:43Z

Kenta Bell is one of the most knowledgeable athletes in the sport when it comes to his event ( triple jump ) and also has a basic grasp of what is required in most other technique events as well. In 2007 he and Dwight Phillips went to Houston to train with the very reknowned and respected coach, Tom Tellez. At on point in the training process Kenta referred to something that he had learned from another well known coach in the sport.. Tellez's response to the reference was, " He is a good teacher, but he can not coach !". More recently this summer at the World Championships in Berlin, talking with John Smith, who coaches Carmelita Jeter, as he and I were deep into "coach speak" the topic came up again.

Brooks, Carmelita is really pissed at not winning the 100.

John, that's a good thing !

I know it is. I am glad she's so upset, now we can move forward. Now I can start to put my coaching skills to work.

Really ? What the hell you been doing up to now ?

I been teaching. I have taught her the mechanical things she needs to do. She is a very smart woman and really

understands all the concepts we have been working on. Now I got to put her head back together in such a way as her body

will do what it is capable of doing.

John, the one thing I picked up is her impatience during the drive phase. Seems like she is anxious to look up and see

where she is in the race and cuts her drive phase short as a result.

Yeah, you're right, but there is some other s...t we also have to address. If I get her to do a couple of technical things I have

been teaching, you are going to see some very special s..t out there.

You just put your ass up for grabs. It's out there now. If you can coach, then you can motivate and guide her into doing

these things that you want her to do. As a coach, you have to be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again after the

great fall and have him come back bigger, badder, bolder and better than ever.

Yep. Watch me ! You know what ?

No, man,....what ?

I get sick and tired of guys out here getting all this play and when they can not coach their ass out of a wet paper bag..

I told you what Tellez said about ----- ? He said the guy can teach but he can not coach.

You know I know Tom from way back when he was a coach at UCLA and I was an athlete there. He's right. There are too

many of these guys out here who can not coach but get all this recognition and reputation as coaches. Coaching is an art.

Teaching simply means that you know the science and explain that to the athlete. If you have a real good athlete who is

self-motivated, then you will get success. But these guys never develop anyone They take people who are already talented

and hungry and teach them the science and that's it. They can not motivate anyone. They do not have the people skills to

inspire any one. In too many cases they are too intimidated by the athletes to discipline them and effectively guide them.

Man,...I could not agree with you more. But there is one more piece to this thing.

What's that ?

Trainers. These are guys who recruit very good people who already have major accomplishment credentials. They get them

on campus and give them workouts. Science is absent unless the athletes already have it in their gene pool.

So we have now have trainers, teachers, and coaches ? Is that what you are saying ?

Guilty as charged.

Well let me tell you one thing right now as we are sitting on this pole vault pit in the shadow of the Jesse Owens Olympic

Stadium in Berlin, Germany. I can do it all ! And in a few days you will see it.

John,.... John, you ain't got to prove s..t to me. I know what you can do. In your case, been there done that. However, that

being the case, do not write a check with your mouth that your ass can not cash. What we are talking about

here is the Holy Trinity of track and field...., training, teaching, and coaching. Anyone who can do it all by definition takes

on minor diety status in my eyes.

Don't you worry about what my ass can cash. You just make sure you are paying very close attention to Carmelita's next

races.

Done. Now let's catch the shuttle back to the hotel and get some of that spcial ice cream with almonds and mango sauce.

Done !

Broks T. Johnson

UP YOURS,...LEO DUROCHER !!!!

2009-11-05T18:46:14Z

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 6:15AM

I started not to answer the phone ringing on the night stand next to my bed. I berated myself for not doing what I usually do, which is to put the phone on the charger over night in the office on the other side of the house, thus aviding this kind of unwelcomed intrusion. In that self-flagellating, mood I thought the further punishment of actually answering the phone was definitely in order. But that would in no way make it easier on the person who was calling. They were going to catch hell from me and be made to suffer as I was.

Brooks, I have a guy here who says he knows you. He's a runner named Ned.

Jewel, what the hell are you calling me for at this time of day ? I don't KNOW any damned runner named NED !!!

No,no, no, his name is Meb and he says he knows you and wants to talk to you.

Meb ? Jewel,.. why in the hell didn't you say that in the first place. Put him on the damned phone !!!!

Jeez, good morning to you too !! Here he is.

Meb, congratulations on your win in New York !!! I sent Bob ( Meb's coach ) a congratulatory e-mail right after you kicked

ass in the New York Marathon. It's good to get the chance to congratulate you as well.

Coach, it is good to talk with you. I remember your help in Chula Vista and our Monday night team meetings down there at

the USOC Training Center. I am very appreciative of your support and the honest comments you have made to me. As you

know my wife is from Tampa and I will be back down here in a month or so and we should get together.

Meb, I remember you telling me you were going to marry a lady from Tampa. Congratulations on that too. A little late, but

sincere all the same. Ask Jewel to give you my number so you can call me the next time you are in the area.

Coach, I will do that and I will give her my number for you as well.

Good, you have a good flight and we will get together when you are back this way. Give the phone back to Jewel.

Jewel, it is a very good thing that it was Meb you were calling me about at this crazy-ass hour.. He is one of the really great

people in this sport. Get his number and forward it on to me please.

I was working the departure gate over here at the Tampa airport and Meb and I got into this conversation and he said he

knew someone from Orlando, and when I asked him who, he said you, so I knew I had to take the risk and call you, even if

it meant I was going to get chewed out. You are such a big grouch , but anyway I thought it was worth it.

Jewel, you did good girl !

I'm glad you think so. When the people over here found out who he was they were all over him for autographs and stuff.

The captain even bragged about having a real celebrity on the flight. Meb was so cute and gracious. He smiled the whole

time giving out his card and signing autoraphs for everybody. What a nice person !!

Jewel,....thanks. Now get the number and get it to me.

GROUCH !

Leo Duroucher was one of the most famous and successful baseball managers of all time. Despite his success with winning teams, he will be most remembered because of a quote he once made. When asked about the caustic and edgy nature of his personality he responded, " Nice guys finish last !!!" Given the number of less than "nice guys" I have seen finish first, I would generally agree with him. You generally do not see girl scouts ( girl guides ) or boy scouts on the podium at the Olympic Games.

Meb Keflezighi breaks the mode. Not only him, but his coach as well. There are not too more unaffected and humble people in the sport than Meb and Bob Larsen, his coach. From October, 2002 through the Olympics of 2004 I ran the USATF High Performance Center at the USOC Training Center in Chula Vista, California. Generally Meb and Bob trained at Mommoth Lakes

with then, Deena Drossin, and a cadre of athletes that included Ryan Shay. When the Mommoth Lakes group wanted to train at sea level they came to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. Ryan Shay had his game face on all the time. I remember asking him over dinner one night when he found time to unwind and relax and Meb piped up, " Coach, he never does. He is all business,.. all the time. I wish I cold be like that." Deena immediately piped up, " No you don't Meb." We all giggled and laughed and I was impressed with the real human love, and high regard they mutually and reciprocally had for each other. It was a real joy to see that people who worked as hard they did, could also find time to poke fun at themselves.

At that time the U.S. had not had an Olympic marathon medal performance since Joan Benoit ( gold ) in 1984. As the Chair of the High Performance Division of USATF, it was my responsibility to support athletes and events that I felt could/would medal at the Olympics. When I suggested that we support the marathon with some of our limited resources, I was ridiculed and criticized , but rarley to my face, by the "pundits" and "experts",.... with the then CEO of USATF being chief among the doubters. There is no need for me to share with you just how much I gloated and crowed when both Meb and Deena medaled in Athens.

The basis of my confidence in our chances in our medal hopes in Athens in the marathon date back to something I was told by a banker friend of mine many years ago. I asked Alan Lastinger, who then head of Barnett Bank in Gainesville, Florida,

Alan, when you guys decide who you are going to make a loan to, do you do it based upon the product or idea they

have, the collateral, or what ?

Brooks, we take a good look at the horse, but we ultimately bet on the rider.

In Deena and Meb I knew we had two very good ponies. But I also had arrogant confidence in their coaches, Bob Larsen and Dr. Joe Vigil. The reason I had confidence in Deena and Meb was because each had, had significant success at the five and ten thousand meters. So I knew they were not just "long slow distance" disciples and devotees,.... and neither were their coaches.

Dr. Vigil is perhaps the most knowledgeable exercise physiologist in the world, if taken from a practicing and practical perspective. Bob Larsen had coached people with national and international success in events as short as the 800, so I knew that he knew speed as applied to the marathon from an intimate and successful point of view. This trend toward moe speed has been further developed and expanded with U.S. female steeplechasers now running world class times at the 1,500.

Now here comes the kicker. Even after the medals in Athens, I got a call from Dr. Vigil advising me that the Olympic Training Center at Chula Vista was not providing them with housing for their sealevel training. By that time I had returned to Florida

and in my absence, Jay Warwick of the USOC and the USATF Partnership Liasson, had changed the priorities for Chula Vista and there was "no room at the inn" for the Mammoth Lakes athletes and coaches. He's no longer there, so there is nothing to be gained from expanding more on the kind of ignorance and arrogance that can be visited on athletes and coaches when administrators do not have an in-depth knowledge of the sport they are supposed to be administering.

But this is a happy piece. Both Deena and Meb are very positive, happy and joyous people to be around. They are as nice as human beings as they are talented and dedicated as elite athletes. Being pleasant, civil and cordial is as natural for them as inhaling/exhaling and winning.

Leo Durocher,....up yours !!!!

Brooks T. Johnson

THRILLER -" Back To The Future" !!!!

2009-10-31T17:00:13Z

Satruday, October 31, 11:30 AM

Funny thing happened today as I was channel surfing before the Saturday football games come on. I can not wait for the Florida Gator/Georgia Bulldog game later today. In my impatient clicking of the remote, I hit the MTV channel and there was Michael Jackson and this fine young thing coming out of the movie THRILLER . Without even realizing it, I found myself completely caught up in the THRILLER video and the obvious talent of Michael Jackson. This set off a series of analytical thoughts about his gifts and genius.

Just how does a person get to be this good ?

Then the analysis sets in. First of all I could see some of the same and simliar dance moves I had seen Jackie Wilson perform at stage shows way back in the late 1950s. Then I saw some of the abrupt shoulder and torso movements of James Brown, not to mention the quick and snappy syncopated foot movements James Brown was famous for. But the scariest thing of all was a few days ago I had seen a Dick Van Dyke do the "moonwalk" on a rerun of The Dick Van Dyke Show on the PBS channel from an episode a decade or so before Michael Jackson made it famous.

What the hell then was I really seeing ?

Genius is never totally original. What it is, is a unique methodology and approach to synthesizing things that have gone on before in order to create a new and special entity. Nothing happens in a vacuum. Everything is, to varying degrees, influenced by what is going on around it. In the case of real creativity, innovation and progress, we often have to not only take in the current and present, we also need to draw upon relevant and valuable things that have gone on before us. So in many cases in order for us to go forward, we need to understand and apply the relevant things from the past. In order to achieve status approximating what Michael Jackson did in his area, the rest of us in our area, like Michael, have to demonstrate that we can draw upon the past in order to prevail and succeed in the present and future. Essentially, we have to go back in order to successfully go forward into the future,......Back To The Furture !!!!

Like Michael Jackson, the first thing required is a total mastery of the basics and fundamentals as demonstrated and articulated by past practitioners in the area under consideration. One of the problems that exists in our sport today is that too many of us, coaches and athletes alike, think that in effect the sport came into existence at about the time we first entered it. Too often the lessons and gifts of the past are overlooked because of the total self-absorption and self-centeredness of these people. Their focus is on the now and the current, not ever fully exploring and discovering the advantages of knowing the past. The results then, usually are a repetition of the mistakes and disasters of the past.

At about this point in my thought processes my oldest son stopped, looked in and said,

" Dad you watching THRILLER ? "

" Aaaah, as a matter of fact I was. "

" I thought you did not like Michael Jackson because you think he did some pretty sick things."

" Aaaah, you're right, I think he did some pretty sick s..t."

" What's up with watching him ? "

" Just got caught up in just how good he was at what he did."

" People say he was a genius. Why did he have to do those strange things then ?"

" In order ascend to the very pinnacle of any field, or to get to the outer limits and extremes of anything, you need to have

extreme needs . Michael Jackson had some very extreme needs and these drove him to get to the top. Once he was at the

top he was able to act out, and act on, these extreme needs in a more unacceptable manner."

" So what made him do these things after he had become so successful ? Didn't he know it would hurt him ?"

"Maybe, but in many cases when people are very successful they see themselves as so special as to be above the limits that

hold back the rest of us. They develop a sense of entitlement and feel that their needs supercede everything else .."

" Athletes too ? "

" Athletes too."

"Coaches too ?"

"Coaches too. "

" Wow !"

" Wow !!!"

Brooks T. Johnson

TONY VENEY AND ME - RIFFING, RUNNING AND RAMBLING

2009-10-22T16:30:08Z

I have gotten a great deal of feedback on these ramblings of mine.. Over the summer I stopped running off at the computer for a while and a lot of people were inquisitive as to why. I'll get into the details as to what caused the stoppage later, but for now I want to clear up questions as it relates to what I am trying to do and why. Some of the most relevant and accurate comments and criticisms concern the manner in which I express myself. Some find it self-centered and self-serving,.... and it is. Some find the choice of words in many cases to be poor,... and that is true also. Some suggest that I could do a better job if I took the time to ponder and purge in a more deliberate fashion,....guilty as charged. So admitting and accepting all of these constructive and concerned criticism, you might expect me to make some changes,......wrong. The reasons there will be no real changes are:

#1 For me this is a mental, free association, stream of consciousness type exercise and the only real editing I do has to do

with obscene and profane language, which in my regular thought processes and speech patterns are very prevalent.

#2 The exercise itself is about me. It concerns things that I want to put out there as a form of inner relief and outer

exposure. It has nothing to do with trying to emulate James Baldwin or Langston Hughes. It has nothing to do with trying

to impress other people with my literary skills and clarity of communication. It is a very self-indulgent exercise about

subjects about which I feel knowledgeable and get some pleasure from exercising my right to exorcise some thoughts in a

manner that best describes and fits me.

#3 I have been told on a few occasions that what I have put out there has been of some benefit to others. Let me be

brutally frank and honest here. It is always good to hear that you may have done some good for someone else. As a coach,

that is one of the things that motivates and moves you. It is often at the very center and core of your career. However, in

this "blog thing" - as opposed to my coaching, whatever external good is being done is strictly collateral and tangential.

The real intent is to make ME feel good. If I feel good from my own self-induced efforts, then I can, and do, make it better

for the people around me who are in personal contact with me and benefit directly from whatever I have to offer. They are

my focus and the center of my concern,.... and not someone who exists in the impersonal ether of the internet.

Tony Veny called me the other day. He was the former sprint/hurdle coach at UCLA and called me because he was finishing up on a paper for a graduate degree .

Brooks, I am doing a paper and this idea of yours about the Critical Zone intrigues me a little. My paper is on the sprints,

can you share with me what the Critical Zone is in the sprints ?

Tony, the Critical Zone concept is something I stole from Wilbur Ross. The best hurdle coach I have ever encountered. He

wrote HURDLERS' BIBLE. His point was that there are certain areas where the outcome of the race is really determined.

These are the Critical Zones. The person who understands where the Critical Zones are, and dominates them, usually wins

the race. It is the same as when I was at the University Chicago School of Business. The professor said, forget the mission

statement of a company, if you really want to know what they are all about, then simply look to see where they allocate

their most precious resources,....THAT is where they really are and what they really value and emphasize. It follows on

what we were taught in the contracts class I took while at the University of Chicago Law School. The professor who was

teaching us contracts ( He also wrote the book - Malcolm Sharps ) said, forget the verbiage and language, if you really

want to understand what is going on in a contract,.....simply follow the dollar.

Brooks, even for you, that is a bit far out.

Not really. It merely makes the point that basic values and things that determine success are conceptually connected no

matter what the endeavor happens to be. Successful people find these determinant areas and dominate them and success is

the result. The determinant area or areas are called the Critical Zones for me.

Okay, okay, I got it. What is the Critical Zone in the sprints ?

Tony, there may be several of them and they may change from athlete to athlete. You have to run an inventory, just like a

store keeper and his/her merchandise. You have to determine what is in short supply and just how critical is it in order to

survive or succeed. Once you have determined what is missing and just how important it is to sucecss, then you have to

address this void and need accordingly.

Brooks, it is not that simple.

I do not remember you asking me if Critical Zone was simple.

No,...but I did ask you a simple question and the next thing I know you are all the way back in Chicago. You know what

just happened to Chicago/2016 don't you ? Not even the President of the United States could save them ! I can not afford to

have the same thing happen to me !!!

Tony, here's the deal. In order to work the Critical Zone process you have to break the Critical Zone concept down into:

Psychological

Physiological

Bio-mechanical

Tactics

Okay, I got that. Go on.

Each of these categories allow you to assess and determine what is missing and what needs attention and emphasis. Not

everything is equal,.....in sports or in life.. So you have to prioritize as to what is most important. The problem with a lot of

coaches and athletes is they get caught up in prioritizing the wrong things.

I think I know where you are going with this. I have heard you for years criticize American distance coaches for not placing

enough emphasis on speed and too much emphasis on mileage for mileage sake . Am I close ?

Tony, here is a very consistent and pervasive fact of life in the sport of track and field. Every event in track and field

centers around getting the center of mass of an object, from one point in time and space, to another point in time and

space and the winner is the one who gets it there in the least elapsed time. That being the case, then speed/velocity is the

most critical physical asset required for success in every event in the sport.

Brooks, you know there are a lot of people who disagree with you that every event requires speed or velocity for success..

Tony, not only is speed/velocity the determining physical need,.... as a rule the person who demonstrates the greatest

speed and velocity over the last 25% of the event usually wins it. It is the same for the 100, marathon, shot put, long

jump, or pole vault. Who ever dominates and does the best with the last 25% ( Critical Zone )of event usual emerges as

the winner.

Okay ! okay ! But I am not doing this paper on the marathon or long jump. It is a sprint paper !

Doesn't matter, it is all the same. But before I get to the sprint stuff that you are so impatient about getting into, just let

me modify my stance about American middle/long distance coaches. People like Alberto Salazar and Terrence Mahon "get

it" and they understand the need for speed. This will ultimately trickle down to the other coaches in these events.

What makes you think that ? I have known you for almost 30 years and you were talking about the need for speed back

then for distance runners. You had good cross country teams at Stanford as far back as the early eighties. Patti Sue Plumer,

who you coached, was ranked #1 in the world at 3000/5000 back in 1990, was an Olympic finalist in the 3000 in 1988 and

an Olympic finalist at 1500 and 3000 in 1992. What makes you think that people are more receptive to Alberto and

Terrence and what they are doing, then what you were doing all those years ago ?

Melanin.

Ooooooh !

But that is a topic for another day. Let's get on with the sprints. Remember Psychological, Physiological, Bio-mechanical,

and Tactics are the categories that we need to inventory in order to discover and cover the Critical Zones that need to be

addressed and assessed.

Brooks, every competitive athlete has a competitve mindset. Every athlete wants to win !

Tony, most people will tell you that success is about 80-90% mental, but how many of us spend a commensurate amount

of time focusing in on the mental. Plus, many times when we do focus on the mental, we do not know what we are looking

for or at. For example, in order to be a great sprinter an athlete mentally has to have what is termed instant gratification

or instant reward syndrome. That means they want it all right now and have a drive, even a compulsion to let it all hang

out immediately. As you move up in distance, the instant reward syndrome is replaced by a delayed reward syndrome. That

is why I laugh at coaches who say, " If only that kid would move up, they would be so much better.". Without having the

right mindset or required mental outlook, no amount of latent talent and ability is going allow for success without the

necessary and accompanying mental capacity. Here's the rub. Just like not having the right mental makeup ( instant

gratification syndrome ) for the sprints will cause you to fail, having the right mental mindset ( instant reward

syndrome ) can also cause you to fail.

Well good buddy, I have to admit that you just lost me with that. How can the mindset required for the event , cause you to

fail at the event, when you can not succeed without it ?

Easy,...and often ! Because of the need to be explosive, coupled with the natural desire and drive to be so, too often

sprinters put too much emphasis on the start and being fast and having very rapid turnover early, rather than being

deliberate and dominant when and where it counts,... which is the last 25% of the race. In Beijing Thompson and Dix both

took 7 strides for the first 10 meters. Bolt, however, took 6 strides for the first 10 meters. That means he was more

deliberate and dominated because he refused to get caught up in the compulsion of turnover too soon. Rather he took his

time to allow his latent talent and ablity take over, which is superior stride length rather than stride rate. I think that by not

allowing the compulsion to explode take over, a sprinter has more anxiety and angst, that translates into a

better performance when the compusion and drive to move fast is released at the most citical time,... in the Critical

Zone. Tyson Gay's race against Asafa Powell at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, makes the point. Tyson was

behind and caught up to Powell in the Critical Zone of the race, and won over the last 25% of the race. Watching Carmelita

Jeter in Thessaloniki at the IAAF Final, she was behind at the start of the race, but dominated the last 25% of the race for

what was then the fastest time ever by a woman since 1988.

I think I get what you are saying. I am not sure I agree, but I think I get the gist of your point. What about the

physiological stuff ?

There is a lot of stuff you can say about the physiological needs . For example, ATP and just how much of it you have. Can

you increase the amount you have ? What role does oxygen and aerobic capacity play in the sprints,.... if any ? For

example Clyde Hart is of the opinion that most sprinters neglect aerobic work to their detriment. Guess what ? I agree with

him, despite my emphasis on speed and velocity. What about the energy source available after ATP has been used up ? But

the thing that bugs me the most is the talk about so called fast twitch and slow twitch fibers. Whereas there is

some relevance in this, it is not nearly as determinant a factor as people have made it out to be. First of all, if you are

going to have a meaningful test of fast twitch/slow twitch fibers, then you would have to have the biopsies taken from

areas that are primary for that athlete to run fast. If not, then the results are highly suspect. For example, taking a biopsy

from the same area on two difefrent athletes really doesn't give you accurate information because the prime movers they

employ to run fast may be different. Some sprinters generate a lot of force from their hamstrings and glutes. Other get

force from their arms. Some get force from having a tight shin/foot joint that stores and explodes a great deal of elastic

engery. It is elastic energy that we should be focusing on. For exmaple, we can store and explode energy that is stored in

the bones and connective tissue much faster than we can twitch muscle fibers on average. So whereas studying fast

twitch/slow twitch might turn on a light, it is really not that illuminating. What we should spend more time studying is how

we can get the bones and connective tissue better prepared to contribute to the process.

The next thing is Bio-mechanics. What do you have to say about that ?

Clyde Hart.

What ?

Clyde Hart.

Okay, okay. Stop playing games. What do you mean,...Clyde Hart ?

The coaching genius of Clyde Hart is manifested in what he did with Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner. Here he had two

quite difefrent athletes, as different as black and white, yet he basically gets them both to the Olympic gold medal in the

same event.

Outside of the race thing, what do you mean ?

When I talk about Michael and Jeremy being as different as black and white, I was not, for once, referring to their race,

but rather how they RAN their race. Michael was the quintessential front side mechanics guy. Jeremy is old school, backside

mechanics. Both of them attained #1 status in the 400. Michael was short of stride with a high frequency cadence, whereas

Jeremy is more long, strong and flowing. Jeremy has the "Tigerbelle Lean" ( Ed Temple - Tennessee State ), Michael is

erect. Given the amazing success that Michael enjoyed, for Clyde to come back and coach an athlete that runs so differently

is really a big compliment to just how good Clyde is at what he does. After the kind of success Michael had, most coaches

would have sought to replicate and duplicate that form and technique with every successive athlete that came into their

program.

So what does that say about Bio-mechanics ? We're running out of time here so make it brief.

As long as basic science is involved and accounted for, then running "style" is an individual thing and personal form of

expression. Different strokes for different folks !! As a coach you have to understand what Kenny Rogers said in that song,

" You got to know when to hold them,...... and know when to fold them."

We're almost there.

What the hell did you ask the question for if you didn't want to hear the answer ?

I wanted to hear the answer, I am not sure I was prepared for so MUCH "answer".

I'll keep the Tactics short. Basically what you want to coach and train on the Psychological, Physiological and Bio-

mechanical basis is for the athlete to be prepared to dominate the Critical Zone, which is the last 25% of the event. That is

not to ignore the rest of the race. In the sprints the starts are obviously important, but not as important as the finish. Just

as in business, you have to allocate and invest your resources and energy where you are going to get the greatest retrun on

investment ( ROI ). It is a fact that it is better to lose hundreths at the start in order to be in the best position to win tenths

at the latter stages of the race. The best place to make up time and dominate the Critical Zone is when everyone else is

slowing down and struggling. The greatest opportunties for success present themselves where and when your competitors

are in trouble and have the least amount of reserve and staying power. It is the same for business and the same for sport.

One last question, and that is it !!! How do you coach this tactical approach to the Critical Zone.

It is something I stole from the great swim coach George Haines. I remember way back in the 60s, traveling all the way

from Washington, D.C. to observe him coaching at Santa Clara Youth Village, in Santa Clara, California. He was pushing the

swimmers to "negative split" on the laps he was timing. Although I observed them and heard what he was saying, I did not

fully understand the concept until we were both coaches at Stanford University in 1979. I had seen the results of this

approach with Mark Spitz at the 1972 Olympics when he got his, then record, 7 medals. I asked at the Stanford pool one

day about "negative splitiing". He pointed out that he wanted the athletes to get faster,... the longer they swam. He wanted

their times per lap to drop on each lap,.....duh, "negative splitting". I may be an equal opportunity learner , because I take

stuff from all kinds of different and varied soucres, but I really do not have any real claims to being a quick learner.

Brooks, I am not sure right now what kind of learner I am. Let me get back to you on that.

You do that.

Brooks T. Johnson

Don't know where the hell the spell check is. So here it is raw and basically unedited.

HONOR - WHERE ART THOU ?

2009-10-15T17:13:17Z

John Smith and I have a friendly competition that we engage in at virtually every major track and field competition. The objective is to be the first person at the competition warm-up venue and the last one to leave.. It is our way of paying respect and honor to the sport that we both love so much,..... and has provided both of us with a very good living over the years. It is a silly thing on one level and so small a gesture that many would dismiss it as frivolous. But that is just the point. By making this statement about our feelings for what we do in such an almost unnoticed manner, in fact magnifies the meaning and signifcance because of the fact that it is not a grand and grandiose, attention generating gesture. But this is not about John and me, what it is about is a couple of people in the sport that most recently were not properly recognized and honored.

I beat John to the warm-up track the first day of the World Championships in Berlin, Germany. As I smugly basked in my small victory over him I watched the athletes disembark off the shuttle buses from the hotels that served as the athletes' villages. For no special reason my attention wandered to an attractive young lady that I had difficulty matching her up with an event. I decided that she must be an 800 meter runner because of her physical build. She had on Great Britain gear and slowly walked past where I was sitting as I frantically tried to place and identify her with an event. John Smith showed up and in my ribbing him about being late, I lost contact with the thoughts about the attractive 800 meter runner from Britain.

Later that morning, glued to the big video board in the warm-up area, I saw the "800 meter runner" winning her heat of the 100 hurdles of the women's heptathlon. Her time was the fastest of the day. I watched further as she high jumped, threw the shot and ran 23 and some very small change for the 200. She threw over 14 meters in the shot put in a pressure situation, and looked very sharp in the high jump. The next day Jessica Ennis came out and did a great job in the long jump, javelin, and gutted out the 800 meters. What I saw in her seven events was one of the most impressive performances, individually and collectively, that I have watched in many years. Over that same two day period Usain Bolt and the sprinters were in full swing and virtually all eyes and attention were on them. In the mean time I am marveling to myself about how well this slight young thing was doing in all of those heptathlon events.. I had already seen the USAIN BOLT SHOW and had been duly impressed in Beijing. I was now captivated by what Jessica Ennis was doing. I was greatly impressed by two things. First of all, I was impressed with how well coached this athlete happened to be. To be able to execute these seven events with such biomechanical and technical superiority, as a coach, was totally mind blowing for me. I was envious as hell of the coach who was able to provide and impart that kind of support to an athlete. Secondly, I was impressed with the competitive composure and poise she displayed as she went about setting a new PB in winning the event. Here was the complete coach and athlete package, coming to fruition at the right time, on the biggest stage of the year.

Wow !!!!

The Brits and the U.S. shared the same village hotel. Tony Lester is one of Britain's best coaches, if medal count on the international level counts for anything. It doesn't seem to register that high with his federation's leadership, but that is another story. I approached Tony and said:

Tony, I want to talk to Jessica Ennis' coach. Can you arrange it ?

What do you want to speak to him about ?

I want to tell him how impressed I am with the job he has done with Jessica. Her performance was absolutely off the

chart. When you see small people do well, it is usually because they are technically superior to the competition and that

usually is the results of superior coaching. I just want him to know that not everyone was totally caught up with Bolt and

her performance in my eyes was not eclipsed by Bolt. I want him to know that someone out here appreciates

what he has been able to get done.

You know Brooks, he would really appreciate hearing that from someone like you. He gets a lot of s--t from the federation

people. They see him as a renegade and maverick because he does not march to their beat all the time. He has been her

coach for a very long time and they still think they can tell him how to handle her.

Tony, I really want congratulate him. I am embarassed because I do not even know his name.

He's not the type that seeks the spotlight so I am not surprised you do not know him. He just does his job and wants to be

left alone to do just that. His name is Tony Minichello.

Later that day Tony brings Jessica's coach over to meet me in the lobby of the village hotel. After the introductions I said:

Tony, I just want you to know that some of us are aware and appreciate what a great coaching job was reflected in

Jessica's performance . I, for one, was really caught up in how well she performed and how technically sound she was. To

me that means outstanding coaching. In many ways her performance, and what it says about a coach, rivals what Bolt's

performance says about a coach. I am perhaps holding a minority view,... but that's normal for me anyway. Bottom line, it

was one hell of a job and I am pissed and jealous that it was not me.

Brooks, I am a bit embarassed to hear that coming from you, but I am also very pleased to hear it. We work hard and do

not always get supported the way we should. I am not all that popular in some circles, so it really means something when

other coaches comment positively on the work I do.

Tony Minichello and I continued the conversation for a brief period. I was totally impressed with his dedication and commitment to the sport. Like so many others, in all walks of life, he was not getting the recognition and honor in his own house, that he was getting from people on the outside. This is an unfortunate thing, but not unusual. I remember having Coach Ed Temple of Tennessee State come out to lecture at a track and field clinic we were hosting at Stanford University. Coach Temple has coached athletes that have won more than 30 Olympic medals. This is more than any other coach ever,.... in any country. When we were driving back from the airport on the way to Palo Alto, California, in an effort to make samll talk I said:

Coach Temple, I bet you get called on all the time to do clinics and share with people how you have been so successful in

producing Olympic medals.

He let out a small chuckle and I thought he was gently chastising me for inquiring about the obvious. I was struck when he said:

You know Brooks, this is the first clinic I have ever been invited to in the United States. I have been asked to speak in

foreign countries, but never in my olwn country.

Coach, we have track and field "gurus" that speak all over the country at track and field clinics. You have the most

impressive record of success ever in the sport. How can it be this is the first time you have ever done a clinic in the U.S. ?

Brooks, sometimes a man cannot count on being honored in his own house.

Brooks T. Johnson