25,550 Days
by Andres Ponciano

So I guess there's a point in life or perhaps a couple that make you stop and ponder things. It seems the older you get, the more you start to notice and fully comprehend that once you are born you also begin to die. Whether it is a morbid thought or not it is true. Whether we like it or not, it is still true, and unlike math two true's don't make a false, or is that backwards?
Doesn't matter. Math doesn't make sense. The point is its reflection time. Here's food for thought: Did you know how many days there are in the average lifespan? 70 years= 25,550 days. 75 years = 27,375 days. 80 = 29,200 days. 90 = 32,850 days. I read that in an article some time ago and it really jumped out at me. I thought to myself, damn that isn't very much. Especially considering I've lived 8700 of those already. So that is about a third of an average life span.

So the question is what now? How will you use your time? Time is the only thing that doesn't offer you a second chance in life. Once it is gone, it is gone. Definitely puts things into perspective. It seems life is really short as they say. Although I've never agreed with that statement I can understand it.

Are you living life to the fullest? Are you taking advantage of all the opportunities that come your way? Are you aware that most opportunities usually disguise themselves as hard work? Have you realized that most things worth fighting for are always difficult? Have you done what you planned to do? Have you gotten what you wanted? Have you left something for the next generations? Have you left your mark? Have you met all the people and visited all the places?

There is the story of the boy who said "I've got places to go and people to meet". That is what he did. So my friends, without much subtlety I say "don't let time pass you by without getting the most out of it." Take care of your health; take care of your relationships, whether with family, friends, strangers, God, loved ones and kids.

Take care of your work and invest time in becoming better and better and if possible even better, develop your talents, whether they are in art, music, sports, or any other aspect of life. And most of all instill a sense of love and gratitude for everything in your life. For in due time, unfortunately most things whither and die, but there are few that do remain. Those are entirely up to you!

And to this I would add . . .

Here we are; the New Year is approaching. If you are a fall sport coach as most of you are, the Seniors are graduating in June - or before; seems like we are having early graduation more and more as people are trying to hurry up their life. That means that those Sophs who were sitting on the bench most of the fall will be counted on to start next fall as Juniors.

How much time do they have to get ready? With games starting in August with increasingly regularity, here in the Northwest, we still hold out for first games after Labor Day, but that is eroding. So less than eight months till the first game (say August 14). . . .

From and including: Thursday, January 1, 2009

To, but not including : Friday, August 14, 2009
It is 225 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date
Or 7 months, 13 days excluding the end date
Alternative time units, 225 days can be converted to one of these units:

19,440,000 seconds
324,000 minutes
5400 hours
32 weeks (rounded down)

Now, how many of those days/weeks do you actually have to get ready? If your team is going to work out 5 days a week, that means you have 160 days. Do I have to tell you how hard it is to get kids to be there for every workout? Like today, we are having a RARE snow day on the western OR slopes. For most, that would mean a 'lost' day. Then you have Holidays (six major Holidays during that time); vacation (how many people vacation ONLY for two weeks anymore?); then you have doctor and dentist appointments; spring break; part time jobs; other sports; camps to go to, and on and on and on.

Of those 160 days, you would be lucky to get in a hundred days for every kid on the team, average. Of course you are going to have some that would never miss a day; but there are those who will hardly make a day:

YOU HAVE 100 DAYS! AT BEST!!

Most people, kids as well as parents, think here in the dead of winter, that the next season is way off into the distant future. But you have 100 days! How many days do you have in the weightroom? Well, you know that you should lift no more than every other day so the body can recover from the previous stress: so working out 5 days a week, lifting every other day would give you something like only 60 days. What does that translate to in terms of pounds lifted? Well . . . on the average, you would be looking at numbers like this: that Soph who is struggling to bench 200# is going to probably bench around 250 by the start of the season; if he is squatting 250 now, he will be lucky to squat 350 (true parallel). And that is only if he makes the workouts! Miss a workout - you can takes poundage right off the top.

Remember this: LOST TIME IS NEVER FOUND!

We would run our lifting program in the morning, before every school day. Very, very few conflicts at 6:06 AM. In the summer we would have a 5 day a week program in the mornings and would come back 3 days a week in the evenings so that everyone would have a chance to get their workouts in. During vacation time, we would have a time during the day opposite the time that the sport in season would have for practice so that everyone could make it. Every 5 years, we would take the family trip back to Ohio. If the boys did not work out for that two week time period, they had a very difficult time when they returned to the weight room. One son actually could not walk up the stairs upon return because he got so busy on vacation that he did not get his workouts in . . . take it right of the top. He had to spend time getting back to where he was before he left . . . Lost time is never found:

YOU SIMPLY CANNOT MAKE UP A LOST WORK OUT!

Bottom line: you have 100 good workout days to get those Sophs physically ready for the rigors of the season. Make Them Count!

Be11!

RF