Anecdote Thursday - You ain't doing Jack!

I have all these antedotes that have shaped my life as a athlete and a person. I almost think it would be unfair to leave out these experience that have helped shape my life, especially from an "Athlete" standpoint. So from now on, I'll try to make Thursday the day to give an antedote. Don't worry, I have plenty of them. So if this is halfway entertaining, I'll have more on tap. To actually understand this post better, it's probably a good idea to go back and read, "Going Lone Ranger".

You ain't doing Jack!

To get better, and you know it. While you are sleeping, they are getting better. Why you are watching your favorite sitcom, they are watching film on how to get better than you. While you are cutting that practice session short, they are extending their session.

These are all the statments that were made to me from one of our brightest table tennis stars, 5-time US Champion, 2-Time Olympic Team Member, and now Table Tennis Hall of Famer, Sean O'neil. I was invited to live at the Olympic Training Center in the Summer of 1988, and when I got there the US Team was in Seoul Korea playing the in the Summer Olympics in Table Tennis.

The program had 15 of the top players, male and female from CA, MS, GA, MD, TX, VA, NC, NM, and CO living in 8 dorm rooms in the resident building for athletes. The other 2 dorms were for visiting athletes. We went to public school, but had some subjects off as we trained in the morning sometimes.

And I was pretty full of myself as I quickly realized that I was by far the most athletic among everyone on the team. I dominated all aspects of physical exercise from Frisbee football, to football, track and field, basketball, etc. But where I got it handed to me, was on the table. I got a rude awakening that I was by far the least skilled athlete on the team. Some times I got beat so bad, that I wondered why they even chose me to be there.

The other players were all seasoned athletes with at least 8-10 years of experience behind them. They all came from table tennis families and started playing by age 6. I was this raw talent that started when I was 14, and by 16 I was among the best, but I had a long way to go. The team manager Larry Hodges, would stay after practice and essentially knock the confidence right off my shoulder in beating me repeatedly. I felt like I was better than him, but I was so inexperienced that he just abused me. I got the daylights beat out of me every single day after practice for one entire semester.

Things got real for me when Sean came back from the Olympics. He had just come back from competing on the largest scale in sports. The Olympics is the pinnacle of sports as any person knows. Watching him train, and interact like a true professional made me question if I had what it took to be at the top. He explained this story to me that happened to him when he was a kid.

Let me first say that he was American’s brightest hope in the early 80’s. And at that time his parents brought a Swedish coach over to spend the summer at his house in VA and work with him. He overheard a conversation with his parents and the coach. The Swedish coach essentially told his parent that he really didn’t have any talent, and that he didn’t have the work ethic to be world class.

From that day forward Sean went "Over the Top", with regards to being the best athlete he could be. He had the mental game of Tiger Woods before we even knew that someone could be that intense. If he could beat you 21-0, then he would do it without the blink of an eye. If someone dropped dead playing on the table next to him, he would be focused on his task of kicking your teeth in. I went back to my room feeling like I should just pack my bags and move back to NC. I was not even close to having a “Over the Top” attitude. I was just doing what was required of me to just get by. But before I went to bed, he asked me to go on this run with him, and to be outside my dorm room at 6am the next morning. That gave me some confidence as I felt like he was taking me under his wing.

I met him at 6am the next morning, and he said we were going to run 4 miles to this abandoned landfill, then 1 mile up it, and 1 mile back down, then 4miles back to the training center. That didn’t seem so bad, so I relaxed a little. We did a slow jog across the campus of the Training Center, and if that was the pace, then I would be just fine. Hell, I might even put it on him a bit. But as soon as we got outside the training center an onto the side walk, he freaking took off. He never looked back, and he was running at breakneck Ethiopian speed. This was 6200ft, and I was buried within myself by the first 2 miles, and he never even bother to see how I was doing. I was saved from being dropped by him more than a couple of times by stop lights or morning traffic.

We get to the landfill and I’m happy because there is a dirt road. Sean waits for me, then he said we are going up the side of the dump straight through the bushes. I saw patches and patches that I knew I couldn’t navigate through without being cut up. He takes off, and I follow him. It has broken bottles, trash, plastic grocery bags, and smelled a little like death. By the time we got to the top, my hands were bloody, but the 20 degree weather numbed the pain. We turn around and run right down the same path we came up. The last 4 miles he completely broke my spirit, and dropped me just like the amateur table tennis wannabe that I was. He did wait for me at the gate, and we went to breakfast together. I was shaking as I was tried to eat my eggs and toast, and after I ate it, I went right to my room and barfed it up. I actually couldn’t walk normal for a week, and missed 2 days of school and practice. He never spoke of this event again. No, “Let this be a lesson to you”, speech. He just handed me my ass, and walked off for me to figure it out. I later found out that almost every athlete with potential got the "Run of Pain" with Sean, and they only did that run with him 1 time.

That was the lesson, if you could do more than your competitors, then you can look them in the eyes and know you are dedicated, even if you are not better. You need to know that you have more mental insurance that you were more prepared, more dedicated, and had given up more to be in that position. Winning was an after thought if you reached to every corner of the earth to be better. 4 months later at Ceasar's Palace at the National Table Tennis Championships in Las Vegas, he dominated everyone and won the Men's Singles Title. $5000.00 was brought out to him in gold coins by guards dressed up like Romans. He just sat on top of that money raising his hands. I got a chill in my spine that I can still remember it from 1988, because that was the first time that I saw what the footsteps looked like to going "Over the Top".

That was 1988, and it took me about 4 years to learn how to do that without losing my social life, friends, pssting off teammates, and driving myself up the wall for trying to find balance in my life at the same time. The summer of 1992 was when I truly learned how to balance myself, and in the fall of 1992 I beat Sean O’neil, shortly after he got back from the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. I think that is when he acknowledged that I was doing more. I had known what he was made of, and there was no way I could stand in front of him unless I had been able to go "Over the Top".

In 2001, I moved to Romania without letting anyone know outside of my family, and closest friends. As soon as Sept 11th happened, I emailed everyone to let them know I was living and competing in Europe and that I was ok outside of being constantly asked to show my passport. When Sean found out I was in Romania he asked me if I wanted to play Men’s Doubles at the Nationals, and I was honored. He realized that I had that “Over the Top” attitude and he scooped me up as a partner before anyone asked. I came back from the first part of the season sharper than I have even been i my life, mentally and competitively. At the Nationals we finished runner up in the Men’s Doubles, and it was one of the best experiences that I had playing doubles.

You can go to this link http://www.usatt.org/events/2001nationals/day_four.shtml to read the write-up from the Finals. Scroll down half the page and you see this picture, and the write-up is just under it.


Now, I live my life by that statement, and I have always been able to look myself in the mirror and know that I’m going “Over the Top”. Now, can you say you are doing that?


Go out and ride smarter, harder, longer, and faster.

Pacer Out!