silence is the epitome of enjoying the moment, the sounds of the world are louder than you know, everyone and everything speaking and making noise at the same time, and only a few are sitting and listening, just listening, not just sitting, waiting to speak, but just sitting and listening, enjoying the moment, letting the mind be quiet, enjoying their own silence in order to listen to everything and everyone around them, enjoying the calm embrace of a full world being completely empty.  Most have read and most will perceive that these words have been written before, they may have been, but not in this way, not in this style, as I sit and enjoy a calmness and quietness about my own personal space, my own box, that I'll hide in until, I choose to let people in, choose to come out, I'll enjoy the nice soothing repetitive sounds of my own rhythm, my own heartbeat, biorhythms, natural sounds emitted from nature, at times tuned into an irritating sound of repetitive bullshit, but at the moment it's a calming thump over and over again, mixed in with peaceful thoughts of just letting words flow in and out of your mind.  The cranking of that jack in the box, the repetitious melody that would drive most outside as well as inside the box mad, but this jack has chosen to stay inside, doesn't need the help, doesn't want the help at the moment, it's just enjoying it's own space, it's own creation of sound, which is nothing wasted, it doesn't fall onto deaf ears, as jack listens to himself just sit and be.

New England

I've hated this franchise since they lost the perfect season, yes, I was a huge band wagon fan, I wanted perfection, and to see them lose it made me hate them.  After seeing the post game score today, I was disappointed that they came back and beat the Packers, I'm not a huge Packer fan, and a small part of me was hoping the Pack got crushed, but to be up and lose, is worse than anything that could have happened to them today.  When Boston and the New England area were underdogs, I liked them a whole lot more than I do now, the days of Mo Vaughn and Nomar trotting up to the plate against the Angels, made them likeable because they were a middle of the road team, not great, but entertaining.  The Pats were the same, Brady was calm, cool, and collected just like he is now, but before he had this idiot savant quality to him, that was admirable, but now everyone expects them to win because they're the Pats, now they've become the hated ones in the NFL, much like the Celtics in the NBA, and the Yankees in baseball(don't worry the Red Sox are not too far behind in hateability).  When did the countries most bitter city get the most consistently successful sports franchises?  The Celtics were the only thing to gloat about back in the 80's and 90's, and then it was the abyss of the NBA for a decade or more, now they're back on top, and so are the Red Sox and the Pats?  Remember mediocrity in Boston?  Things have changed.  Matt Damon is one of my favorite actors and I love watching movies about Boston, but I'm not a huge fan of watching sports from Boston, maybe it's because I know how annoying that Boston accent can be when you're cheering at the top of your lungs!  Red Sox beating the Angels, Celtics beating the Lakers, Pats beating the Chargers, I can't stand it.  But that's just me.

Intensity=Pushing yourself to the limit

As a coach you always strive to iron out any technical deficiencies that your students have first, but how do you produce consistent results with technique?  How does your technique hold up under pressure, and do you sustain it when you're fatigued?  The only way to test this is to increase the intensity at which you execute your technique, there are a variety of things that occur when you're mind and your body are put under extreme duress and pressure, how well do you respond to these adverse times?  As a coach you know exactly when you're students are struggling with technique under normal circumstances, but do you know how to help them through these times.  Technique is corrected by executing movements over and over again, so that they become natural, and your muscle memory kicks in, and your mind begins to just flow through the movement without any excess thinking or strain.  You can give a player a 1000 forehands standing in the same place during a lesson, and it will definitely help, but it only helps them when they're stationary, what happens when you move them a little bit, what happens when you move them to the extreme, into the alley or off the court?  How do they respond?  If they can handle it in those extreme circumstances, chances are their results executing that particular shot under pressure and fatigue will increase dramatically.  In any sport and any athletic movement, there are various ways to improve, and there a myriad of coaching methodologies that are applied to help athletes improve efficiently and drastically.  Which method works for you?  Can we combine any or all of these methods to help cater them to your needs?  I believe that there is no one clear cut way to improve athletic performance, but there are some that work better than others, but I believe increasing the intensity at which you practice or execute any athletic movement will help tremendously, but this means something different to everybody, what does this mean to you?

Did anyone see Steve Nash get bashed over the eye, only to come back in the 4th quarter to help lead his team to a sweep of the San Antonio Spurs, a team that has dominated the Suns in the playoffs for god knows how many years.  There's one thing you have to give Nash credit for, and that's for being a gamer! A true warrior and tremendous leader, , it was defense, scrappy play, and 3 point shooting that lead them to the win.  That's one thing the Lakers lack, a consistent 3 point shooter, an outside threat, this whole Suns team is loaded with shooters, and scrappy defender/rebounders.  But one thing that has held true in the playoffs, no matter how well you shoot in the playoffs, the Laker big men, Gasol, Bynum, and Odom are just too much to handle inside, they offset all the missed three pointers and lack of outside shooting.  The Spurs didn't have the shooters or the inside threats to compete with the Suns, the Lakers do.  You thought at the beginning of the season when the Spurs acquired Richard Jefferson, they would be a powerhouse, because the Spurs much like the Jazz are such fundamentally  sound teams on both sides of the ball, offense and defense, but with role players, you need them to perform specific functions, Jefferson was an athletic 2nd option with any other team, but with the Spurs he was the 3rd or 4th option, and that leaves him open for jumpers and 3 pointers, not so many slashing opportunities, because one you have duncan posting up on the block, and you already have george hill, tony parker, and manu ginobili driving to the basket, leaving nothing open for Jefferson to do, he was a piece that on paper sounded great, but in reality didn't fit into the system, that's why Bruce Bowen was perfect, he was an all world perimeter defender, and an excellent spot up shooter.  Aging Big Three of the Spurs couldn't hang with the younger, athletic, run and gun offense of the Suns, plus the Suns were 9 deep in their rotations, their bench played a huge role in the sweep, terrible matchups for the Spurs across the board.  Which leads me to Ron Artest and his role for the Lakers, he's being asked to be a better version of Rick Fox, and be what Bruce Bowen was for the Spurs, he's been better than Fox defensively, but Fox just fit the Laker triangle, and he's the same as Bowen defensively, but Artest has never really been a role player in his career, he has either been the 1st or 2nd option in the offense, so now being the 3rd or 4th option in the offense, he is in the same plight as Richard Jefferson, he's open for jumpers and 3's, and not so much open for slashing to the rim or posting up.   His attitude and approach have a lot to do with how he's making it work for the Lakers, one the Lakers have a huge advantage inside that has to this point negated all the horrid shooting from artest and company, but it's also his selfless attitude to help the team do whatever it needs, scrappy play, loose ball chasing, defending, doing the dirty work if you will, these are the attributes that Richard Jefferson wasn't able to apply to his game to help the Spurs.  Lakers still have some unfinished business with Utah tomorrow night, but Utah doesn't have the pieces to beat the Lakers, had Okur and Kirilenko been 100%, this would have been a great series, but the Jazz just don't have enough surrounding Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer to make any noise against the Lakers.  Wes Matthews, and Kyle Korver had amazing performances for the Jazz, but they're still not doing anything inside the lane, jumpers  you can deal with, getting dunked on and surrendering easy buckets are demoralizing for your defense, you start doubling inside, and now your rotations and spacing are all thrown off, and the oppositions offense is allowed to flow.   The rest of the NBA has the same problem that the Thunder, and the Jazz are running into, you can't match up against the Lakers up front, a 50% bynum is still better than everybody in the league aside from D. Howard, Pau at power forward is too big and skilled for anyone else, throw odom in there, and you have an athletic big man who can do everything for you, and you're in trouble.   Now the Jazz and Thunder were able to slow those 3 down, but they couldn't overcome the size, I think Gasol had an offensive rebound tip in to win the Thunder series, and Gasol had 2 or 3 offensive rebounds in Game 3 against the Jazz that were the difference in the game.  Let's take a look at that Suns roster in the 4 and 5 spots, Amare, amazing, Louis Amundson, scrappy but still can't handle any of the Laker big men, Jarron Collins, I think he averages 4 minutes per game,  Channing Frye, good luck jacking up 3's when you have to spend most of your energy on defense guarding bynum or gasol, and well, I think he gives aways some weight to Gasol, so who knows, if the Suns stay hot shooting, they'll shoot themselves into the finals like the Magic did last year, BUT doing it for 4 games total against the world champs remains to be seen!   Eastern Conference I have no real interest in, I just hope Lebron loses, even though I despise the Celtics and the big two actresses, I like Ray Allen and Rondo, but Garnett and Pierce are just jibber jabber talkers, and whoever wins that will get their brains beat in by the Magic, they look too strong for either Boston or the Cavs.  If the Magic make it to the finals, they play exactly like the Suns, and they play right into the Lakers' hands, keep shooting threes, and let D. Howard waste his fouls on swatting kobe's shots away, while Pau and Bynum abuse Rashard Lewis, Ryan Anderson, and Marcin Gortat.  I'm telling you when you have to play defense, it's tough to get your shot going, when you're expending so much energy on the defensive end, look at last year, Lewis shot disappeared in the finals, will Jameer Nelson be the difference?  Vince Carter? Barners or Pietrus?  Unless all of those guys start driving to teh basket they don't ahve a chance, they shoot too many 3's and rely too much on D. Howard to do work inside and bail them out on teh defensive end, Bobcats had no offense to combat Magic poor shooting, and the Hawks are choking like they almost choked the Bucks series away, I actually really like that team a lot, Josh Smith, beast, Horford, nice work, marvin williams, what type of player are you supposed to be? Mike Bibby, where are you? Joe Johnson, man you shouldn't have left the Suns, but I like your work with the Hawks at least until this Magic series.  Jamal Crawford, you can't save this team, it's a mentality as a whole, you're a well spoke individual, that brings maturity to this team, but when your coach is getting called for technicals for being in the way of play, that tells you something, leadership is a huge deal.   Let the playoffs continue...

I feel almost like an intern, but more like the non profit lawyer at that prestigious law firm.  Working your way up for that big tenured position, but what if you don't want money, you want credit?  What if you don't want applause, but the satisfaction of knowing that you were able to do above and beyond not just the clients' expectations but your own lofty standards?  Respecting yourself, your craft, is the key to upholding your own sanity in the professional world, because often politics and other extra variables tend to dilute your passion for what you do.

Rocky II

I've seen Rocky II, but not in a very long time, and I forgot how inspirational these movies are, apart from the actual fight against Apollo Creed, is actually a very real look into the life of a man who is struggling with his identity, a crossroads in that he is looking to provide for his family, and also trying to do so without jeopardizing his own health.  But what you know is best, is you know yourself, or at least you're supposed to, and Rocky knows what he's good at, and that's getting his face beat in, and having the heart of a champion!

"Pre-Match Eating Strategies" – By Coach Mike Bolla

Most of your body's energy on match day will come from the foods you've eaten over the past several days. But you can boost your performance even more by paying attention to the food you eat on the day of your match. On game-day strive for a diet rich in carbohydrates, moderate in protein, and low in fat.

Here are some guidelines on what to eat and when:

Eat a meal 2 to 4 hours before your match: Choose a protein and carbohydrate meal (eg. cereal and milk, beans and rice, egg whites and whole wheat toast etc.)

Eat a snack less than 2 hours before your match: If you haven't had time to have a pre-game meal, be sure to have a light snack such as low-fiber fruits or vegetables (eg. bananas, watermelon, cherries, carrots etc.), crackers, a bagel, or low-fat yogurt.

Try not to eat anything for the hour before you compete or have practice because digestion requires energy — energy that you want to use to win. Also, eating too soon before any kind of activity can leave food in the stomach, making you feel full, bloated, cramped, or even sick.

Everyone is different, and has a different metabolic rate, so get to know what works best for you. You may want to experiment with meal timing and how much to eat on practice days so that you're better prepared for your game day.