END PRODUCT IS WHAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT, NOT PRACTICE

‘End Product’ is another way of saying, “What have you done lately?”

We pay to go to concerts, games, and races.

We don’t pay to go to practice rooms, weight rooms, or interval track training, the stuff done before the end product.

Buy a ticket for an event and you expect a competent performance?

Sounds reasonable to me.

If you don’t practice, you don’t get better, you don’t become competent.

Yes, we talking about practice.

But, before practice there’s an interest in an activity, learning more about it, then setting up for practice.

Buy a guitar, workout, do the miles.

After you play a guitar better you join a band, buy a van, and go on tour. But it starts with practice changing chords and running scales, practice for keeping time and staying tuned.

After you feel strong enough you find the right sport and learn how to compete against others. But, it starts with getting your body right.

After you feel fast enough you sign up for a race. Runners move on their legs, but they keep moving on their lungs.

Eventually you get a hit song, you’re the league MVP, you break the tape at the end of the race with your arms held high.

 

One Of Many In The Beginning

No one hears the kid banging on a piano in the beginning, pounding drums, or honking out on a saxophone like a lost goose calling for its partner.

Chalk it up to kids being noisy with deaf parents, so soon to be.

But they stay with it, learn to keep time, change musical instruments.

They still make noise, but it sounds like organized noise, which is what all music is. Organized noise.

The better organized, the better the sound, the greater the interest in doing more and getting better.

 

No one sees the scrawny kid picked last for teams, but who keeps showing up.

They’re not sure what to do on the court or on the field, but they’ve got more enthusiasm than half the team put together.

No one sees them settling into a routine of conditioning, rest, and the right food, and if they do they see a boring life.

Things change with time and suddenly there’s a new kid on the block.

Now the scrawny kid runs faster, jumps higher, and is stronger than ever.

And they pick the sides now.

 

No one pays attention to the small runner in the pack who lags behind everyone, but still finishes.

They’re out on the track in the rain? Just another kooky kid with a pipe dream of greatness getting washed away before their summer job in the mill turns into a life long career.

You see the kid running through town and out over the bridge and someone asks why they run?

“They live in Coos Bay. Wouldn’t you run away?”

The longer they run, the closer they get to the greatness reserved for the lucky few, until they become iconic.

Then they’re gone.

 

Practice Like You Play

A man played twelve years in the NBA, two on championship winning teams, along with an Olympic Gold in Tokyo 1964, after being a college all-American and high school star.

He contributed to the game:

 

His son Brent played college basketball at the University of the Pacific, his son Brian played at Western Oregon University and his son Chris played at Sheridan Junior College and South Dakota State.

His grandsons Brent Jr. played at St. Martin’s University, Patrick at Chemeketa Community Collegeand California Maritime Academy, Kyle at St. Thomas – Minnesota, and Jack at Blanchet Catholic High School in Salem, Oregon.

Mixed martial artist Chael Sonnen is his nephew.

 

If you had this kid in your high school would you name the basketball court after them?

 

The most accomplished basketball player in Marshfield history, Counts graduated from high school in 1960 and went on to be an All-American for three years at Oregon State University and a member of the 1964 Olympic champion team. 

He was a first-round draft pick of the Boston Celtics and played on two world champion teams in Boston. He had a 12-year NBA career that ended in 1976.

 

PS:

The end product is what we pay for when we’re surprised by an overnight sensation who’s been at it for twenty years.

Where have they been?

They’ve been right in front of you.

 

PSS:

Whether you’re a nobody who wants to be a somebody, a somebody who wants to be just another face the crowd, or happy just where you are, keep practicing.

Practice staying strong by lifting weights.

Practice being smart by reading and writing. (Hey O)

Practice being in the moment by listening.

And practice patience when your wife throws up a stiff arm so she can interrupt you in the middle of telling a story. (Hey honey)

Practice like you play and you’ll notice a change in yourself and those around you.