The Size of Your Dreams, - [good books for high schoolers txt] 📗
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“What are you saying?” Christy asked.
“Like I told you before, each time you reach a world class coach and tell her your story, you might have a 10% chance of getting her to help you out. So if you’re only willing to call one or two coaches, the odds are that you’ll fail. But remember, this is a math class. What would happen to your odds if you called 20?” “Now you want me to call 20 of the best coaches in the world?”
“A few minutes ago, when I asked you what you’d be willing to do to reach your goal, you said anything. Now you’re telling me that making 20 phone calls is beyond you?”
“I guess not.”
“Good. So on your second notecard, write down the following steps:
1. Research the top swimming coaches in the world
2. Make a list of 20 World Class Coaches to reach out to
“But here’s the thing, if you call with the expectation of getting a no, they’ll detect that in your voice. Before each call, you must reconnect with your vision and fully believe that you’ll get a yes.”
“That makes sense to me,” Christy said. “Coach Silver always told us that no matter how strong our competition, we could never go into a race thinking we were going to lose.”
“Excellent, then add to your card:
3. Before each call, I will reconnect with my vision and get myself into a peak state
“Peak state?”
“Yes, in an excited, high energy, positive state of being. When you’re in a peak state, it’s contagious. Let’s add one more:
4. Call each coach, and be open to whatever help they offer to give
“Are you willing to do all of that?”
“Yes, Mr. Griffin.”
“If you do all of that, I expect that before your two-week deadline you’ll have the coaching you need. Remember to read your cards every morning and night and check off the app each time. Your 30-day commitment starts now.”
The bell rang.
“Remember, all of you committed to help Christy. Homework for tonight, I want everyone researching the world’s top swimming coaches. Names are good, but let’s not settle for good. Go the extra mile and get Christy phone numbers as well.”
* * *
The rest of the day, I couldn’t get that class out of my mind. At first, Mr. Griffin had seemed like an insensitive jerk. Rather than sympathizing with Christy’s situation, he attacked her. I’d done that plenty of times myself, yelling at people when I thought they were doing the wrong thing, and it only resulted in a blowup. I learned that if I wanted people to respond to me, I was better off being sympathetic. Yet, despite his attacks, Christy had shifted, and even I believed that she might be able to find herself a coach now. How had he done that?
As soon as I got home, I created a new Google Sheet entitled The World’s Top Swimming Coaches. I immediately invited Christy, Jarod, and Darnell and gave them editorial access to the spreadsheet. Then, after a moment, I added Mr. Griffin as well. Why not? He said he’d help.
Getting a list of the top college coaches would be easy. I could download the college rankings from the past few years and look into their programs. Perhaps I’d do that if I had time. For now, I wanted to set my sights a bit higher.
After an hour and a half of work, and plenty of help from Google Translate, I managed to find not only my target’s mobile phone number but her home number and email as well. I sat back and admired my work, picturing the expression on Christy’s face when she saw the contact information for the Russian Olympics coach.
Mastermind
The next day math was canceled for a school assembly. On Wednesday, Christy walked into class with a noticeable bounce in her step.
“Something tells me you have news to report,” Mr. Griffin said.
“My classmates went a bit over the top in the coaching hunt. I now have 36 contacts.”
Actually, I was the only one of her classmates that added anything to the list. I had entered 23 of the names, and Christy had done the remaining 13 on her own.
“Have you called any yet?” Mr. Griffin asked.
“Six.”
“How were the responses?”
“The first five were all no’s. One was kind of a jerk, but the other four were all sweet and apologetic. One was adamant that I could do it myself and recommended that I read the book The Talent Code to learn more about coaching. You’ll never guess which coach that was.”
“The Russian Olympics coach?” Mr. Griffin asked.
“You got it.” Christy winked in my direction. “Then last night, I got my first partial yes.”
“Tell us.”
“I called the coach of State College, Jan Morgan. They finished twelfth in the country last year. Coach Jan invited us to come down for a joint practice on Friday.” Christy bounced in her seat. “Their practice facility is only a half hour from here.”
“Great first step. How about the rest of your list?”
“I have to keep calling them, don’t I? One joint practice is hardly going to get us to win the State Championship.”
“Any other updates?”
“Yes, I’ve been working with my co-captain Jill on our plan. We added two more items to my first notecard. Now it reads:
I intend to captain the girls’ swim team to victory in the State Championships on March 8th. To accomplish this, I will do the following:
1. Find an Amazing coach
2. Unite all the girls on the team with our vision of victory
3. Work on my coaching skills
Mr. Griffin tipped an imaginary hat to Christy. “Any changes to your coaching card?”
“We added one more step there:
I intend to find an amazing coach for the girls swim team by November 24. To accomplish this, I will do the following steps.
1. Research the top swimming coaches in the world
2. Make a list of 20 World Class Coaches to reach out to
3. Before each call, I will reconnect with my vision and get myself in a peak state of mind.
4. Call each coach, and be open to whatever help they offer to give.
5. Create a Team Video showing who we are and why we want to win so badly
“A video…interesting.” His eyes sparkled. “Why’d you add that?”
“Like you said, great coaches know each other. But just knowing another coach isn’t enough, they need to be able to tell our story, to convey why it’s worth helping us out. With a video, we can make the case for ourselves, and give these coaches something they can easily pass on.”
“Great thinking. When do you plan to make the video?”
“I only came up with the idea while reading my cards this morning. I’d like to do it at practice today, though I don’t yet have a plan for how.” Christy looked around the room. “You all said you’d help. Any of you know how to make a video?”
Her eyes skimmed over Jarod and Darnell, then came to rest on me. She knew, as we all did, that I was the only one of us experienced in video editing, let alone had the software to do it. She gave me a beseeching smile I couldn’t resist.
“I can edit it tonight with Final Cut,” I said. “Can you shoot it today?”
“I need to be running practice,” she said. “Could you come and shoot it too?”
I dropped my eyes. “You’d want me there?”
“Of course.” The sound of pity in her voice made me sink lower in my chair. “I’d love your help.”
“OK,” I said, without looking up. “I’ll come shoot it too.”
“Thank you. And stop blushing. We’ll be in swim suits, not naked.”
Note: if you ever want someone to stop blushing, don’t point it out in public. I buried my face in my hands as Jarod and Darnell enjoyed a good laugh.
“That’s wonderful news about the joint practice,” Mr. Griffin said again, probably just to draw the attention off of me.
Christy beamed. “A bonus is that they’re also one of my top choices for college next year. Even if they don’t offer us any additional assistance this year, if I make a strong enough impression at the practice, it might help my chances of getting an athletic scholarship.”
“It might indeed. One thing I love about doing this work is that once you start building momentum down your path, you never know what additional doors will open up.”
A “humph” came from the back of the room.
“Yes, Jarod. You have something to add?”
“No, I’m good.” Jarod crossed his arms and turned his head away.
“You don’t sound so good,” Mr. Griffin said.
“Just bitter and jealous. Let’s not make a big deal out of it.”
“Too late for that. Bitter about what?”
“I don’t want to give Christy a hard time. It’s not her fault.”
“What isn’t?” Mr. Griffin asked.
“That she might have a chance for a scholarship to State. Christy’s a friend—I want her to get it. I’m just jealous because I might go there too, but unlike her, I have no idea how I’m supposed to pay for it.”
“Why not take out loans?” Darnell asked.
“And work the rest of my life just to pay them off? Should I be like my step-brother Mike who turned 30 last month and hasn’t even paid off half of his college loans? At the rate he’s going, it’ll take him another ten years just to be broke.”
“Thank you for volunteering to be the next victim in our experiment.” Mr. Griffin strolled over to Jarod’s desk, a blank notecard in hand.
“No thanks, Mr. Griffin. I’ll pass.”
“I don’t think so.” Mr. Griffin pointed right at him. “Let’s not forget that you were the one who asked for the grade pressure to help you along. You’ve signed a contract allowing me to invoke a 30 day period whenever I want requiring you to read your cards every morning and night. No card, no credit for reading it.”
Jarod huffed.
“As I recall, you need this math credit to graduate. Wasn’t that your reason for taking the class? Now, what would you like to accomplish in these next 30 days?”
“Nothing.”
“If you’re feeling bitter and jealous, there’s something you want.”
“I was feeling jealous at the idea that Christy can get herself a scholarship and bitter because I know I can’t get one myself, alright?”
“Why are you so certain you can’t get a scholarship?”
“State only gives scholarships for sports and academics.” Jarod’s shoe jittered against the leg of his desk. “I don’t play sports, and my grades are barely strong enough to get in.”
“Do you have any idea how many millions of dollars of independent scholarships are available in this country? Many go unclaimed. You’d be surprised at what you might qualify for.”
“Applying for scholarship after scholarship that I’m not going to get sounds like more pointless homework. Besides, it will take away time that I could be using to actually earn money for
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