News For
SWIM PARENTS
Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave.,
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My Man Dan…
By Mike McCauley
Head Coach of
Premier Aquatics,
I drove to
the pool that Monday afternoon, and I got a text from one of my swimmers.
“I won’t be at practice today…I’m at the hospital…”
And as I come
to the end of the season, with all my swimmers in prep mode for their various
championship meets, it always gets a little tough. We, coach and athlete,
are plagued by the unforeseeable. What’s going to happen?
I always get
excited during this period because I know that, in the end…succeed to a certain
degree or fail big…my kids will be forced to handle the outcome, no matter what.
And how they handle each outcome is what helps to drive their character
development and long-term success chances. Maybe they will be arrogant,
maybe they will throw a fit…or maybe, just maybe, each of my athletes will use
their various experiences as motivation to become better. Become better
where? In school, with their parents, in training, in their future
jobs…everywhere! If I can get them to solve a riddle that plagues most,
then I get to taste a little success as their coach. What’s that riddle
you ask? Here it is: How do you turn success, failure, or hard
times, into an empowering situation?
Back in my
car…naturally I called him right away. No answer. Dang it!
What’s happened? I got a text response to my call. “They think I
have diabetes.” What?!?! DIABETES?!?! You can imagine
all the things that went flying through my head. That’s impossible.
It can’t be right. That’s not fair. He was just tearing up last
Friday’s workout, shook my hand, told me thanks for the workout, and went
home…nothing out of the ordinary there. What’s going to happen?
Now I find it
interesting that I asked myself the same question, only now, I suddenly didn’t
care about what used to be at the forefront of my mind. Swimming, what? My
priorities shifted quickly, a 180-degree turn to say the least. My man
Dan…what’s going to happen?
Obviously my
role was to relax my swimmers when I drove up to the pool. I was sure they
already knew something. So I walked in, gathered up my kids, and told them
about their teammate. We had a good workout that day…a tribute to my kids
rolling with something unexpected but able to stay focused on the task at hand.
They all wanted to help, but understood that there was nothing at the immediate
moment to do for him, except complete a good workout.
The next
morning, I drove down to Texas Children’s Hospital. On the way down, I
called a dear friend of mine, one that could give me some good information on
diabetes, then another for directions. I finally found my swimmer lying in
a hospital bed on the 14th floor…room 1435.
When I walked
in, Sudoku book and a goofy pen in hand, I had a plan for my man Dan:
Laugh, talk shop, and then show him that the lessons he learned through swimming
were being tested right here, right now.
I was
fortunate enough to sit with his parents and listen as doctors and dieticians
delivered a barrage of information. We all asked questions, trying to wrap
our minds around the depth of this unfair diagnosis. Unfair. That’s
what it was. If I could, I would have reached into his body and ripped it
out…everyone was thinking the same thing.
We talked
about the Olympic swimmer Gary Hall, Jr., and how he has diabetes. We
looked through the Regional psych sheet, and talked about Sectionals. We
discussed the lessons of swimming applicable to this scenario. And then I
tried not to look while he gave himself his first injection.
And yet,
through all of this, he was calm, not panicked. What? Could this be
right? I watched a little more. He’s rocked that’s for sure, but he
was unbelievably calm. My mind did a back flip! Are you kidding me?
Here he is, learning how to cope with an unexpected, life-long disease…yet he’s
not crying, he’s not shouting, he’s not blaming anyone, he’s not arguing; He
wasn’t looking for a way out; he was looking for a way through!
I smiled all
the way home from the hospital. What a remarkable young man! Put
through an emotional gauntlet and still, he did not back down. My
man Dan…he solved the riddle! Right there in that hospital room, under the
most unlikely of circumstances, he solved it. What’s going to happen?
I think I know…and so does he.