Over the past three weeks I have been fortunate to speed time with two great coaches, professional colleagues and most importantly close friends and great people – Juan Osorio now the manger of the Mexican National team in soccer and Jim Radcliffe, head S&C coach at University of Oregon. We share a passion for coaching excellence that has connected us over the years. I only wish I could have recorded my dinner conversation with Juan as he recounted the month he spent with Pep Guardiola in Barcelona and the other month with Louis Van Gal when he was at Bayern – Priceless! Juan’s passion for learning is off the scale, I am looking for him to take El Tri to new heights of achievement. During matches Juan writes his observations and comments on the game in a notebook, in many ways this has become his trademark, something the TV commentators are always pointing out. When he was asked why he writes in a notebook during the game he answered: “ A short pencil is more efficient than a long memory” wise words to ponder.
This past weekend in what has become a tradition Jimmy Radcliffe flies from the NCAA regional track meet to spend a day in Sarasota with me just catching up and talking training. In many ways that day and the week at GAIN are the highlights of my year. Jimmy like Juan is passionate and driven to learn and improve. Like Juan a 16 hour day is the norm, when I think if Jimmy I think of him as the coaches coach. Here is some sage advice from Jimmy during our conversation Sunday on recovery. “When you look at recovery always look at what you are recovering from and what you are recovering for?” Again food thought, use recovery methods strategically and wisely.
Just writing about these two guys makes me realize how blessed I am to have friends like this who are not self-promoters and genuine great people.
