Sometimes, life gets turned upside down. I had been a Collegiate Strength Coach for nearly eight years, since graduating from college, to be exact. My life revolved around getting up at 5:30AM, spending all day in a dark dungeon of a weight room, and listening to college kids talk about practice and their weekend parties.
But then, as we say, "Life Happened."
I got the opportunity to not only move back near my hometown, but also to continue doing what I love - working with aspiring athletes. Only these kids are bouncing-off-the-wall-full-of-energy-can-barely-write-cursive kids. I joined the Parisi Speed School which works with kids ages 7 and up. This was quite the change from the college life I was used to. Not to mention different hours, different coaching, and a different mindset.
Suddenly, I realized that it was less about what I know and more about relationships. The parents of these kids needed to know that I cared about their child - their success and helping them. Oh, and the business side of things. That's one thing you don't need much of in the collegiate setting. Now I'm making phone calls and trying to figure out how to reach out to the community.
In a short time, I became Program Director and work seemed to find it's way in my brain constantly. Even when I'm home, I'm thinking about who to call, what's on the agenda for the next few days and how we can continue to impact the lives of kids. My mom cape (as my friend, Susan, likes to call it) gets put aside all too often. This causes the house to be ransacked by evil monsters from Monday through Friday and the energy level of the adults (my husband and I) to be exponentially diminished. Thankfully by Saturday, the laundry has been done, I've found my mom cape, and my motherly instincts take over like a tidal wave.
My kitchen hasn't been this clean since the day we moved in and the only "toy" that sits out in the living room floor is an empty roll of toilet paper. (My kids are young enough that I can claim that as a "toy." Right?). Although I did make homemade granola, so perhaps that counts for something. And if you think the mom cape doesn't get worn very often, you should see my workout cape. It's funny because people think, "You work in a sports performance center... so you get to work out all the time, right?" Um... yeah. If you count tending to customers and making phone calls in between sets "working out."
The balance of running a Parisi program, doing what I love (training), and being a Mom is hard to find. But what I've learned over the years is that wherever I am at the moment, do that thing to the fullest. If it's work, work hard. If it's training, train hard. And if it's being a mom, love hard. No more phone calls while I train, no more writing e-mails while I read books to my kids and no more doing bear walks with the kids just so I can get a workout in. Ok, maybe some compromises can be made.