People that inspire me - John Hetzendorf

There are 48 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #3 of 50 – John Hetzendorf

In the past two weeks I’ve written about my best friend and then one of my best athletes.  This week we switch gears to a former teammate and co-worker John Hetzendorf, known by most affectionately as “Dorf”.

I was in my third year of college at Kent State when Dorf joined our team – ironically at the same exact time Steve Rainbolt became the head coach at Kent State.  Both Dorf and Bolt stayed at Kent for five years then made the move to Wichita in 2000 where they have both been coaches ever since – 22 consecutive years.  I’ve been part of that group on and off for 16 years.

Dorf at the 2005 World Championships in Finland

Dorf had a long and very successful athletic career throwing the Javelin.  As a youngster he made the World Junior Championships.  In college he was a multiple time all-American and should be inducted into the Kent State Hall of Fame someday.  As a post collegian he made it to three Olympic Trials and ultimately represented the USA in the 2005 World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki, Finland.  All this while being a full-time throws coach for WSU.  Simply remarkable.

To know Dorf in passing is really not to know Dorf because he’s usually quiet and very humble.  I’ve told him to brag about his athletic achievements more during recruiting but it’s not in his personality.  As an athlete and as a coach he’s always gone about his business his own way and largely out of the spotlight.  A biology major in college, he’s probably the smartest guy in our office in terms of figuring out training programs and bouncing ideas off to help better any aspect of the team.  He can talk just as intelligently about distance running or sprinting as he can about the throwing events.  He’s always been a team player and one of the guys you want on your side when headed into battle.

Recently his world has changed as he married Amber a couple years ago, had their first child (Jack) last year and turned 40 this week.  So I was curious what some of the following answers would be …

I asked Dorf five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  Now that you’re 40, what advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?

Dorf:  Ask more questions! Even if I thought I had things figured out... ask questions to be a better learner. Don't be afraid to ask questions.  People often don't want to look dumb or look like what we don't know what's going on.  But when we feel that way that is exactly when we need to ask questions.  At 15 I didn't want to look dumb so I never asked questions I should have asked! 

Question 2:  Where is the best place you’ve ever traveled and why?

Dorf:  I don't have just one. In 1996 I competed in the World Junior Champs in Sydney, Australia... the Aussies are a laid back fun loving group of people. They were very welcoming and made sure you had a good time!!!

Cinque Terre, Italy, maybe the most beautiful place I have ever seen! Google it! ;) It's basically 5 sleepy fishing villages on the Mediterranean with amazing food, coffee and hiking!! 

Eugene, Oregon, it's the one place where a track coach or track athlete feels like a rock star!   Also great place to be outside!! The ocean, mountains and forest are all close by.  I also meet my wife there!!!  ;)

Paris... amazing vibe you need experience it to get it.  Food, history, art... and nice people. I know everyone says Parisians are rude.  But as a Parisian bartender told me Paris may have more assholes but there are assholes everywhere.

Question 3:  Now that you have a child, what one thing would you change about society that may affect him in the future

Dorf:  - you had to go there... haha

Well the biggest thing for me is eliminate: whining, finger pointing, and a lack of personal responsibility... I feel like our society has moved toward people whining about their problems pointing their finger and blaming someone else, instead of taking responsibility for their lot in life.  I think social media has made it way too easy to whine and blame someone else for your problems or whatever else that bothers us!!  Just look at the political environment today, I don't care who you voted for or if you are left or right. All I know is both sides are pointing fingers at the other side.  I would love for that to change!! I would love for society step up and take responsibility for themselves.  I want people to say hey I may not like what's going on or what my life has become but I can handle it I will find a way to make it better rather than point fingers or expect someone else to fix it.  I could do a better job of this myself! I'm trying to be better.

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame someone else." Steve Prefontaine

Question 4:  What drove you to be better at Javelin throwing throughout your long career?

Dorf:  The biggest thing is I loved throwing the javelin and I truly got a rush from throwing. I'm not talking about throwing far or PRs. I found it amazingly satisfying to just flight a javelin and watch it fly.  The other thing throwing did for me is it gave each and every day a purpose. Everyday was a new opportunity to figure out how to get better to work harder to improve myself. That process really drove me. 

Question 5:  Who inspires you and why?

Dorf:  Well my parents were the first.  My Mom was an activity director at a nursing home.  I watched her bring joy to the residents and she truly cared and loved them.  She brought happiness to a place that most people thought was depressing.  My dad worked as a machinist and a foreman and eventually a plant manager, he always took great pride in his work and did the best job he could. And he treated the work he loved and the work he hated the same, just did the best he could.  He always strove to do the best job he could.  Other than my parents I'm inspired by anyone who overcomes the odds, or just overcomes struggles, injuries, etc.  The underdog inspires me. The overachiever!!! 

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have John Hetzendorf in my life?

I could sit here and write countless stories that involved me and Dorf.  From back in college where he lost a fight to a recliner, to the night he said he threw 400 meters in the Javelin, to our common love of annoying Coach Yost in the office or the multiple adventures at NASCAR races in Kansas City.  Everyone has memorable stories that include Dorf but I remember something that happened that probably resulted in him getting the throws coaching job at Wichita State.

I was in my second year on the staff at Kent State, which was Dorf’s senior year.  After being a multiple time all-American in previous years, he was having major struggles in his final few meets.  After struggling through the MAC Championships, and not placing as high as he was projected, he walked up the stands in Buffalo’s stadium straight up to Bolt (I was standing next to Bolt at the time) and apologized for not getting it done for what we had projected and that he was very sorry.  As he walked away Bolt turned to me and said, “That’s a really good guy right there.”  We went on to win our first MAC Championship in 25 years for Kent State that weekend and Dorf was a big part of it.  A couple months later Bolt was named the head coach at WSU and hired Dorf right out of college with no experience.  For a young college person to own up to his disappointment and to talk to the head coach like that said all you need to know about John Hetzendorf.  As long as I’ve known him he’s always been honest, loyal and dependable.  Now in his 17^th year at Wichita State it is obvious he has been the same way throughout his coaching career.  His athletes consistently love and respect him because “Dorf is just Dorf” all the time.

Coach Rainbolt gets a lot of attention for turning the Wichita State program into a consistent winner (and deservedly so) but all along the way John Hetzendorf has been there, quietly working away in his office or out in the solitude of the throws field and I hope everyone realizes how important he is to the program at WSU and to his co-workers in the office.  Thanks Dorf!

People that inspire me - Audacia Moore

There are 49 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #2 of 50 – Audacia Moore

Most of the more inspirational people in my life are older than me, or at least peers, so it might be a bit unusual for me to write about someone almost 15 years younger than me.  Well, Audacia Moore is not the usual person.

I first met Audacia after the state track meet in 2008 when I started recruiting her to come to Wichita State.  She was the fastest 100m runner in the history of the state of Kansas so I figured it would be a monumental task to convince her to become a Shocker.  I quickly learned Audacia had far less interest in track and field as she did for finding a good nursing school.  Fortunately we were pretty good in both and she decided to stay in her home town for college.

I had only been the sprint coach at WSU for two years when Audacia arrived to campus and the women’s sprint group had been average in terms of contribution to the team.  Audacia changed all that.  As a freshman she started winning titles and scoring points - and it never stopped.  So many titles. So many points. By the end of her career she had won 10 MVC titles, scored the most MVC points in school history and broke every sprint record at WSU.  Since her arrival in 2009 WSU has always had one of the best women’s sprint group in the Midwest – and Audacia was where it all started.

I’ll save why she is so inspirational to me for down below.

I asked Audacia five questions, here are her responses …

Question 1:  What have you yet to accomplish that you very much want to?

Audacia:  Lots of things!  I’d love to travel the world and drag my family along with me.  Go back to school and get my masters.  Learn how to swim without a life jacket.  Dunk on my brother.  That’s just the top of my list.

Question 2:  Who/What inspires you and why?

Audacia:  My parents.  They sacrificed a lot for my brothers and me.  I always want them to look at their kids and know they did a good job.  As my parents get older I want to be prepared to take care of them, just as they took care of us.

Question 3:  What one thing would you change about society?

Audacia:  We’re too self-righteous.  I think we as a society would like to believe we’re open-minded and accepting of all individuals, but in reality we’re not as flexible as we think.

Question 4:  What drives you to be better at something?

Audacia:  I don’t like feeling inadequate.  I leave my job every morning and review what went well and what could have been better.  As a nurse my actions can be to the benefit or detriment of those I care for.  I like to carry that attitude over into everything I do.

Question 5:  What makes life meaningful?

Audacia:  Faith, family, great friends and good food.

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have Audacia in my life?

I’ve stayed in touch with Audacia here and there since she graduated and every time we see each other it is nothing but smiles, laughs and hugs.  For a while we’d go see thought provoking movies together but unfortunately life happens and work schedules don’t seem to coincide as much as we’d like.  At 27, she is already well on the way to leading a very productive life and I am glad to call her a friend.

When she was on the team, she was the ultimate TEAMMATE.  She would do absolutely anything to help the team succeed.  Here are just a couple stories.

After having a super successful freshman year in the sprint events where she was one of the top freshmen in the country, she volunteered to try long jump and triple jump for the first time to score more points for the team.  Not only did she learn how to do them, she ended up becoming all-conference multiple times and we won additional MVC titles because of her extra points in the jumping events.  She never did this for glory of herself, in fact she hated having the attention on her.  She only did it to help the team win.

Another thing that was inspiring that not everyone knew was that she ran most of her outdoor senior year on a broken foot.  She had a terrific season opener at Arkansas where she ran 23.57 in the 200m and then returned to Wichita with a lot of pain.  After finding out she had a fracture in her foot, her only response was, “it’s ok, I can deal with the pain.  I got this coach!”  Her senior year outdoor was probably the worst of her career in terms of how fast she ran but she still scored major points in five events and led our team to a victory at the MVC Outdoor Championships on our home track at Cessna Stadium.  At the conference meet, one of the officials said to me, “Well it looks like Audacia wasn’t able to sustain her success this year huh?”  After telling this person that Audacia had just run five races and completed 12 jumps on a broken foot he looked at me in disbelief, apologizing and telling me how fortunate we must be to have her on the team.  Most people will remember her records, titles and contribution to WSU Track & Field.  I will always remember that outdoor senior year and how she came to practice and meets every day and gave us literally everything she had.

On top of all that, Audacia was a 3.97 Nursing student and one of the absolute best people you could ever get to know.  I am so lucky to know Audacia and even if I don’t see her every day like I used to, I hope she knows her spirit is alive at our track everyday because she inspires me to be a better person and to push everyone around me to do the same!  Thanks Audacia!

People that inspire me - Kevin Lucas

Last week I wrote about a new idea for this blog and so here we go!

There are 50 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #1 of 50 – Kevin Lucas

Kevin Lucas is someone I’ve called my best friend for most of my adult life.  I’m not sure if you still call it that when you’re 42 but he’s definitely one of the special people I’ve been lucky enough to be around.  We grew up and went to the same schools and are separated by around four years.  Even though that isn’t much of a difference now, we actually never attended the same school at the same time (when I was a senior he was in eighth grade).  I “dated” his older sister in junior high and Kevin was pretty much a little punk at the time.  We ended up growing closer because we were both fast sprinters and over time we ended up both running in college (Kevin ran at Wilmington, Ohio) and eventually both becoming college track coaches.

Now Kevin is one of the top coaches in the nation, leading the crew at Mt Union College in Alliance, Ohio.  A couple years ago their squad won the NCAA Division III National Championship and Kevin was named NCAA Coach of the Year.  Anyone who knows Kevin is aware of his sharp sense of humor – which you will see on display below.  I am fortunate to know another side of Kevin, however, that is motivated to be great.

I asked Kevin five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  If your life was a movie, what would the title be and who would play you?

Kevin:  I feel like there isn’t a movie but more like a sitcom.  My life developed very similar to that of Ross Gellar on Friends.  As for a title, I will use the quote from Red in Shawshank Redemption, “Crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.”

Question 2:  What advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?

Kevin:  The only advice that I would share with my younger self would be to cherish the time you have with loved ones and friends because you never know when they might not be there.  I can honestly say I would not want to change too much for fear that I might not be where I am today without the mistakes and failures made along the way.

Question 3:  If money was no option, what would you do for the rest of your life?

Kevin:  I would still coach track and field!  It’s the greatest sport there is.  Although I have to admit I would travel a lot more.  Maybe I would run for President though because if money is truly no issue it seems like it’s pretty easy to win these days.

Question 4:  What has motivated or inspired you to be so successful in your career?

Kevin:  First off … I don’t like to lose so I think that never wanting to be second has been the main motivating factor.  However, I was also taught that whenever you do anything, you do it to the best of your abilities and put your all into it.  I figure as long as I work as hard as I can and instill that in our athletes then I will be successful.  I’ve been blessed to have parents, coaches and friends that share the same drive.

Question 5:  What is your definition of success?

Kevin:  My definition of success is to wake up everyday looking forward to going to work and enjoying what I do.  I think it’s important to be able to laugh, love and feel loved.  Success is feeling good about what you’ve done and how you’ve done it and knowing that even in failure there wasn’t more that you could do.

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have Kevin in my life?

It’s pretty simple.  No matter if we don’t see or talk to each other as much as we’d like, I can always count on Kevin to be one of the best friends a guy could have.  We talk the most during the track season, giving each other recaps of our teams and being a sounding board for ideas on how to be better.  He also makes me laugh every time we chat.  I’ve been with Kevin through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and I think we both have grown up to be better for it, whether it was watching him celebrate a NCAA title in track or surviving a road trip through the West Coast or a thousand memories along the way.  It’s pretty remarkable that two skinny kids from Eastern Brown High School grew up to earn significant coaching positions (and become not as skinny) in the highly competitive world of college track and field.  Thanks for everything Kevin.  You’re an inspiration to many, many people including me!

Being a beach bum, my month away from social media and the end of this blog as we know it

It’s been about two months since my last blog so I’ll update you about what’s been going on and my plans for 2017!

What have I been doing?

A lot actually.

Without going into all the boring details I’ve been doing a lot of work and a lot of traveling.  The month of November was very busy as we signed 13 recruits in the early signing period (most ever for Wichita State).  We lose a lot to graduation on the women’s side this year and have made some significant progress this fall in replacing some of those great athletes.

We had our annual Intrasquad Meet in December, which came off well.  Our kids look like they had a solid fall.

View from my room at the convention

Most of my December was spent traveling.  I went to Orlando for our annual USTFCCCA Convention, which is always a lot of fun and a lot of learning.  I saw some great speakers and got to hang out with a bunch of coaching friends as well.

Then I headed down the east coast of Florida for the next week.  I went to Melbourne Beach (south of Cape Canaveral), South Beach Miami, Key Largo and Key West and then back up the Gulf of Mexico side through the Everglades, up to Naples and then to Punta Gorda (near Ft Myers) where my mom lives.

Key West being a beach bum

After that couple weeks of sun and 85 degrees in Florida, I headed north to Ohio for a few chilly days before going back to Wichita for New Year’s.

It was a great trip to get away and put some perspective on life.  Sometimes when you are going full blast at work for months at a time it’s good to take a break before heading back to work.  And now I’m definitely refreshed and excited for the next six months of track and field!

We had a track meet at KU Friday.  We only had a couple of practices since we got back so this was a meet to kind of “shake off the rust” so to speak.  Overall it went well and next week we really get our indoor season going at home against KU and Kansas State on Thursday.

What have I not been doing?

Social Media.

I decided to take the month of December away from social media and I’m glad I did!  Except for the rare post for work, I didn’t read a thing on Facebook, Twitter or post a Snapchat story for a month.

Why?  This year’s election brought out a lot of negativity on social media and I just got tired of seeing it.  Even though I would block or unfollow much of what I didn’t want to see it was about impossible to shield myself totally from all the terrible comments, articles and crap out there.  So the ultimate “unfollow” was to never log on in the first place.

What did I do when I got bored?  If I couldn’t look at Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat how would I ever pass the time?  Well I started reading a lot more books.  I started going for walks around downtown Wichita (where I live) discovering lots of cool new places.  I started having more one on one communication with the people I was around.  To sum it up, I merely tried being a real person.

I’m going to head back to social media now but in a more limited way than before.  Hopefully most of the political stuff is gone and I can go back to seeing pictures of my friends’ pets and kids.

The end of this blog as we know it …

After a few years of pretty consistent writing, I feel like it has started to become a little redundant.  So I’m going to make a massive change in what I post.  I've always received a lot of great comments about this blog and I genuinely appreciate everyone who comes here and reads from time to time.

Going back to my thoughts on social media, I decided I want to use my platform for a much more positive message.  I have so many great people in my life that have had such a positive influence on me that I would like to try and share that with anyone who might be interested.

Instead of a weekly blog about what I’m doing, I’m going to write about a different person in my life who inspires me.  And hopefully some of those writings may inspire others.  It’s my way of thanking all of you who have made my life so great over the years.

Final thoughts …

I may throw in some track and field, movie or travel blogs from time to time but I’m going to try and make 2017 less about me and more about what a wonderful world I’m fortunate to be a part of.

I do a weekly email for anyone interested in Wichita State Track & Field so feel free to email jwise@goshockers.com if you want to be part of that mailing list to keep up with the Shockers!

I’m sure I’ll lose a portion of my readership but that’s ok.  I’m not trying to win any elections this year.  Haha.

Until next time, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!

Shocker recruiting update, where should I go for vacation and October always brings great movies!

I’ve been struggling to keep this blog updated but it has been a busy past month.  Here’s some of what’s been going on …

Double gold medal in Rio for Deja Young

Last time I mentioned that I coach a girl who is part of Team USA Paralympics.  Well it was a heckuva meet for Deja Young in Rio as she swept the 100m and 200m sprints and brought home two gold medals.  Since her victories in Rio, it has been a whirlwind.  She has become a media darling, got the key to the city of Wichita and had an Olympic Oak Tree planted on campus in her honor.  It’s been fun to have a part in her success and I think it has been a great experience for her!

We gave her a little time off after the Paralympics but now she is back on the track with her WSU teammates getting ready for the indoor season.  Great job Deja!

Shocker Track Update

We’ve been doing a lot of recruiting lately.  Previously I had mentioned how this was going to be an important year of recruiting on the women’s side and we’ve begun to make headway on the class of ’17.  We’ve already had nearly 30 official visits this fall and have eight commitments thus far.  The early signing period is a few weeks away and we are hoping to bring in a few more.

Recruiting is not an exact science but generally the harder you work the more success you have.  Our staff has really taken up the challenge of putting together a quality group of women this year.  So far so good!

Practice has been going well.  After 6 weeks of conditioning, we put our kids though a week of testing (that went good overall).  Now we are a couple weeks into our next phase of training that will take us through the end of this semester.  It's a grind right now.  Trying to keep the kiddos focused while working them as hard as possible.

I’ll be heading up to Northern Iowa this weekend to watch our cross country team compete in the Missouri Valley Championships.  Both our men and women are picked second in the pre-meet poll.  Coach Hunter has the team running really well so we are optimistic we will bring home some hardware!  Top-2 get trophies but, as always, our kids are not going to be satisfied with anything less than the top spot.

Tomorrow (Wed, Oct 26), Coach Rainbolt will have his annual Golf-a-thon fundraiser where he will walk and play the number of holes consistent with how old he is.  This year he turns 59.  He’ll begin as the sun rises over Willowbend Golf Course and will hopefully be done with 59 holes (and around 28 miles) by sunset.  If you’re around come out and walk nine with Bolt as he tries to reach his goal and raise some money for Shocker T&F!

Travel

Since I got such a good response from my travel blog about Southeast Asia I thought I’d mention some of the places I get to go from time to time in this space.

A few weeks ago I headed out east to catch some football and hang out with some great people.  First, I took in the Florida/Tennessee rivalry in Knoxville, Tennessee.  I’ve been to plenty of big time sporting events but witnessing the craziness that is Rocky Top (as well as seeing them defeat rival Florida) is way, way up there.  That whole Rocky Top thing is pretty hilarious – they really love that song!

On the same trip I headed back home to Cincinnati to catch the Bengals home opener against the Denver Broncos.  Unfortunately the good guys weren’t able to pull this one out but it was a fun game nonetheless.  I had a couple of Cincy style cheese coneys so I was a very happy guy.

Other than that, I’ve not been anywhere too exotic lately.  It’s been a lot of traveling to see recruits and staying in hotels with continental breakfasts.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I can get out to some place that will bring some entertaining stories.

I’m thinking of taking another international vacation next year and am looking for ideas.  I’ve been to parts of Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.  What does everyone think of Iceland?  I’ve been doing a lot of research and I’m very intrigued.  Thoughts on Iceland or anywhere else fun?

Movies

October is always a great month for movies because of Halloween.  This year in the downtown Warren in Wichita they brought back a ton of old horror movies for $5.  I love a good horror movie.  Also we just had the Tallgrass Film Festival that brings in great independent films from all over the world.  Here is a recap of what I’ve seen since the last blog …

Sept 16 – Sully – This is the retelling of the Chelsey Sullenberger story where the American pilot emergency landed his commercial flight in the Hudson River (directed by Clint Eastwood).  Overall I thought it was a solid movie, with the most interesting part being how he had to defend himself through the post-landing investigation.  Rating 7/10

Sept 19 – Snowden – Oliver Stone’s latest movie about former NSA Intelligence employee Edward Snowden (played well by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his trials and tribulations about classified government documents.  I liked this movie and it makes you think what would you do in the situation?  Gordon-Levitt is also becoming one of my favorite actors.  7/10

Sept 28 – Blair Witch – Sequel to the hugely successful 1999 film that broke ground in low-budget horror.  This new version could be broken down to two parts.  The first hour is an average set up with fairly uninteresting characters.  The final 30 minutes is very good and leaves you on the edge of your seat until the end!  If you liked the first one, you’ll like this one.  7/10

Oct 3 – The Exorcist – The 1973 original was the opening film in the downtown Wichita horror month and wow was it terrific!  I’ve seen The Exorcist before but never on a big screen.  Seeing it in the theater was absolutely riveting.  If you ever get a chance do the same.  Great stuff!  9/10

Oct 4 – Halloween 3: Season of the Witch – The only Halloween movie that wasn’t about Michael Myers, it was made in 1982.  I saw this movie as a kid and thought it was kind of cool.  It is a little dated now and is probably more funny than scary but I still enjoyed it.  6/10

Oct 6 – Phantasm – This 1979 horror movie scared the crap out of me as a kid.  All I could ever remember was the scary tall man and the sphere that chased people through the mausoleum (and then killed you).  It has been digitally remastered so I gave it another look.  Still was a lot of fun!  7/10

Oct 10 – Phantasm 5: Ravager – The latest of the Phantasm sequels (and probably the last) was opening here.  Super low budget and not near as good as the original but I still enjoyed seeing all the old characters from the original back trying to defeat the bad guys.  5/10

Oct 14 – The Beatles:  Eight Days a Week – This is Ron Howard’s latest movie (part of the Tallgrass Film Festival) about the touring years of the Beatles.  The documentary focused on the quick rise to superstardom for the group and how they basically invented the stadium concert.  I could tell most of the audience was older and fans of the Beatles because half the crowd sung along with the songs.  Really good movie, rarely do I attend a movie where the crowd claps and sings through the end of the credits!  8/10

Oct 24 – Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer – Wow, this is one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen.  Made in 1986 and not released until 1990 because of rating disputes with the MPAA, it was banned in most cities around the country.  I can see why.  It’s not that gory or gruesome (although there is some blood) but the disturbing thing is how real it is.  It has an eerie feel all the way through and as I walked out of the theater I was a little paranoid about every person I saw on the street.  This is daring filmmaking for 1986 and I’m so glad I was able to see it.  9/10

Next time

I’ll be back to update everyone on the latest goings in Shocker T&F, my travels and movies!  Hopefully sooner than a month from now!

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!

Paralympics, Shocker T&F, No selfies and a movie update

Oh man it’s been a while since I’ve blogged (over a month).  So here’s an update as to what is going on …

Did you know I coach an Olympian?

Deja Young

This is true.  Deja Young will start competition today (Saturday, Sept 10) in the Rio Paralympics.  Last year she won the world title at 100m (silver in the 200m) and broke her division world record in the 100m at 11.92.  She’s worked very hard to keep fit all summer while most of the team took some time off and now it’s time to see how she can do.  She’s very excited for this opportunity to represent her country and we’re all proud of her at Wichita State!  You can watch her run on the NBC Sports Channel’s coverage or online.  Good luck Deja!

Here’s a couple links to stories and videos about Deja, you might find some quotes from me if you look hard enough …..

Wichita Eagle (Bob Lutz)

GoShockers.com Rio preview

 What else is new with Shocker Track?

It’s been a busy few weeks, as it is every year at the beginning of school.  There are a ton of meetings the squad has to attend explaining NCAA or WSU rules and policies.  Now we are mostly beyond all that and just finished up our first full week of practice.  Two weeks ago we had a week of learning and instruction with our newcomers.  We have a very nice group of freshman and transfers that are good people and a lot of fun to work with.

Here are the Shocker newcomers if you wanna check them out …

The first week of full practice with the entire team was also generally good.  You always have some athletes that are coming back from injuries and aren’t in very good shape but everyone is working hard.  We are trying to instill a few new wrinkles into the program this year and they are taking to them well.  We will do “conditioning” for around five weeks until a week of testing at Fall Break.

We hosted the JK Gold Classic cross country meet last weekend and our team kicked butt.  The real racing doesn’t start until October but our crew looks strong early in the season!

Lots of work to do and we’re excited to finally get started!

Reaction to my blog about Asia

I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I’d get from blogging about my two weeks in Asia but overall it’s been great!  Thanks for all the nice comments, it makes me think about focusing on the traveling part of the track and field season as something to possibly write about in the future.  We’re always so focused on the competition that we don’t take the time to appreciate where we are in the world.  I’ll think on it and see if anything interesting might come from it.

No Selfie September

Last year as a joke, me and some friends came up with the concept of “No Selfie September” on a late night over a couple of adult beverages.  I put it out on this blog and, much to my surprise, it went viral (at least locally).  After a couple television interviews I realized that there might be something to it.  So here is a link to last year’s blog and I once again challenge everyone to not take another selfie until October!

Movies

I haven’t written about movies in a while but I often get people telling me it’s their favorite part of the blog.  I’ve actually thought about creating a separate blog about movies but haven’t decided to put that much effort into it yet.  Nonetheless here is a list of movies I’ve seen in the movie theater since April and some brief thoughts about each one …

April 10 – Hardcore Henry – Shot from a first person perspective, one of the craziest movies you’ll ever see.  I liked the concept.  It was a unique movie-going experience.  Needs to be seen on the big screen.  Rating: 7/10

May 1 – Everybody Wants Some – Latest movie by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood) about a week in the life of college baseball players.  I love this guy’s movies and this one gets better with repeat viewings (saw it twice on my flight to Asia).  8/10

May 22 – The Nice Guys – Kind of a buddy cop movie with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.  I enjoyed it throughout.  8/10

June 6 – Journey to Space 3D – Saw this at the New Mexico Museum of History and Science while on a recruiting trip.  Not bad but could’ve been a lot better.  3D didn’t add much.  6/10

June 9 – Popstar: Never Stop Stopping – One of the great comedies of 2016 that no one saw!  They make fun of everyone in the pop music industry and the music is actually really good!  8/10

June 12 – The Conjuring 2 – It’s hard for horror sequels to be as good as the original but this one was.  Really, really good movie if you like horror.  8/10

June 20 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Luckily I live in a city where they put classics on the big screen from time to time.  This 1977 Spielberg movie holds up great almost 40 years later!  8/10

July 5 – The Lobster – Super weird but I give it props for being original.  7/10

July 6 – Purge: Election Year – I’ve seen all three Purge movies and I like the concept but they’re never pulled off as well as I think they could be.  6/10

July 13 – The Shallows – The best non-Jaws movie about shark attacks I’ve seen.  7/10

Aug 1 – Lights Out – From the director of the Conjuring, another really good and suspenseful movie.  I saw this in Thailand and the theater was generally screaming throughout.  Asians love horror movies (and also make the best ones).  8/10

Aug 17 – Sausage Party – Has to be the most inappropriate animated movie of all time.  And yes I thought it was outstanding!  8/10

Aug 21 – War Dogs – Very solid movie that’s based on a true story (and isn’t completely true) and is entertaining nonetheless.  Part political, part action, part comedy.  Jonah Hill is great once again.  7/10

Aug 30 – Don’t Breathe – Another really good horror/thriller.  I’m encouraged the genre is going more in this direction lately.  Hard to know who the good guy is in this movie and I think that’s awesome.  8/10

Sept 4 – Hell or High Water – One of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time.  Great cinematography and great music surround an interesting take on bank robberies.  9/10

I feel as though I’ve seen a lot of really good movies in the past 5 months.  Notice there isn’t one comic book or big budget movie on the list.  I don’t think any of these movies cost more than $30-$40 million to make and most were under $10 million.  If you do a little research you can generally find some great movie going options out there.

Next time

I’ll be back to update everyone on the latest goings in Shocker T&F.  Hopefully sooner than a month from now!

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!

My travels through Southeast Asia

This is going to be a non-track blog about my travels in Southeast Asia for the past two weeks.  If you want some track stuff I’ll probably get back on it in mid-August once the kiddos get back

on campus.

Observations while in Asia

--The Chinese put the top 1% of their attractive population on Air China as flight attendants.

--You tend to bond with other Americans when you miss a connecting flight in a foreign land.

--Chinese people (and most Asians) smile when they’re nervous.

--The loudest eater on the face of the Earth sat next to me on a 12 hour flight (fortunately he slept most of the way).

--At some point in the first 3 days I had no idea what time or what day it was.

--Some countries in Asia don’t understand the concept of standing in line or personal space.

--Other Asians think the Chinese talk way too loud.

--Singapore is super clean.  There were touch screens in the bathroom at the airport to rate your experience while peeing.

--The meals on the overnight flights were surprisingly good.

--Chinese people take an insane amount of selfies as well as posed glamour shots.

--Before you die you need to go see the temples in Cambodia (especially Angkor Wat).  Pictures don’t do it justice.

--Get a tour guide.  Mine was one of the nicest people I ever met.

--People get massages all the time and it’s incredibly cheap for a legitimate good massage ($8/hour).  There’s a 50/50 chance they’ll ask you for a happy ending.

--Driving laws in Cambodia are a suggestion and rarely followed.

--I was surprised there weren’t more non-Asians tourists.

--Americans are actually friendlier than most non-Asian tourists.

--Taking a ride on a tuk-tuk is awesome in a “riding a rollercoaster” kind of way.

--Make sure your non-English speaking tuk-tuk driver knows exactly where you need to go before you get started.

--You’ve never really been in a traffic jam until you’ve been in a traffic jam in Bangkok.

--Everyone drives insanely but no one has road rage.

--If you’re not good at math then you’ll probably spend more money than you should. $1 US is equal to 34 in Thailand and 1000 in Cambodia.

--Pack light and do laundry every few days.

--Crossing the street in downtown Bangkok is a risky proposition.  Pedestrians do not have the right of way.

--If someone offers you a really cheap ride on a tuk-tuk, you will most definitely end up at a tailor where they will try to make you buy new and expensive clothing.

--The Buddhist temples in Thailand are spectacular and make anything we have in the United States seem small and cheap.

--Most people in Bangkok are nice but if you are white they will try to rip you off at every moment.

--Everyone seems to work.  It’s hard to get welfare and minimum wage is $9/day.

--If you know where to go you can eat amazing food for less than $5 a meal.

--Most taxi drivers in Bangkok have never left the city and dream to come to the USA but would never be able to afford it.

--I played a game of pool against a guy with no shirt, nipple piercings and tattoos all over his body.  Super nice guy.  He beat me handily thank goodness.

--The city planner (if there is one) needs to be fired immediately.  The streets in Bangkok are totally random.

--If you say anything negative about the king and queen you will be put in jail.

--More people have smart phones than running water.

--I saw an Asian man sing Oops I Did It Again by Brittany Spears.  One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

--French toast and pancakes are desserts.

--Multiple mornings I woke up and had no idea where I was (this has continued back in the states).

--I got a 5-minute massage and chiropractic adjustment by a bathroom attendant.  It was absolutely incredible.

--If you’re 6-0 tall you’re a giant.

--The red light district in Bangkok is much smaller than you would think.  If you’re curious to check it out it’s good to go with a group of people that have your back.

--Prostitution is illegal but there is no enforcement of the law.  If you are white you will get approached by prostitutes non-stop.

--If you happen to go inside of a club on Soi Cowboy you may see things you’ve never seen before and will never see again.

--The most fun thing about going to a Mai Thai fight is the crowd.

--Every street corner has a different smell – good and bad.

--Poor men in Bangkok drive taxi’s, the women work as street vendors.

--“Saving face” is something that is very important to the people of Thailand.  Causing embarrassment has the potential to result in a variety of bad things for you or them.

--I never felt unsafe at any time.

--I never saw or felt any form of racism.

--Religion is so much more important there than in the United States.

--You’re always respectfully greeted with two palms together in front of their face and a bow.  By the middle of the trip I started doing the same.

--Going to a movie cost $4 and you will need to rise to listen to the Anthem of the King.

--There is virtually no PDA (public displays of affection) thank goodness!

Why Southeast Asia?

I had been wanting to go on another international vacation for a while and was struggling with where to pick.  I’ve been to parts of Western Europe and the Caribbean so I was looking to go somewhere different – real different.

I’ve had several friends that said how much they’ve enjoyed visiting SE Asia so I gave it a good look.  I was in the office with Coach Yost and our Director of Ops Ryan Patton one day and asked them what they thought.  Before they could answer I went ahead and bought a ticket.

I decided to mainly hit Bangkok, Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia for a combination of history and excitement that would totally get me out of my element.  As I get older I want to go to as many places as I can so that I can experience as much of this crazy world has to offer.

It was funny to see the reactions that people had when I told them where I was going.  Most people, like me, don’t know that much about the region so their general reaction was, “That sounds ….. nice.”

The Travel

There’s really no away around the travel.  It’s a bear.  It’s basically halfway around the world.  On top of that my flights out there got all messed up and I was sent on a 38-hour excursion through five countries and seven airports.  Here’s what that looked like …

Depart Wichita on Wednesday afternoon on a direct flight to Los Angeles where I stayed the night (not counting this as part of the 38-hour trip).  Thursday my flight from LA to Beijing, China, was supposed to leave at 2:20pm (Pacific Time) but didn’t leave until around 4:00pm.  I had a two hour layover scheduled in Beijing so it was gonna be close.  It was a 12-hour flight and unfortunately I needed it to be 11:45 and I missed the connection to Bangkok by less than 10 minutes.  It was 8:00pm Beijing time and now I had two options.  The first was to wait for the next direct flight to Bangkok the next day at 2pm.  The problem with that is I had to depart Bangkok for Cambodia on a flight at 1:30pm the next day.  Obviously when you’re in China there is going to be some language barriers so for about 30 minutes I tried to convince this poor woman to just fly me straight to Cambodia and skip Bangkok but unfortunately they didn’t have a flight available.  What they did have was a 6-hour flight leaving at midnight to Singapore that would arrive at 6am, then I could catch at 7:40am flight from there to Bangkok to arrive at 9:30am.

At the point I realized it was 9am back home and I slept maybe 30 minutes on the flight to China.  Traveling through the night around Asia wasn’t going to help that either (I have trouble sleeping upright in a plane seat).  But I sucked it up and took the challenge and thought, “well I’ve never been to Singapore.”  Fortunately the flight to Singapore and the next one to Bangkok were on time.  There was only one problem in now flying to Cambodia from Bangkok and that was that I had to leave from a different airport on the other side of the city.  I got an Uber and for the super cheap price of $14 I got a 45 minute ride to the other side of town.  The flight to Cambodia was only an hour and by 3:30pm (in who knows what time zone) I checked into a hotel and slept for 14 straight hours.

Now after reading all that you probably thought it was a nightmare.  Well I think the little issues, problems, hassles that come up on a trip are just part of the deal and if you look at it as an adventure then it wasn’t as bad as it appeared.  Yeah I was super tired when I finally got to Cambodia and still haven’t adjusted back to Central Time in Kansas, but I also met a lot of cool people along the way.  While stuck in the Beijing airport for 4 hours, I befriended a guy from Los Angeles who ran track and cross country in college and was now doing triathlons.  On the flight from China I was sitting near a married couple from Columbus, Ohio, (they went to Ohio State) who was going to Asia as part of a Peace Corps type situation.  I struck up a conversation on the way to Singapore with a lady from Malaysia who was flying on a plane for the first time to go see her family.  My Uber driver in Los Angeles ran track for the LA Jets and knew Obea Moore, one of the best high school sprinters of all-time from back in my day.

If you aren’t busy chasing Pokemon or shutting off the world with your headphones you’d be surprised as how fast a trip like that can go.  Oh yeah, I also watched twelve movies and ate six meals on the flights.

Total flying distance on this trip – 26,743 miles.  How far is it around the world? 24,901 miles.

Final thoughts

Overall, traveling to Asia was a terrific experience.  If you want to see pictures, I put a few on my Facebook page.  I had a lot of help along the way that was desperately needed and appreciated.  I was really out of my element for much of the trip – which I think is a good thing for us spoiled Americans from time to time.  We don’t realize how good we have it.

I would definitely go back again someday.

Next time

It’s almost time for the Shockers to be back on campus!  We have an exciting year ahead and now that my travels are over I’m ready to get started!

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!