Columns

By David Freeze

I can’t begin to remember the first time I met Kevin and Ester Marsh. It seems like they have always been close friends. They were also very special to a generation of running kids in Rowan County.
With an exceptionally talented running son, Kevin and Ester helped with another program when Andrew got involved. They decided in 2011 to start the YMCA Warriors, offering cross country and track competition. Kevin said, “Ester and I knew that we could partner with the Y to have a terrific running program.” The long story is that the couple invested a huge amount of time to help these kids, up to 900 hours annually.

Rowan County doesn’t have middle school cross country and track but most of the surrounding counties do. Kevin and Ester worked with over 50 kids, many as young as 9 and 10. Most continued to participate in the program until high school and often remained afterwards.
While Kevin handled most of the running, Ester was the catalyst for starting the Warriors and she handled all the team entries and memberships, plus the YMCA requirements for their programs. Ester also coached the high jump, long jump, hurdles and sprints. Kevin said, “Ester was truly a force for our team!”

Kevin continued, “The Warriors always had many kids qualify for the Junior Olympics, an accomplishment in itself, and we also had at least one All-American (top eight in age group) in every Junior Olympics we competed in for nine years.”
Both Kevin and Ester had to balance all the time invested in coaching with hectic jobs. Kevin works for the Carolina Restaurant Group as service manager and Ester is fitness director at the Hurley YMCA. Summer track season is the longest with meets lasting all day on Saturday and even Sundays at the State and Regionals levels. Kevin said, “So probably about 30 hours a week and 20 hours a week for cross country. That’s 900 hours annually included planning workouts and other training.”

Still the rewards were great. Kevin said, “My most special memories are of Andrew winning the 2000m Steeplechase and being National Champion and our 10 and under boys cross country team winning the Footlocker Regional at McAlpine Park.” Members of that boys’ team included Eli Julian, Matthew Burroughs, Connor Price, Bret Lewis and Nate Shaffer. We also had a 9-10 year old team in 2015 AAU Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship in Alabama that finished second in the country, only seven points out of first place. Julian and Price were joined by Triston Rabon, Jake Swicegood and Grayson Steedley. I am very proud of both these teams because the total team finish embodies what makes cross country such a great sport.”

Current Rowan County High School Champions, Adalie Harrison and Noah Julian, are former Warriors.
All good things come to an end. Kevin said, “Mainly we decided to step away after the 2019 season due to our jobs. I am traveling more than ever for several days a week. With the Rowan/Cabarrus YMCA merger, Ester has a much bigger time commitment with the fitness department. The other consideration was our core group of boys that started as 8-9 year olds will move into high school next school year. My commitment was to keep coaching until they reached that level.”

With their well-deserved free time, Ester and Kevin plan to do trail riding in some new places and travel more since they won’t have to use vacation time for the Junior Olympics and Cross- Country Nationals. They plan to stay close to the running scene in Rowan County. Kevin has seven marathons and Ester has completed a half marathon and multiple triathlons.
Kevin continued, “When Ester and I decided to start the Warriors, our main goal was to instill a love of running in our kids that hopefully would carry on into adulthood. That is why we mainly focused on personal bests at each meet instead of finishing place. We are most proud of how many of our athletes went on to become accomplished runners in high school and we try to get to as many of their meets as possible. We always say ‘Once a Warrior always a Warrior’. I’m sure many people at cross country meets wonder why we’re cheering for kids from so many different schools, but we will always support our former athletes. It has been truly a labor of love!”

Look for upcoming running events including the New Sarum Brewing 37th Annual Winter Flight 8K/5K and Fun Run on January 26th at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org

By David Freeze

How to make them work

    I’m writing this on Saturday morning, January 4^th. A certainty is that some resolutions have already been broken. As a fitness professional, I understand this. Resolutions can be tough to sustain. In fact, most are blown by March 1. Everybody rushes the gym just after New Year’s, then have disappeared by early spring. Why?

    Thankfully, I’ve had lots of years and some reasonable success at helping folks achieve the changes they wanted. Here are some of the ways that I think you can work on a better you for 2020.

    I have noticed this week that retailers, from Walmart to Aldi, have targeted fitness gear and healthy food choices for the first week in January. That’s great, but don’t take on too much at a time. When we are talking about a change in behavior, particularly long-term issues, positive resolutions that are too big or too complicated don’t work. Start small and keep yourself accountable.

   How do you keep yourself accountable? See support from family, friends and even a trainer. Merely walking in the front door of a gym won’t guarantee success. Talk about your achievable resolutions so that others know what you have in mind. Telling others leads to accountability. Encourage them to check in on you. Better yet, find a partner or two for the express purpose of that magic word. Accountability is, in my opinion, the most important word as you seek workable resolutions.

    I listen to the commercial for one popular gym which suggests “no commitment”. Who would expect success with long term goals with no commitment?

    Try it like this. Decide what matters most to you and start small while being realistic. The two most popular resolutions are 1. ‘Exercise more’ and 2. ‘Eat healthy’. Those statements as resolutions are way to broad and are a failure waiting to happen. Be specific. In my experience, if you want to exercise more, schedule yourself, and hopefully a friend, for four planned workouts or group classes a week. Going from zero workouts to 7 days a week isn’t likely to work. And you’ll need recovery days.

   Eating healthy for most of my clients begins with getting control of what they drink. Liquid calories, usually laden with excess sugar, are the biggest culprits for pursuing a proper diet. Sweet tea, sugared soft drinks and alcohol are laden with calories that don’t improve your wellness. I once had a client who chose to track her calories daily by use of a popular app, but she left off her liquid calories. Be realistic and truthful, especially to yourself.

     So, two easy ways to address the two biggest and most pursued resolutions quickly come to mind. Make the small and accountable step of finding a workout that you enjoy, and this may take some experimentation. Doing workouts you don’t enjoy will not last. Maybe you and a partner find group classes that you like or begin a walking or running program. Plan it, follow through and be accountable.

    On the food consumption, start with the liquid calories. Just one less soft drink a day, at about 200 calories, will net a loss of 20 pounds a year. How much simpler can that be? Same for sweet tea and alcoholic drinks.

      Here’s my revelation for you to consider. Once you start seeing success, you’ll come to a great divide. Do you keep going or does the resolution go the way of so many others that didn’t work out? Decide what is important to you and buck up to get it done.

       And my final suggestion. Get God involved! Ask for support and the energy to keep moving forward. I do this every evening during my prayers. God wants you to be the best you! For yourself and for those around you. And if all goes well, your health and your prayer experience will both leap forward!

By David Freeze

    I grew up idolizing my hero, New York Yankees baseball star, Mickey Mantle. Living on a small rural dairy farm, I really had to work to find someone to play ball with. My brother and sister didn’t care for sports much and still don’t. I couldn’t get enough of football or basketball, but baseball had that special appeal. At that time, I think baseball was truly America’s game. To me, it still is.

     Baseball on TV was rare then but sometimes I could get a game on the radio while sitting on the front porch swing during nice summer nights. We didn’t have air conditioning at home, so the cool night air was often a relief from a warm house. Just me and my small radio, searching for any game but especially grateful on the nights that the proper atmosphere allowed reception of a station carrying Yankees baseball.

     I had a cousin who often visited who loved the game as much as me. We could sometimes get my brother to play baseball games with us. I can never remember more than the three of us at home playing.

     Most fun of all was little league baseball that we played in Landis. I played on the Lions and my brother, along with our nearest neighbor, played on the Firemen. Our parents often shared the rides for the three of us to practices and games. There were only four teams in our league and we played twice a week.

     I remember my first time at the old Landis ballpark, originally used for semi-pro and high school baseball. The covered wooden stands and the field itself both seemed huge, especially to a small 11 year old boy. We had a team shirt, which I still have, and a ball cap. That shirt lasted a long time. Those games were more than 50 years ago.

      Another thing that lasted a long time were the baseballs. I remember how special we felt to ever see a new baseball. The pictures I have seen of early 1900’s major league players never included a new white baseball. All our practices were done with old balls, some of them heavy from getting wet previously. Those were also the days of the good little league teams only having three or four wooden bats. Yes, wooden bats just like the major league players used. Old balls and well-worn bats simply were baseball back then.

       Most games began with a new ball and a good used one as backup. We just needed enough balls as a team to warm up with. Should one of the game balls get lost, the home team had to put in play one of their best warmup balls. Someone was always sent to look for a lost game ball on the very big field at Landis. And they kept looking until the ball was found.

      My point here is that game balls were often used for a long time and could on occasion begin to show damage. First signs would be scuffs and occasionally the stitching began to break. Little red threads made those stitches and one break usually led to another. Still we played on unless the cover did actually begin to come loose. Each time the ball was hit hard, the cover would continue to unravel. The horsehide started to flap but only on the rare occasion could someone hit the ball so hard the cover actually came off. Usually a mammoth clout finished off the ball and another one from the warm- up bag replaced it. No one complained and we all thought losing the coverless ball was just a part of the game. But the mammoth clout wasn’t that common and took special effort.

      But how about that baseball, the one with the cover knocked off? Roy Hobbs, in the movie, The Natural, hit it so hard and well that the ball unraveled on the way to the outfield. In our life, should we always try our hardest for the things we believe in. The term, “Knock the cover off the ball”, today means going hard, giving our best and just simply making the best effort we can for the intended result. How we can go wrong when doing that?

    Do your best on your walk of faith. If God tells you to do something, work hard and do your best. God will do all the things you can’t do.

     Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25.