Recently I've been playing a role in collecting memories, stories, and photos that people have of Paul to make a booklet to give to people at his Memorial Service on October 6th. I think it's been helpful for me to focus on the logistical aspect of emailing people and reminding them to send something in if they would like to contribute. I just read through a bunch of the submissions I've received so far, and it got me pretty worked up. I still can't believe he's dead, he's not here, I'll never see him again, it's still so shocking to me. Reading through other people's thoughts also makes me realize that even though Paul died young, he had an AMAZING impact on a lot of incredibly gifted and talented people. Here's what I submitted for the Tribute booklet:
I can say that Paul is the one person who has genuinely opened many doors for me in life, he recruited me to THE best school in the nation, he became close friends with my family, he was a kind and good-hearted coach, and he taught me to have a deep reverence for the sport of track and field. I think the biggest impact Paul had on me was his appreciation for the complexity of people’s lives. As a coach, it’s easy to demand people to conform to your reality, your time frame, and your wants and needs, but Paul never once did this. If you had to practice at 6am, he was there, if it was important to you to take a semester abroad, he had your back, if you had trouble running intervals after a late night writing papers, he adjusted the schedule to fit your needs. It may seem simple, but what Paul did on a regular basis was profound, it allowed him to form relationships with his athletes much deeper than the regular athlete-coach relationship, and also allowed his athletes to flourish at their sport. While there are many other ways that Paul influenced me, the type of understanding, appreciation and true respect for other people that Paul had is what I hope to guide me throughout the rest of my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment