Episode 9 - Life, Regrets, and Windows of Excellecne - a podcast by Charles J. Infurna, EdD

This week's episode of the Forza Athletics Life and Coaching Podcast speaks about life, regrets, and windows of excellence.  This episode was recorded on Friday, April 30th, 2021.

As I reflect upon my time as a coach, I often think about the what if's that are associated with life in general.  As the athletes I coach approach graduation, I offer some type of life experiences and some suggestions about navigating life in the post-collegiate world.  For a majority of the athletes I've coached, the last time they compete in a track meet is the last competition of their collegiate careers.  I can only count on one hand how many athletes I've coached in college that went on to compete as post-collegiate throwers.  But the suggestions about life I give I think are universal to the fact that while they (my athletes) are still young and able, they should try to get as much out of their life before they think that they need to "settle down".  Now, settling down has different meanings for everyone, however the nuggets of advice I give are based on the missed experiences of my own life.

Like I tell my athletes, we make thousands of tiny decisions every day that often times will determine the outcomes of competitions later on down the road.  The little things we do or don't do today will catch up to us tomorrow, and those tiny decisions begin to compound.  As a post-collegiate student-athlete, the decisions we make might impact our lives immediately or later on down the road.  What job to accept, to buy a house or rent, buy a car or lease, etc. are some of decisions I talk to my athletes about.  I also talk about thinking about the future with retirement etc.  At the time these conversations may seem harmless or meaningless, I share my own experiences with my athletes because there may come a time when they make a decision because they feel as though they have to or because someone else thinks they have to make that decision.  

I've made a lot of decisions in life because I felt I had to or because other people expected me to.  They aren't always easy decisions to make, but then again you don't realize how impactful they are until it's too late.  

In this episode I discuss some of those decisions, how they impacted my life, and how they could have impacted others that have come into my life.  One of my favorite quotes from Jud Logan that compliments this episode nicely is, "Never take for granted your window of excellence."  I guess we never truly know how long our window in life will be open.  From my perspective, my window was closed before I even realized it was open.

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