Greetings from Sunny California–Day 1

I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer wherever you are. What a beautiful state California is this time of year!  I am doing some research and continuing education and training in addition to visiting friends and family along the way. A balance is important when it comes to work and play.

One of the areas of continuing education that fascinates me is working with athletes to help improve their performance, skill level, and I always am looking for better ways to teach all my clients about injury prevention. Yesterday, I visited the Parisi Speed School in Pasadena CA. It was interesting to see how this type of athletic training and conditioning works to help people- children and adults alike- improve their performance and skill levels for various sports. I watched with great interest and admiration, a dear childhood friend’s daughter, who is a competitive basketball player, and my own daughter, who is an aspiring runner (training for her first 5 K race to benefit the American Cancer Society) as they completed a variety of tests to assess their strengths and weaknesses. This is crucial to any exercise program to bring awareness to both the trainer and the participant to address any poor body mechanics and/or imbalances which can lead to potential injuries. While a lot of this information I already knew, we all know how our children can respond when we try to teach them anything new. Many times, they just won’t listen to us- even though we may also be highly trained in whatever we are attempting to teach them. It is usually a trained professional who is a perfect stranger to whom they will listen. This is just as well for me because I want only the best instruction for my child and watching this coach in action was enlightening and gave me great insight when I hire my next (SAQ) Speed Agilty, Quickness and conditioning coach/specialist. Mission accomplished. So, Day One in California was productive as well as fun and learning more about my craft is always fun for me!

Part 2 of my California Dreamin’ Trip is coming soon!