Empathy pangs

Today, I'm sore.

Abs wince when I laugh or cough. Back tightens when I sit against the car seat. Shoulders tender from spotting children/saving a few lives.

Two emotions simultaneously:

1. I feel out of shape;
2. I like the hurt; I feel like I'm doing something good for myself.

By Wednesday, the gymnasts complain, "I'm sore." They still have two more days of conditioning and practice to push through.

"I couldn't walk down the stairs this morning," Jamie says dramatically (but her presence at practices proves that she found a way, apparently).

"My back is killing me."

"My legs are soooooooo tired."

And so on.

Sympathy says, "Aw, that's too bad." Empathy says, "I know exactly how you feel."

I think that as coaches, we need to maintain empathy as we push the athletes. We want them to become stronger, faster, more flexible, more capable of enduring floor routines and bar routines. But we also have to remember what it feels like.

The fatigue. The feeling of, "There's no way I can do one more." The "my legs might fall off of me when I walk down the stairs." The "let me check how many muscles hurt before I try to get out of bed."

We cannot become so far removed from our own experiences, so satisfied with our methods, that we forget.