The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
We explore thriving as an athlete after 40. Each episode, we’ll dive into tips, hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes and our personal experience. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated
The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
Balancing Being a Masters Athlete with the Rest of Life and Things
What if achieving balance in life is not about finding a fixed point, but managing the chaos within? Join us as John Katalinas and Scott Fike unpack the intricate dance of life balance in the realm of masters athletics. Through engaging discussions, we reveal how activities like hitting the gym, playing golf, or even a round of darts, offer more than just physical exercise—they provide a sanctuary of control and calm. You'll hear personal stories about the power of community and support, and why sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to simply take a moment to breathe.
In a world full of daily commitments and unexpected surprises, how do we keep fitness and well-being in check? We highlight the challenges and triumphs of balancing fitness with life's many demands, from dental appointments to flat tires. Learn the value of setting small, achievable goals and the profound impact of staying active for mental health. Through our experiences in events like the Highland Games and even the lighthearted fun of a Savannah Bananas game, we emphasize the need for reflection, meditation, and enjoying life's lighter moments. Achieving balance is an ongoing journey, and this episode offers you the tools and insights to navigate it with grace and flexibility.
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New episodes come out every other Thursday!
Welcome to the Master's Athlete Survival Guide, where we explore the secrets to thriving in sports after 40. I'm John Catalinas and, along with Scott Fyke, we'll dive into training tips, nutrition hacks and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes who defy age limits. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong and motivated.
Speaker 2:Let's get started fit, strong and motivated. Let's get started. And we're back. I'm Scott, he's still John. Today, we're going to look at life balance, things like that. So, John, when you think about it, what are we really balancing?
Speaker 1:You know, this is something I've been obsessing about all day what are you balancing?
Speaker 1:I mean, it's very popular to talk about this work-life balance, but I don't think that's true because I I'm having a hard time believing there is that fixed point anywhere. Um, you know, there's no way, you know, because all that is so I can't believe that there's a point where you actually balance it all. I think it's not work-life balance, I think it's an internal feeling, and the word probably isn't balance, but it's definitely. You know, those times that you just feel like life is chaos and you are out of control and you want to grab onto something and make it work right. And I think for a lot of us that defaults to the gym, because the gym is very fixed. Rep sets accomplishment in like a microcosm, it's like controlled chaos or controlled.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say pain, but controlled pain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you can, you can release with it, yeah because I thought about the things that would make you feel unbalanced as you're searching for this mythical balance point, and it's usually the things out of your control. Um, you know, I have to travel for work, I gotta go, the boss hates me, I gotta deal with that. Uh, I got an unexpected bill, I got an unexpected illness. All those things that are out of your control really lead to the chaos. And I think, to find that balance or maybe just offset the chaos, I think the gym for us plays a pretty big point.
Speaker 2:There are many times that I find myself we talked about it before where you put in a 10, 12, 13 hour day and you know you have to do something, but your body says no. I think the gym, like you said, does provide that balance or equilibrium. I think in many cases where you have the ability to go in and you can turn almost everything else off for that 30, 40, 60, 80 minutes that you're in the gym, it allows you to sort of release in a controlled methodology and I think it's that control that's really important, because that's a stress that we can control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of not just the gym but things like golf, darts, bowling, those things that require sort of you to get out of your own way and just be in the moment with your, with your pursuit I'm sorry did.
Speaker 2:Did you just say golf is not a stressful thing?
Speaker 1:oh it's not for me, because there's no expectation good, because then we need to go play golf.
Speaker 2:Because no?
Speaker 1:you know I have. I have surrounded myself previously with with very good golfers and it's like. It's like when we're in the gym training with west owenski, the sixth strongest man in the world currently um, I'm not stressed out, I'm not lifting as much or moving 900 pounds as fast, it's just a very enjoyable oh wow, look at the community I have around me. So, no, I don't find that stressful. But you know, you read the self-help books and there's, there's that flow state that especially like the weird high achiever people talk about, where you know you're doing the work and you're programming, you're coding or whatever you're doing your thing and you get to a point where you're so deep into it and so focused that everything else goes away. I don't have that, but I can make it up kind of in the gym.
Speaker 2:True, you know one of the things when, almost two years ago, when, when that happened that I was going through, it was stressful to go to the gym because I had to plan what I was going to do. So there are times that that which we're using for our balance can become a stressor in and of itself. And that's when a good friend of ours, tony Callis, shout out to Tony, reached out and said I'm going to do this for you, I'm going to do your planning. You just go in, do the reps, the sets, the motions, the grind. That's where that balance came in for me and it really was a tipping point in a positive sense, and pushed me to start setting my goals, pushed me to start living a little bit more instead of just existing pushed me to start living a little bit more instead of just existing Right and.
Speaker 1:But I think, like I don't think it has to be so prescriptive to be therapeutic, because the gym could be a source of chaos as well. I mean, oh no, I'm, I've missed my third workout and I've got a competition in a month, or I keep blowing off the bowling league, and when I do show up, those guys are going to hate me, so I'm never going to go again, or any of a myriad of things like that. That could be a source of stress too, and I think you need to give yourself some forgiveness. I think that's how maybe you get to some of those balances, just like sometimes you just need to catch your breath and say here's what I can do in this moment. Sometimes you just need to catch your breath and say here's what I can do in this moment.
Speaker 2:Part of the balance, I think, especially in our community at the compound, is the people that we're working out with. We'll be there on Sundays for the master's workouts, and what an hour and a half something like that In terms of true work individually. So in 90 minutes we might be working 25 of those. The rest of it is that camaraderie that causes that balance. So sometimes it's seeing the people that you don't see. That network that we talked about and we're going to spend some more time in the future talking about that causes that balance, that sort of euphoric mental state that allows you to step forward and relax a little bit.
Speaker 2:And at our age, like you said before, more things are building up. Now, yes, you're probably more established in what you're doing professionally. You know you might be making a little bit more money, but with more money comes more expense. Oh, that sounds like a rap song. But with more money comes more expense. Oh, that sounds like a rap song. Additionally, we look at hey, I'm going to be retiring soon, is Social Security going to be there, is the world going to end tomorrow, all these different things. So the stressors change and I think it really is based on your age in many instances, but that camaraderie that sort of companionship, of what, being a master's athlete, stressing the word athlete, no matter what it is.
Speaker 1:I think you and I had an accidental savior during COVID and all that nuttiness where everything was shut down, where we had the ability to train privately, socially distanced, and really get after it, Because I mean, I looked forward to really crushing ourselves and you know, in that hour of work there was probably 58 minutes of true awfulness.
Speaker 2:Well, that's that grind that we most definitely will talk about in the future. But you're right, especially when there's a stress beyond any of it. Really, anybody in our generation is known because the greatest generation when we talk about that and what some of the the truly world engulfing battles have done, this was a stressor, maybe on those levels when the world shut down. But you're right, that grind, that, that 58 minutes of pure hell, and you were the worst at designing them I hate you for that.
Speaker 2:You're welcome. Really, I think it saved us in some instances.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it certainly cut through some of the fog. But I can see the other side of the coin too, where if you don't have that thing in your life right now, if you don't have that thing in your life right now, you know like, if you're, if you're so unbalanced right now, you're not going to say, hey, you know what I think I'm going to do. I think I'm going to go to my local, you know, rack league and play pickleball on Tuesdays and you can look forward to. You know, if you, if you jump past that point, you can think about the community and the people you meet and the physical activity and the health benefits and all the great things, but that barrier of I just don't have the energy, I just don't think I have the time. That's chaos in itself right there and I encourage everybody to try to overcome it. I think that circles back to some of the things we always say about community and support Find that person, help them, you know, have them, help you move that tipping point, take the first steps. Yeah.
Speaker 2:All right. So I guess that leads to the question what essentially are we trying to get to? What feeling are we trying to get to when we talk about I don't, I don't know what a balanced life is, because I don't know that it exists.
Speaker 1:I mean it, it's definitely. You know. It's that. You know. There are some images from my youth that just never will go away and it's the sesame street baker walking down the stairs with a what is it? Nine coconut cream pies and then he falls like like that's. That's the mental image I will always have in my head for, uh, unbalance, um, but it's sort of that. Trying to carry those coconut cream pies down those stairs is is a constant. You gotta be shifting it, can't?
Speaker 1:I don't know anybody that has a goal, sets a goal, meets a goal without there being a couple of hurdles in between. And when I say goal, I don't mean some sort of competition, goal learning, it's just the fact. You know, I got to get to the gym on Tuesday but I got the dentist and I think I have a flat tire and I spilled coffee on my shirt and just ugh, maybe I won't go to the gym In the moment. I mean, you know, won't go to the gym, it's not in the moment. I mean, you know me, I'm the worst procrastinator. In the moment it's like oh yeah, and then an hour after you should have gone. You're like I hate myself for not going to the gym.
Speaker 2:But then an hour into your workout whatever the workout is, you know, or whatever the activity is, those endorphins, that sort of feel good, yeah, and to me I think it's just the. You're right, you're trying to find a balance constantly, but for me I think it's the I've done something. Yeah, you know, I've engaged in something. Sometimes I'll go out to the compound and I'll literally I'll put the Bluetooth on and I'll just walk, you know, for 45 minutes, for half an hour, whatever, just back and forth down the runway, and it's just that feeling of motion, it's that sense of accomplishment. You know, we always say start with a 10 minute walk, start with a five minute walk, just move, do something. And I think that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2:You know, we talk about feelings and what you're trying to reach. For me, you hit it on the head because it's ever changing. You never know what feeling you're going for on any given day. If I put in a 12 hour day at work, I just want to do something to relieve the fatigue of sitting through 10 meetings in a day, or five two hour meetings in a day, or something like that. And another day, like today where it was a short day, I want to go in and the feeling I'm looking for is exhaustion, and I know that's a weird thing to say, but I want to go in and I want to make sure that I beat myself up that the muscles feel tired when I'm done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Quick aside for our new listeners. The compound is the gym that Scott owns, the exclusive strongman gym in Lockport, new York. He doesn't go to the Kennedy compound just to relieve stress. He may I don't know, I don't travel in the same social circles. That's true. That's what he meant by that. No, again, we're trying to reach a broader audience than just true masters athletes with goals and stuff. I think in one of the previous episodes we talked about micro goals. Getting off the couch and getting to go do something is an accomplishment and I think if I were, if I were telling I mean you said to it the first thing we tend to tell people is 10 minute walks.
Speaker 1:I think the second thing, like if you are completely untrained, maybe with not a very specifically like. Like I have a very strong track and field background so I immediately gravitated to that when I became a master. But if you didn't have that, I would encourage recreational volleyball, basketball, pickleball, bowling, bowling, bowling, bocce, those things, because I think I mean, yes, it's great to get up and move, but the ancillary benefit of some plugging yourself into some sort of community, you reap accidental benefits, you know, you build friendships, you meet new people, you have new experiences um, I think that goes way beyond a lot of the health benefits to the mental side of it.
Speaker 1:And I think for athletes over 40, you know, taking care of the mental side of it. You know no one's doing that for you anymore. No one, you know is you probably have to be the rock for you know other people children, spouses, coworkers yeah.
Speaker 2:You hit on a very under examined point when it comes to masters athletes. I think they're the idea that mentally, we need to make sure that we're taking care of ourselves whatever our release is and you said, it could be bocce, it could be bowling, it could be volleyball, it could be baseball, it could be pickleball, you you know whatever. Look at what we did. We decided to do Highland Games. Dumb yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was awesome. I shout out the Highland Games. Can you shout out to an inanimate object? Because I just did. You won a sword. I won a sword.
Speaker 2:I won a couple of swords Finally Shout out to Tim.
Speaker 1:Mullally Nick.
Speaker 2:Kahanek Matt.
Speaker 1:Hand all those other people who hated me at the time, or at least still do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically, but the community was very important there because that was the mental side of it, and I mean, ultimately, that's how a lot of the folks that you and I hang around with work out with, are involved with right now came out of. Some of those connections was in Highland games or, uh, competitive strong man things like that as a master's athlete. We need to look at the mental side of things. We do need to examine what's going on in our lives and how do we turn that off, even if just for 30 minutes, or, like we say with some of our very good friends for 10 minutes, or, like we say with some of our very good friends for 10 minutes, just take the walk, plug your earphones in I know I'm old and, thanks, walk into your Walkman, into your, into your Walkman. Yes, thank you With a cassette.
Speaker 1:Cool and and I guess and this is nothing either of us have done, but is is a great idea is, you know? Involve a spouse, a girlfriend, boyfriend, a significant other. That solidifies a relationship as you both achieve a little more balance in your life. Um, you can have those conversations while you're sitting on the couch eating cheetos. You also can have those conversations while you're strolling through the park. This is always going to come back to Cheetos and once again, Cheetos is not going to sponsor us, not yet.
Speaker 2:Find a coach and I say coach kind of tongue-in-cheek, because John has a coach that has four legs and yells at him. Every time he sees him, coach Pan gives him grief Again, tongue-in-cheek. Do it with your dog, take a walk with your dog, you know whatever, but just do something to turn the time off, to find the balance you need to offset, counteract or, as one of my bosses this week said, counter punch life, because sometimes life's beating the hell out of you, amen. So what are some of the tools we can use for achieving that?
Speaker 1:relationships. You just spoke to quote-unquote coaches, whether it be your dog who hates me when I'm lazy god, that dog barks at me that I don't know. You know there's dogs that sniff truffles. There are dogs that can smell drugs. Your dog can smell laziness Lazy ineffective whiny.
Speaker 2:Yes, should I keep going?
Speaker 1:Yes, so, yeah, no, I think the first tool to achieving some sort of balance is to sort of share the burden, spread it out amongst a community or relationship, a family, something, um, so you don't accidentally add more chaos by saying, okay, I'm going to go, you know, I'm going to go golfing for six hours. Uh, you stay home and mow the lawn and I'll, I'll see you later, um, you know that kind of thing. I think that's a smart tool. I think, like so many things you know especially for athletes over 40, is we forget to kind of just take some inventory what is causing this feeling of chaos and address it. Especially, you know all our guy friends. I don't know if this is guy specific, I've only been a guy in this life so far. You know all our guy friends. I think I don't know if this is guy specific, I've only been a guy in this life so far. You know, um, but you know we.
Speaker 2:We were raised to carry a ridiculous mental load because we're supposed to, of a job of our generation and earlier. Yeah, it was the man's job, and that is not a sexist statement, that was a time period statement.
Speaker 1:Yeah basically yeah. So I mean, it's that kind of thing and yes, it does apply to women too. But if you find yourself carrying too much of the mental load, that's step one to being an athlete over 40. Taking care of your body, taking care of your mind, is just sharing that burden.
Speaker 2:So the idea of relationships you're right the idea of the inventory, I think, is under examined too. We talked previously about goals. Ok, so you have a goal. We talked about setting the micro goals to get there. Well, what are those micro goals addressing? That's where that inventory comes in. I know I want to lose weight. How much weight do you want to lose? Okay, this. So the inventory is why am I engaged in the behaviors that I'm in that are causing the stress that I'm under right now? That's causing me to want to change, and I think that's a big part of it. That's where those goals come in. That's where that balance can come in, because once you start getting it in one spot in your life, I think you start to see some transference into other parts of your life. You know what's going on at work, what's going on in your relationships. So that self-examination is a huge tool. Some people can do it. They do it on the computer. Some people can do it where it's just a mental exercise.
Speaker 2:I'm one of those people you know because of my background where I've got to write everything down and in writing it down it becomes more permanent for me. So you need to find whatever the permanency is for you so you do have sort of an impetus to move forward and achieve that balance.
Speaker 1:Um, devil's advocate moment. This devil's advocate moment has been brought to you by Cheetos. Um, while they're not a sponsor, we're just going to keep reaching out. Yes, maybe someday or pop tarts.
Speaker 1:Oh no, cheetos, the the crunchy ones too, not the soft, those are jacks. If you want soft curly things, those are the jacks. And don't look at me when I say soft curly things, all right, but anyway, devil's Advocate, there is a mental and physical burden that, as adults, we just have to carry. I mean the people that choose to not carry that burden, you know, through opioids, alcohol, just running away from their problems. That doesn't aid to the chaos, but there is. I mean you do have to face a certain amount of. This is what you know, this is what I have to walk through.
Speaker 2:Let me jump in real quick here to sort of build on what you just said. You said opioids or alcohol sometimes over engaging and the things that we're talking about to try to find a balance, can become a crutch. If you're in a gym seven days a week, three hours a day, twice a day, that's your crutch, that's your mental fix, that's whatever. And that can become too much. You know it leads to the addiction, is there? It can lead to different sort of mental concerns that might pop up for you. So it's all there. Yeah, it's just everything's got to be in that moderation spot, other than talking like the Jim Barbies that we are.
Speaker 1:Is there any other tools that you have that helps you shut your brain off?
Speaker 2:For everything I do. That's physical Sometimes for me, just literally going outside. It could be once in a while reading a book or just sitting outside, and where I live we have a lot of nature around because my wife and I live out in the sticks. You know, watching the deer that are walking by or hearing the birds out in the woods behind our house. That, to me, allows me to turn everything off or putting a record on. You know the idea of music watching occasionally, when the time permits, watching a television show, something for a balance.
Speaker 1:We're not going to get into my bachelorette addiction um, even though I know who's going to win this season already, but that's a different story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess, and it's funny and that's why I brought it up, because I knew that your answer would be decidedly different than mine. Like video games? Uh, yeah, I play a video game and I follow it into it and nothing else. Everything else goes away. You, you also wormhole YouTube? I do wormhole YouTube. I frequently. I currently watched a. Some guy built a five acre pond in Alabama and stocked it with bass and I watched that and I found it incredibly fascinating. I have no intention to actually build a five acre pond and stock it with bass, but I was there Driving, I love, on a sunny day, not fast, because I'm old and I drive like an old man, just driving windows down, music on huge fan, huge fan.
Speaker 1:I think that that helps me. Um, I'm sure there's some other accidental ones. My stress level, like there's a. Like the whole middle of my stress level is fine. I either go from no stress to chaos. Um, there is not a. I I'm bad at this balance thing. This is kind of why I wanted to talk about a little bit. I'm I'm bad at it. Um, either everything's okay or nothing is okay.
Speaker 2:Well, as you know from our friendship, I am the exact same spot. I'm either doing okay or I am. Oh my god, the world hates me, my life is over. You know, in some instances the group that we've surrounded ourselves with provides some balance, and when one of us is off the deep end, the other ones say shout out to Mark hey, jack wagon, knock it off.
Speaker 1:So basically we're both like 300 pounds, six foot tall teenage girls at study hall Like, oh my God, no one likes me and I have no belly girl days as if? No, that was clueless. Sorry, shout out the clueless alicia. It's not alicia. Uh, what's her first name? Silverstone, uh, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Put in the comments. If you remember, you talk. I fell down.
Speaker 1:I fell down a clueless you know. Wait, wait till the episode where I fall down the uh, the mean girls hole, because that's, that's, that's, that'll be worse, that'll be far worse. Um, okay, so we've talked about sort of how to get to balance or how to well, that that brings up a good. You don't get to balance, do you? No, cause balance constantly changes. Yeah, so there is no. There is no. I think if you, if you stop and think, hey, my life is good, that's great, it's good to take stock in the moment. But I think to blindly go forward, thinking it's going to remain that way without you know, it's no different than mental health and people saying now, you know, you got to do the work.
Speaker 2:I think to have a balanced life, you got to do the work I think one of the things that's helped me in the last 19 months ish has been almost daily, like when I wake up. There's a few morning routines that you know everybody falls into. One of the routines that I found in the morning is I'll look at pictures that come up in memories to sort of spark memories of things from the past. And then one of the things I do at night is, as I'm mindlessly scrolling through memes and sending them out to my friends who hate me, for that is thinking about the day and that's a habit that I think really more people and I don't want to sound like I'm creating or advocating what I'm creating or advocating what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:I found this and I don't know who put me onto it or how I found it, but thinking about the day and what were my successes for the day, and maybe what I could have done a little bit differently to try to make the day less stressful and you know, not to keep harping on the word but more balanced, and what I would do differently in a situation Now. Does that mean I'm going to follow my own advice in the future? Never, not at all. Yeah, but that idea of that reflection in and that's one of the tools we talked about really was something that's helped me get through some pretty trying times over the last few years yeah, and I think that falls under the the envelope of what people call meditation these days, because I think that can take a lot of forms.
Speaker 1:I think I can think it could do sort of a, you know, a daily sort of recap. It can actually be pure meditation. Um, you know, like I said, when we tell people about you know doing the 10 minute walks, shout out, stand, efforting, just getting in your head and sort of running through it a little bit is meditation.
Speaker 2:One of the goofy things, and I just thought about this when you said you know getting in your head when I cut grass because I probably cut about six acres a a week I'll sit on the mower and my brain just goes in a million directions. And it's kind of neat because I can think of the weirdest things.
Speaker 1:Oh god and don't okay, I was gonna say we're gonna need a different podcast for inside. This will be inside scott's mind.
Speaker 2:yeah, no, and it allows you to not worry about things, because it's that monotony of going back and forth over you know a thousand feet of whatever, and it's the why is it? Bird flying like that.
Speaker 1:What's going on For those in home when he said why is that bird look flying like that? I actually looked at the wall like there was a bird flying.
Speaker 2:You're very convincing it and some of that's that reflection time, and it happens during the summer. And it's funny because where we live, you think, oh, winter, it's all encompassing. Well, in the winter, if you're not an outdoor sports person, in the winter it's tough, you know. I mean, two years ago we had a blizzard that dropped what? Six feet of snow in a couple of days. Yeah, so the summer months we go hard, true, and sometimes that going hard is a stressor in and of itself. You, you can do the weird things, you get together with your friends and whatnot. Look, we went to the Savannah Babushkas the other day.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Savannah Bananas. By the way, while it is targeted for 10-year-old baseball players, I had a ridiculously fun time. It is not baseball. If you have an opportunity to go see the savannah bananas, um, otherwise known as the harlem globetrotters of of baseball, um, go because it is it's. It's a, it's a circus with baseballs.
Speaker 2:It is the dancing the whole night. But it's, it's that constant motion and that's what we needed at that time. You, there were, the four of us were there yourself, ronnie, uh, gina, myself. We had just so much fun just letting everything go, turning everything off. There it was, and I don't know, it always changes. And that goes back to that reflection, that night, when I, you know, I was sitting there and I'm like this was a good day, this was a day you, you know, forget that. It was like a cattle call trying to get in and find seats it was an adventure, it was that was a good day
Speaker 1:yeah I also learned that day you do not get in the way of baseball moms as they're trying to seat their seven unruly children. Nodding and smiling went on that day. Nod and smile, nod and smile or you don't try to cut across.
Speaker 2:It's like a fish trying to swim upstream. Was John trying to cross, yes, a 20-foot long or wide concourse, basically?
Speaker 1:So balance, yeah. If we come to the conclusion you're never going to achieve balance, like you're never done working towards balance. Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 2:I think it's a very fair statement. It's a constant endeavor, because battle is the wrong word. It is something that we have to do straight along.
Speaker 1:Is it an overarching Like is my life balanced or do I have 20 little subgroups of? Is my work balanced? Is my health balanced? Is my house balanced? You know, is that more the realistic thing, or is it just if 15 of those 20 things are balanced? You're doing okay, I'm gonna say yes to both.
Speaker 2:Oh awesome, because I win. It is not. It's not as my life balance is. Is there balance in my life? I think is a better way of saying it. Yeah, back to levigonsky. Um, shout out to the 14th century romanian, whatever yeah, um that was latvian.
Speaker 2:Okay, so latvian. Yes, there has to be balance at work, there has to be balance in your relationship. There has to be balance in what you do. There has to be balance when you go into a gym, there has to be balance on the sports fields, and all those things, I think, add up or make up part of the balance in your life. And, yeah, you could be out of balance on some of them and, depending on what they are, it could wreck the balance in your life or you could be balanced in one of the most important ones in your mind on that day and I think there's balance in your life that day yeah, you know, this popped into my head and I think I'm going to add a episode on sportsmanship at some point.
Speaker 1:But when you were talking about the balance and lack of balance, those parents of those kids in those sports, where those parents have meltdowns when little things happen to their kids on the field, you know they strike out, they get a bad call. The coach does something the parent disagrees with is. Is that a? Is that a reaction to having such an unbalanced life that I need, like I need, my kid to do better than me?
Speaker 2:We deal with the idea of living vicariously through your son or daughter. I get that, um, you know having two children who were incredibly active in sports while they were growing up. I get that because there are some things that we can't do anymore.
Speaker 1:but it could also be I don't know if that's having an unbalanced life or if it's living in that particular moment that that set you the wrong way, because it might have been unbalanced in a different part of your life yeah, I want to talk about this more going somewhere in the future because that whole aspect is fascinating to me, because until my daughter started playing softball and I sat there and watched parents acting in ways that I never thought parents would act, I don't know that I ever would have believed you if you told me that's how it goes I've got some friends who have refereed in hockey at you know, d1, college levels and um low level pros, and I think they'd be a good reach out for us on that because they see it, I mean I was working a hockey showcase one weekend and one of my dear friends was out on the ice, fell down.
Speaker 2:He was a referee fell down. Somebody skated across part of his finger so he's bleeding. He goes flying off the ice. I went to try to find him. Now I'm working the showcase and I'm going to find my friend, the referees, and I said where is Cody? The other referee said who are you?
Speaker 1:Because they're so used to someone's attacking a referee. Oh, like someone coming after the referee. Someone's coming after the referee.
Speaker 2:I'm like I'm working here, we're sharing a room. I need to know is this guy okay? Do I need to get him to the hospital, right? So I mean that imbalance for some of the people on the ice or in the stands affects the people who are doing a job too. So sometimes the balance that we have, or lack of balance, impacts what's going on or how you're treated by other people. Yeah, you know, and I think that goes to what you were just saying about the the parents and their kids yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I refuse to make too many old man statements on this old man podcast, but my parents weren't like that. If anything, my parents were the opposite of that. Now there's probably plenty of opposite parents like that. I think the weird ones are A louder and B have a larger platform now.
Speaker 2:Well, I agree, my parents were the same way. Something went wrong. How do you fix it? Right? You know right and you know. To be bluntly honest, that's what I said to my children. You don't like what you got. Find out how to fix it. Yeah. What do you have to do different?
Speaker 1:amen, um, I don't know, I like so going forward, I think we need to pull one out. In sportsmanship, I think that's an important aspect and I think that changes as you become a master of the athlete. Hopefully you've become more gracious, um, or tolerant. Scott, do you feel we found balance in this podcast?
Speaker 2:I don't if anything. I think the opposite I think it sort of pushed me to look a little bit.
Speaker 1:It's funny because as you're talking, I'm thinking, I'm, I'm in my head going, oh, I don't do that and oh I don't do that, and I'm like unbalancing myself talking about balancing. So you're not alone. If you're listening, you're not alone. I don't know. I think this is a good place to stop. I let him start, so I'm going to stop. I am John, he is Scott. Do you want to say something? Bye, oh, that's it All right.
Speaker 1:Thanks folks Talk to you later. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post it on your social media or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.