My coach, Kris Allison
The very best coaches have an endless thirst for knowledge, an enthusiastic and tireless spirit, and a personality that can straddle the encouraging counselor to a Vince Lombardi type of taskmaster. My coach, Kris Allison is not only a great coach, he is the perfect one for me. He doesn't get near enough attention or credit for what he has done with me since I returned to vaulting as a frail 52 year old in 2005.
I met Kris in Reno in 1999 after we had been corresponding via email for a few months. When I moved to San Marcos, Texas in 2001 he was a high school math teacher who hated the administrative crap and longed to coach kids. He had a nice vault set up in his back yard and a following of kids so inadvertently I convinced him if he really wanted to be a coach he would just have to take that step off of the high dive and go for it. He did and and has been nothing but a grand success ever since.
I volunteered to not only help coach his club kids so that he could see more at the same time but I also became his coach. Having coached many world class vaulters and Olympians myself, this was enlightening for him and I'm quite sure he hated me at first. Very shortly he began to find personal vaulting success and advanced to a level far surpassing his lifetime goals. He took that base knowledge and began to study, and talk to elite vaulters/coaches, study, read, study, watch video, study, etc. In my opinion he is one of the best and most knowledgeable coaches in the world.
Because of our history together we speak the same language. So last night when I sent him a Facebook message that I desperately needed 20 minutes of his time to discuss some details of options within my scattered plan, he responded by calling me at 8:30 this morning and kindly took about 30 minutes to walk with me through this maze of strategies. I 100% trust his judgement and respect his opinion and no one knows me as a vaulter better than him.
So tonight I am at peace. We always say that impatience means you have no confidence in your plan, so you had better make sure your plan is right for you. And we did and it is! Thanks Kris!! I owe a lot to you and wanted to make sure everyone else knew it! Bubba
Great Tribute Bubba, a great coach makes a huge difference. Tye Harvey has helped and is still helping me and my vaulters by looking at videos making suggestions and how to fix problems, he has been a great positive influence to me. Here is to great coaches and good friends!
ReplyDeleteMike