2010 warm up

It was my privilege today.......

....to meet and interact with an impressive young man called Andre.

I was training at Brightwater Commons which is a self contained piece of real estate which houses a beautiful park like expanse which includes retail space, a beautiful Virgin Active gym, a flea market and an interesting Skate Park with lots of berms and bump and rails and jumps etc.

After training I happened to notice a powerful, tanned good looking young man with a pony tail, jeans and a T shirt aged about 20.

He was inside the skate park without a board, moving smoothly around on his feet and motioning with his hands and arms. I could see imediatly thse wern't random movements and I stopped to watch him.... he was almost gliding...it was hypnotic.

I suddenly realised what he was doing. VISUALISING. He was trying new maneuvers in his mind before he actually got his board out. He moved thouroughly all over the park and I was amazed at the detail and care he took to work everything out....jumps, rails, up and down berms, up walls...it was incredible to watch.

Eventually he sat on a railing at the side of the park and just watched the other kids.

I...of course...wanted to chat with him. I went over, introduced myself...to ANDRE.

I started by saying how impressed I was that at such a young age he knew about visualisation techniques and how he was planning everything before hand.

A smile creased his tanned face and he said to me..."Dude, if you ride in a place like this without knowing where you are going, you're gonna get hurt, ya dig" " Man, this is like going to war...I am a warrior and and I don't do this without a plan."

We talked for a long while about 'thoughts becoming things' and how nothing in life gets anywhere without a thought first and both of us did a lot of nodding in agreement with each other.

By now we were talking like old buddy's...generation gap the furthest thing from either of our minds.

After some time, I felt he wanted to skate so I gave him a high five and our hands touched for more than the normal brief second of a typical high five....it was electric, we smiled at each other...the knowing smile of two people who connected at a deep level..WE UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER.

In saying goodbye he said to me "Dougal, thank you for talking to me, I learned a lot from you."

Wow....he got that the wrong way round....I learned so much from him.

A young man who will go a long way in life.

Today I was privileged to find a DIAMOND...because I dug for one.

Maybe you will too, you just need to dig...I hope you do.

MERRY CHRISTMAS