(Episode 1)  John Coons- "Adapt and Move On” 

 

Athletics is a great teacher and sometimes the lessons learned are the product of losing seasons or don’t come to a person until years later. In this first episode, John Coons, a teacher and collegiate umpire (and former Triple A umpire), goes back over his high school career as a 3-sport athlete and relates how this period set his foundation for later on. The first segment of the podcast covers his time as an under-sized 2-way player on a losing football team and how it impacted his view on “attitude”. It provided challenges and forced him to develop a mindset. He also speaks on the values of being a multiple sport athlete during his high school days (some discussion on specialization).

 

In the middle segment we dive into the process of “adapting” in order to succeed. John explains how this helped him and how the lack of this ability has caused problems for others. He also relates his time as a walk-on college football player at Southern Illinois and why he did it. This is also where John got introduced into the field of umpiring, a profession that he went professional in and advanced all the way to the door of the Major Leagues.

 

The last section focused on John’s times in professional baseball and the things he learned. Things like not letting a “bad” call affect the next, why some super athletes just don’t make it out of the minors, and why David Wright (New York Mets All-Star) was one of his favorite players. We close with some of the lessons that he learned from sports and how they have helped him as both a teacher and an umpire.

 

So give it a listen.  Sometimes early struggles and adversity have a way of paying off later!

 

 

Thanks to Audio Out Studios (Peru, IL) www.audioout.org (815.343.9484 or [email protected])

 

GUESTS: John Coons

 

HOSTED BY: Scott Olson