“Piss poor preparation promotes piss poor performance, and piss poor performance promotes pain.”
I can remember that phrase being yelled before many practices during my freshman year at West Point by coach Junior Smith. Coach Smith was an assistant coach. He coached our running backs. We would be stretching and he’d walk around randomly through the stretch lines and he’d yell that phrase over and over.
Coach Smith recruited me to the Academy. He came took a trip down to Newport News, Virginia and had dinner with my family. He told me and my parents how great of an opportunity attending West Point was. He was right. He told me that I had what it took to play at that level and that I’d get a chance to compete for a chance to play during my freshman season. He was right. He told me that I had what it took to be an Academy graduate and a military officer. He was right. He also told me that if I wanted all of those things to happen, I’d have to come prepared to work for them. Needless to say, once again he was right.
I think he knew a little about preparation. He wasn’t a very tall man nor was he very big. But he was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame at his alma mater (East Carolina University) and is still the school’s all-time leading rusher. His size wouldn’t necessarily lead one to believe that he would have those sorts of accolades from his playing days but he did. So, him speaking those words on the practice field over and over meant something. They came from a place of experience. They came as a warning. But I just thought it was funny at the time. Something to mock and smile at. I almost missed the lesson.
Early during that season, we actually played East Carolina down in Greenville, North Carolina. It was a beautiful day for football and I was extremely excited because it would be the first college game of mine that my parents would get to see in person. It was a fairly short drive for them from my hometown down to Greenville, so they made the trip. I knew I’d play on a few special teams so that increased the excitement because I would actually be on the field. The game came and we kicked off. Guess who was on the kickoff team? You guessed it! This guy! On the first play of the first college game that my parents came to, they got to see their freshman son on the field. It was a dream come true for me.
I played a lot that game. I returned a few kicks, I played defense.... but that wasn’t a good thing. The reason that I played that much wasn’t because I was a starter...it was because we got BLOWN OUT! The final score was 59-24....a lot to a little. I was playing as a true freshman after the game was out of reach. My parents got to see me play but the outcome was ugly. We weren’t prepared. That lead to a piss poor performance. There was only one piece left in that equation.
Sunday’s in college during my freshman year were considered recovery days. We would go to the stadium, attend treatment to focus on any injuries from the previous game, and watch the game film from the day before. There would-be walk-through segments after that and we would get graded on our performance. We wouldn’t even put on pads. We’d put that game behind us and move on to the next opponent. Sundays were for recovery. Sundays were for lessons learned. But not that Sunday after ECU on October 6, 2002. That Sunday was different.
Coach Berry, our head coach, made it very clear that that day would be different. Our pads were waiting on us as we got to our lockers. We weren’t used to that. We were told to get dressed in full gear and get on the field. We didn’t do that on Sundays. We only wore full pads 2 days per week during the season...Sunday wasn’t supposed to be one of those days.
We got out to the field and for over 2 hours proceeded to do nothing but hit and condition. No game film, no treatment, no scouting or install for the upcoming game. Just hitting and conditioning. It was by far the worst practice of my football career. I don’t remember all of the details because we hit so much. It was awful. That was the pain. Our lack of preparation (or piss poor preparation) led us to getting beat by 5 touchdowns by a team that didn’t finish much better than we did that season. It was a terrible performance. That Sunday afterwards however, that was the culmination. That was the part of the saying that I don’t wish upon anyone. That was the pain. And boy did it suck!
Even though that was a terrible experience, it was a life lesson that was extremely invaluable. I carry it with me today. Although no experience has been quite like that one, I’ve realized that what you put into something is what you can expect to get out of it. Your level of preparation will determine the level of your performance. If you don’t want pain on the back end, you’ve got to put in work on the front end. Your performance at your job, your relationship, your fitness, your happiness. They all require work. You’ve got to prepare for the fight. And if you do, you’ll have a good outcome. You’ll avoid the pain.
So, what are you preparing for? Is there something big that you want in life? How are you preparing for that event or that goal? Take it from me, even off the football field, the pain from poor performance far exceeds the pain associated with the effort it takes to properly prepare. Don’t sell yourself short by taking the easy route. Prepare like you mean it so that you can perform the way you want to!
Man, that phrase is a tongue twister. Try saying it five times fast. Piss poor preparation promotes piss poor performance, and piss poor performance promotes pain. Talk about bringing back memories.
