Joined: Nov 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 1,292 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #1 on Jul 22, 2012, 11:42am »
Jeez James, I don't know what to say brotha.... But since we discussed this at length I totally understand. All I can say is I wish you the best with your future endeavors & I know we'll definitely stay in touch! Thanks for all the countless hours of training & advice my friend! We're still gonna pull occasionally I'm sure... See ya Sat!!
Joined: Feb 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 313 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #2 on Jul 24, 2012, 7:50am »
You guys in NC were lucky to have someone like James to be training with I don't know whats up down there but I told my guys 2 yrs ago either were training all out or nothing guys missing practice all the time if you show up once a month don't even bother example Ken Smith after cancer and 6 month layoff. He still came to practice when he was sick just to watch. I did see improvement from Robert Miller at Chris Heaths house Be relentless with your training and good things will happen
Joined: Nov 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 1,292 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #4 on Jul 24, 2012, 10:04pm »
Thanks big-Dave... I appreciate the compliment!! I've been training hard w/ James & at home. I heard what he said a few months back at our team meeting & I took it for what its worth... I'm sure we're still gonna drag the table out occasionally & pull! I wish JR the best... One of the best damn coaches in the country!!!
Peter Milano Board VIP Northeastern Armwrestling Association Co-Founder/Promoter member is offline
Joined: Mar 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 7,472 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #5 on Jul 25, 2012, 8:58am »
I still can't believe that the pure lack of dedication and poor participation of the North Carolina natives have driven my friend to this point. He's been a staple since 1998 and here we are in 2012 and the South has finally gotten the best of him and his will to continue to help each and every person he can in this sport.
You all amaze me. The one thing I never thought was possible has happened.
Good Luck James in your future endeavours. You will be missed.
« Last Edit: Jul 25, 2012, 9:05am by Peter Milano »
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 2,616 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #7 on Jul 25, 2012, 3:43pm »
While lack of dedication certainly plays its part in this, the whole situation is more complex than that. I don't want to get into it on here, but I think the lack of dedication was more the straw that broke the camel's back rather than the whole issue in and of itself.
There aren't a lot of people that give themselves to the sport the way James does. Every saturday he welcomes anyone and everyone that is willing to show up to his practices. This is certainly more to our benefit than it is to his. He doesn't have to devote his saturday afternoons to hosting practices, but he was always willing to, so long as he believed there were dedicated folks willing to show up every week. He has also been known to overextend himself by offering to ref/run/M.C. various tournaments. He's given a heck of a lot of himself to this sport. I thank James for everything he's given both to me personally and the sport as a whole.
Joined: Apr 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 165 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #8 on Jul 25, 2012, 5:45pm »
I've planned the majority of my Saturdays since Jan 2009 around going to James' for a few hours to armwrestle. There was even a point where I was training with Paul on Wednesdays. When I go out of town, its either to travel to a tournament, or I try to hook up with a local practice when I'm on vacation. Pete, you and I spoke your last visit here, and your words definitely struck a nerve. Not like a "how dare you" nerve, but more like a "Pete, I know.. shut up.. there is more than meets the eye" kind of nerve. I respect your words and opinion. Yet.. it still eats me up like its bad. Why? I completely understand where you and James are coming from. I have never questioned my level of dedication. I know exactly where I stand as far as skill with the people I train with, the gains I have made, goals achieved/yet to achieve, and the stupid crap I've done.
Training on Saturdays has done more for me personally, probably more then most of you understand. I'm not going into specifics, but its had a huge impact on my life. So anyone can sit and question my level of whatever... that's fine with me. Thanks James for opening up your garage to train and learn. I wish I had the motivation I have now (that we talked about a few weeks back) a long time ago. Guess I'm stuck pulling on a log a.k.a. Paul.. no offense Paul.
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,091 Location: USA.gif
Re: Final Saturday Practice at my house « Reply #9 on Jul 25, 2012, 7:08pm »
I don't know exactly all the details but I get enough of the gist to get the general reasons/idea.
I must first say that I am very passionate about the sport. Anyone that knows me know that. I'm competed in over 35 states. The lack of dedication in my local area has frustrated me for a long time. When I do anything, I don't want to half a$$ it.
With all that said, the passion is still there, the PRIORITY that is. That means I will push everything else down the totem pole even if it seems absurd. That means no girlfriend or steady relationship, personal vehicles only last 1/2 of their expected lifetime due to the insane mileage racked up, and poor $ spending habits b/c of my desire to always be at an event and be part of my action.
Outside of work (and formerly school) my whole life is driven by arm wrestling and training and lifting and entertainment. I am 28 and have been doing this kind of lifestyle now for about 5 years and its still fun. I haven't burned out yet.
But I have seen others burn out....some of them have been very close friends of mine in this sport. I won't mention any names because that doesn't matter but I am very happy for them because they found something else in there life that brings a deeper meaning to their lives that I have yet to experience or understand.
If I had more life responsibility (currently I have 0 except going to a job that I absolutely love and making school loan payments) and expectations to spend more of my time and $ on family etc, I would not have the time, extra $, (or desire probably) to be away from home as much as I am traveling to events.
Part of the reason I travel so much is because I lack a personal life at home and need to stay busy and active. If my circumstances changed, and I wasn't able to get to the events and practices that I wanted to, that ALONG WITH the lack of dedication locally here would probably draw my attention away from arm wrestling back into...
say POWERLIFTING....why just simple economics I could find dedicated people and events regularly that would be competitive on a local level.....I have never been able to sustain much locally in the sport of arm wrestling.
Now do I see that happening in the next 5 years , NO.....but in 10 or 15 who knows what can happen....life is life
I don't worry about the future, but I am not ignorant to the fact that the future will happen. I just live to day to day but can respect why others "feel" the way they do about this issue. It all depends on their stage in life and what their expectations are.
Those of you who know me very well have probably have at least one discussion in depth with me about this...but I'm just throwing it out there.
James, thank you for all you have done over the past 15 years. And you also know that "we" are never going anywhere and will always have another home.
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