Sergeant Tony's Blog

I set a record in high school.

It still stands!

No, it’s not “most number of times sent to detention.”

It’s not “most number of times rejected by the homecoming queen.”

I set a swimming record in the 100 yard freestyle.

I played all the manly sports that involved a ball: football and basketball. Not baseball. That’s a game that was invented for guys who couldn’t be athletes! hahaha (No hate mail from you baseball knuckleheads. I can hear you already Jeremy, Andrew, and Robert. Calm down.)

Baseball is a spring sport. So is swimming. The swimming and diving team had girls in swimsuits. The baseball team didn’t. No-brainer.

At the end of the swimming and diving season we had a big party and barbeque at our coach’s house. It was a party / awards banquet. Each member of the team was asked to stand up and share two experiences from the season. And almost everyone of them mentioned something about ME!!! That record was awesome!

Unfortunately none of those clowns mentioned my record. Everyone of those chowderheads mentioned something else that I did that season.

This is what I was famous for.

In addition to swimming, I was also a diver. One of the guys in my neighborhood was a diver in college and he took me under his wing the summer between 7th and 8th grade. That summer I went from doing “cannonballs” and “can openers” to “inward 1 and a halfs” and “reverse double summersaults.” I wore a sweatshirt to practice in. I landed on my back and my belly a lot. Those hurt. A lot.

Fast forward to the State Swimming and Diving Meet my senior year. I’m in the finals of the state diving competition. In fact, as we join the story, our hero (Tony Ludlow), is actually in SECOND PLACE … with only one more dive to go! The guy in first place was untouchable. None of us could catch him. Second place was going to be GREAT! My previous dives had gone really well and I’d practiced this last dive several times that morning. It was a reverse 2 1/2 summersault, degree of difficulty: 3.4.

And there I was. Standing on the board, preparing my thoughts and getting myself ready … when suddenly … I became aware of everyone waiting on me to dive. There were about a thousand people there. My girlfriend. My friends and family. The other teams. Their friends and family. Coaches. Officials. Crazy Kyle with the artificial leg and lazy eye. (That’s a whole nuther story!)

And everyone was waiting on me.

And everyone was being quiet.

Waiting on me.

No one was even whispering. No one was standing up. No one was moving at all. I could feel them all leaning forward.

This crowd of people had been of no consequence to me during the whole time. I never even paid them any attention. But now … all of a sudden … there they were!

Eventually you have to dive. You just can’t stand on the board forever. Standing there like a big goober. I thought that maybe once my feet started moving forward everything would just fall into place.

It didn’t.

I continued moving toward the end of the board, jumped up into the air — just like they do on tv — came down on the end of the board just like they do on tv … and instead of taking off into the air — like they do on tv — and performing the dive … I froze on the end of the board. Boinngggggggggg. And there I was standing on the end of the board, riding it up and down … NOT DIVING.

The people sucked the air out of the place. They all collectively made that “OHHHH!!!” sound that isn’t an exhale, but an inhale.

I heard the head judge say, “BALK!” into the microphone.

“Balk”??? This ain’t no baseball game! But that’s what it’s called when a diver fails to “take off!”

What happens next? According to the rules, the diver can back up, regroup, and dive over. The thing is, he will only be awarded HALF the points he’d have gotten. So a dive that would’ve scored 50, would only be awarded 25 points.

Second place was gone.

I backed up, regrouped, and took my spot on the board again. Waited for the judge to indicate that they were ready for me to dive. I got the signal. And …

I froze.

I was 17 years old and having the worst day of my life. I could literally FEEL the people leaning in and waiting for me to dive.

I thought maybe THIS time it would work. I’ll just start my approach … go into the hurdle … come down on the board and it’ll happen. It’ll be magic!

It was a disaster.

The exact same thing happened. With me planted on the end of the board like a 5 year old afraid to jump. Again, the collective inhale of the crowd.

The judge announced, “Scratch dive.”

Then came the walk of shame. I had to walk to the other end of the board and climb down the ladder. Once I got down the ladder I had to walk the entire length of the stands where everyone was looking at me.

The place was still quiet. I was looking down at my feet the whole time, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. I was walking toward my team’s bench and glanced up just enough to see my coach having a melt down. His face was bright red and his teeth were clinched. He threw me a towel. I caught it, put it over my head, and just kept walking … past the bench … all the way into the locker room. Where I sat for the rest of my life. Or so it seemed.

The small headline in the sports page the next day. “Local Diver Comes in Ninth in State Meet.” Do you know that they actually HAVE a ribbon for 9th place!

My name is still on the wall of my high school athletic department for the record I set, thanks to Elton John. But no one on my team remembers that record. Today I’m sure if they were asked they’d probably start making jokes about my “failure to launch!”

And how did Elton John help me set that record?

Just before I swam the 100 yard free that day, I was listening to a song of his called “Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding.” It’s a slow moving song at first and then it builds and builds and really moves! The song is over 10 minutes long, but in the 54 seconds it took me to swim those 100 yards, I played through the whole song in my head!

I did this without a bong. Take THAT Michael Phelps!

I needed Elton when I jacked up my big day on the diving board!

What I really needed was focus.

I had no focus on the board that day. I became distracted. I thought of everything else but what was important. If I had blocked out everything else and concentrated on the main thing, I’d have taken home a trophy and a title instead of that little gay ribbon. If I had put my energies into the dive instead of the distraction, the headline would have read differently.

Stay focused. Tune out the static. Put your energies on the things that matter. Dismiss the distractions and embrace the essence of what makes your life beautiful and unique.

And then nail it!

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MOUNT FUJI TOMORROW

The 0530 class will meet at the parking garage on Zach Curlin (Mt. Fuji) on the campus of the U of M. No 0530 class at Christ Methodist.

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MEMORIAL DAY SCHEDULE

ONE workout on Monday at 0700 at Christ Methodist. All other classes are canceled that day! Come and celebrate Memorial Day with a Marine! We’ll have a brief flag pole observance prior to the start of the workout!

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0645 AND 0830 CLASS NEWS!

The 0645 class is up and runnin’!! This is a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class and will follow the same routine as the 0830 class!

The 0830 class will go on hiatus for the summer at the end of this month. Friday, May 29 will be the last class until the end of the summer

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SUMMER SCHOOL SPECIAL

Have a student who’d like to join USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP for the summer? Special discounted program for summer student recruits! Email me for details!

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MEMPHIS IN MAY TRIATHLETES!

Congratulations to David Caffey, Daniel Shaffer, and Andrew Forsdick! David did the mountain bike triathlon on Saturday and Daniel and Andrew did the Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday!

You guys ROCK!!!!

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ZOOM THROUGH THE ZOO

Thursday evening’s class is canceled. Instead run the Zoom Through the Zoo 4 Miler! This is the second year for this fun race that goes through the zoo! They turn the lions lose to help you run faster!

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THANK YOU to everyone who donated their used athletic shoes to Soles4Souls. Boot campers donated 53 pairs of adult and children’s shoes! These donations will be used to help people around the world and here in our own country and state. To learn more, go to www.soles4souls.org. Thanks for helping to make a difference!

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Tomorrow … do better!

To your continued good health and fitness,

Tony

Sergeant Major Tony Ludlow
USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, Commanding
4888 Southern Ave
Memphis, TN 38117
901-644-0145

www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com

www.shaklee.net/tonyludlow/main