Adrian and Two MOMMAVORES

In Spartan culture, mothers were the equal of the warriors and were the heads of the household.  For without the mother, there would be no warrior.  The small city-state thrived because of military strength.  While men defended Spartan culture women fostered it, the women ran the estate, supervised helots (more or less slaves) over all domestic matters, and raised their children as warriors or wives of warriors.  There were only two ways to have a marked gravestone in ancient Sparta – a mother would die in the process of childbirth and a warrior would die in battle.

Mothers are recognized within the Naval Special Warfare Community.  It is a special point during the graduation ceremony of a SEAL when both parents stand, but it is only after the mother has stood.  There was not a handshake given to a mom by an admiral, a vice admiral, a governor, or a SEAL team leader in which she was not thanked – A POWERFUL GESTURE INDEED.

The sacrifices mothers make are unheralded.  Momma Panko worked from 10pm-5am so her kids could attend football and wrestling camp, play travel volleyball, pick out shoes at Galyans, and drive without paying for gas or insurance.  She dealt with teenage girl matters which her daughter seemed ably adept at making endless, two sons that produced stitches, bike wrecks, torn up sod, the consummation of a flame and WD-40, burnt lawns, flowers mowed over, a basketball goal nearly leveled with an F-250, food money blown on fireworks, a busted out front tooth, a couple knock down drag out fights, two flipped vehicles (attributed solely to the older) and a sage elderly father all too happy to dial up the Avon Fire Department at the behest of clogged personal plumbing – “son I can’t $h!t or piss.”

Working on about three hours of sleep each 24 hour cycle, she ran the hospitality room for every Avon Wrestling event from 1999-2005 and for every UIndy Wrestling event from 2006-2010.  She served at Avon Junior Athletic Association for a decade and on the Avon Quarterback Club for 8 years.  She sat top row, 50 yard line, right under the press box at all Avon football games from 1997-2004, only because she would wait outside the stadium on Thursday afternoon to tape a blanket down first.  She was the first in the gym for all wrestling and volleyball events and has made more food for teammates than the president has private sector jobs.

Recent news headlines have insinuated the wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney has led an easy life because she never had a job outside the house.  While there is no doubt the wealth her husband has earned could make them seem distant, stay at home moms are not lazy and work extremely hard.  The baby gets taken care of, the house gets cleaned, the laundry gets washed, dried, and folded, the sheets gets changed, the dishes get hand washed, the neighborhood kids get dealt with, and there is a meal on the table at the end of the day.  Or in other cases, all of that gets done and the mom is tough enough to work nights.

Mothers are the backbone of the American household.  Every day is Independence Day and every day should be Mother’s Day.  Moms portray hard work, dedication, diligence, sacrifice, initiative, and persistence that do not go unnoticed.

Nothing says "love" like a brandished blade

PANKO Strength & Speed sends a thank you to all the moms that make possible incredible childhood experiences for their children.  Education does not matter.  Wealth does not matter.  Earthly possessions do not matter.  Job outside the home or being in charge of the home, it does not matter.  Pulling duty alone or being the strong half of the provider and protector, or being the provider and protector, it does not matter.  All that matters is the unconditional love and guidance that is shown to a young soul that will soak it up like a sponge, achieve their American Dream(s), and pass it on to the next generation as lovingly as was passed to them.

PANKO Strength & Speed, Proud Stewards of the American Dream

What separates these bearded ghosts from any other is their insignia; their badge is of specialized importance.  It is single grade, worn equally by officer and enlisted man.  It is single grade because in the elimination process, officers and enlisted men are side by side, earning their individual right together.  All ghosts wear the same emblem, a Trident, which consists of four parts:

1)   An old anchor, the connection to the service of the United States Navy.  It is the remembrance of the teams that came before them as part of the Navy’s Combat Demolition Units and Underwater Demolition Teams and World War II joint Army/Navy special operators Scouts and Raiders.

2)   Intersecting the anchor, at a 90˚ angle, is the Trident of Neptune, King of the Seas.  These ghosts are most skilled where others are not, in the water.

3)   A cocked flintlock pistol transects the anchor and the spear.  The pistol represents the readiness of the ghosts and their equal adeptness at land and sea warfare.

4)   Presiding over the anchor, Trident, and pistol – clutching the Trident in the right talon and the flintlock in the left talon – is the eagle.  The symbol of their nation’s self-determination also represents the ability of these ghosts to be injected into any situation by air.  Unlike any other eagle on military emblems, this eagle’s head is bowed in reverence to the nation, symbolizing the humility these ghosts possess.

On April 27^th, 2012, the 288^th class of sailors since 1962 received their Trident.  A 61 week job interview, with an attrition rate of 80% culminated on the epicenter of special warfare preparation – Naval Special Warfare Command at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in the heart of San Diego Bay.  Fittingly, the graduation took place on the Grinder, the concrete courtyard that claimed the physical, psychological, and emotional aptitude of the 192 that did not make it.  The Grinder is a cold, stark cue of what failure, but also success brings.  It is lined with the helmets of those who dropped from the program by ringing the bell, and no doubt stained with the blood, sweat, and tears of those who wear the Trident as well as those sent back to the fleet.

Over a sand dune from the Grinder is Coronado Beach, its miles of sand, packed under ruck and boot, and the colliding waves of the Pacific portray a definitive landscape.  The expanse of the Pacific Ocean’s 64 million square miles is the greatest on Earth, landfall does not occur for another 6,600 miles.  To the south, the Naval Special Warfare “O” Course is a harsh aide-mémoire of what it takes to join this brotherhood and across the bay is the United States Pacific Fleet.

SEAL Class 288 started as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training Class 288 in the middle of February 2011 with 240 sailors.  After 24 weeks, the remaining men graduated BUD/S Class 288 and became SEAL Qualification Training Class 288.  After 26 weeks of SQT, only 48 (11 officers, 37 enlisted) of the 240 became SEAL Class 288.  Even more impressive is the “original eight.”  On September 5^th, 2010, Naval Station Great Lakes welcomed 229 men into Division 823 for basic training – the only special warfare division in basic training and designated 800.  Eight of the 229 earned their Trident with one opportunity on the the Navy’s most textbook timetable.

The most impressive element of all was the brotherhood of these men.  SEALs came back to see new SEALs pinned.  Heroes ascended upon Coronado that day.  The ceremony was presided over by Vice Admiral Robert Harward the US Navy Deputy Commander of United States Central Command.  Vice Admiral Harward wholeheartedly thanked parents for their commitment in raising these men to pass the most grueling test mankind knows.

After being pinned and saluting Vice Admiral Harward, the second salute went to four star admiral William McRaven, Commander of US Special Operations Command.  From March 2008 to August 2011 he was Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command.  JSOC is comprised of three special missions units – Army Special Forces Operational Detachment (Delta Force), Naval Special Warfare Developmental Group and USAF 24^th Special Tactics Squadron.  Precisely 52 weeks prior, as Class 288 was preparing for Hell Week, Admiral McRaven had organized and was preparing to execute Operation Neptune’s Spear which ended with one of military history’s most famous radio calls, “For God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo, KIA,” confirming the mission objective and death of Osama bin Laden.

The awe-inspiring presence of the ceremony was that of the Naval Special Warfare recipients of the Medal of Honor.  One of the Medal of Honor attendees on hand was selected as a founding member of the original SEAL Team Six.  The most overwhelming presence was that of the Navy’s two most recent Medal of Honor recipients, posthumous – Lt. Michael Murphy and Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael Monsoor.  Both are honored centrally at Naval Special Warfare Command.

The ceremony was also attended by Texas Governor and former presidential candidate Rick Perry, who, whether one agrees with or not politically, is a Patriot.  He was gracious and during a photo op even took the time to personally thank Momma Panko for the service of her youngest, even after her ill-fated attempt to master technology for a picture with her oldest.  The ceremony culminated with the newest BUD/S Class, 295, in the middle of Phase One, giving a “hooyah” to SEAL Class 288.  Vice Admiral Harward welcomed Class 288 to the SEAL Teams, and graduated Class 288, in tradition, ordered Class 295 to hit the beach.

These men will finish their requirements, move to their teams, and defend against those who would do America harm.  Never take for granted the commitment they make, and appreciate their sacrifices in upholding the American way of life.  As they can attest, it pays to be a winner.  Many dream of being able to wear the Trident.  Most have not had what it takes to earn it.  In seeing those men with the pin of their destiny above the bars of their rank, one could not help but be reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s immortal phrase, “All men die.  Very few ever live.”  Blessed are the peacemakers.

PANKO Strength & Speed, Proud Stewards of the American Dream

Need the training to get into Special Forces?  Click the link…

It may be hard to have an appreciation for what the Shuttle Program has meant to America and the world.  By the 1980’s, the freedom that bestowed the United States’ celestial shores was driving the final nail in the coffin of the Soviet Union.  The generations that have grown up since that era have only known the prosperity of this sweet and blessed land, but the generations that preceded grew up in a world far different.  Before the 80’s, the Earth’s two superpowers, with terrible and incredible weapons pointed at each other that in a matter of minutes could have destroyed the heart and soul of the other were in a race.  The winner would control the freedom of man – the United States as a beacon of light to the world and its defense of freedom or the Soviet Union and its darkness of tyrannical oppression.

There may not be a true appreciation for the shuttle program, but one needs to look no further than the names of the Space Shuttles to understand their significance and drive in the American psyche:

Atlantis – The inhabitants of the mythical island of Atlantis were said to be the most technologically sophisticated of all ancient civilizations.  The double mast and steel hulled ship Atlantis, of the early 20^th century, was the last of its kind in ocean research.

Columbia – Inspired by the explorer Christopher Columbus.  In 1790, the Columbia, a privately owned ship, was America’s first vessel to circumnavigate the world.  The torch bearing Columbia is also the female personification of America, bringing her beacon of light to an oppressed world.

Challenger – Something that pushes the boundaries.   In the 19^th Century, the HMS Challenger made numerous substantial scientific findings in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Discovery – Observing or finding something unknown.  Henry Hudson and James Cook, two of Europe’s greatest explorers and watershed men, both sailed in ships named Discovery.

Endeavour – Work toward a set goal.  Aboard the sailing vessel Endeavor, James Cook made the first voyage without losing a man to scurvy, a disease brought about by a lack of ascorbic acid in the body.

Enterprise – Inclination to accept new, unknown quests accepting all opportunity, complication and risk.

Everything about each of these names is purely American.  The space program has been one of the nation’s greatest symbols of pride.  Before kids had to watch condoms being put on cucumbers during class time, teachers used to wheel in TV’s so everyone could watch, first the rockets then the shuttles launch.  The innovation of the space program propelled not only rockets but also the American Economy and built a bustling private sector aided by the loyal readiness of suburbia.

Military superiority to keep the world safe was not the only product of America’s space program – the material in invisible braces, scratch resistant lenses, memory foams, infrared thermometers and lasers, shoe insoles, long distance communication via satellite, smoke detectors, rumble strips, cordless and wireless technology, filters, and many innovations in household appliances, kitchen gadgets, and automobiles can be directly related to America’s space program.

By 2015, NASA was supposed to launch the new Orion Spaceships as part of the Constellation Program.  That was scrapped in 2011 because of budget issues (how fitting seeing that the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in almost 1,100 days).  As a small business owner, deciding not to move forward with a $150 billion project because something is thought to be too expensive is appreciated, BUT not at the risk of losing status as the planet’s sole aeronautical and military superpower.  Plus, Americans get zero return on money spent on the UN, in Egypt, flying members of Congress and their families across the country, quarterly vacations all over the place often in two separate jumbo jets a mere three hours apart, $4 apiece shrimp for State Dinners, themed White House parties, or with monthly welfare checks people get to stay home, have babies, NOT WORK and go to Aaron’s (Rent to own!!! They don’t even make people pay when they leave the store with a 55” flat screen.  How Exciting!).

Until the United States gets a new plan in place for space exploration, Astronauts will be hitching rides from the Russian Space Agency in their Soyuz Capsules.  Correct, America just lost to the team it beat in a game that lasted 46 years and ended 23 years ago.

“The future does not lie to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the BRAVE.”

PANKO Strength & Speed, Proud Stewards of the American Dream

“Tell me thy company and I will tell thee what thou art.” – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

It seems very fitting that the author of the above nugget of gold was also the man who attempted to re-ignite chivalry in Modern Europe – defending the helpless and defeating the wicked, and probably without the nuisance of the Federal Government – in the magnum opus fantasy El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha.  In America, it may be better recognized as Don Quixote (Key-hoe-tay) even though Uncle Lester has always mispronounced it “Quicks-oat.”

Translations and mispronunciations aside, this is a wonderful opportunity to step back for a second and think about the people or the personalities within personal circles and/or social groups.

What effect (positive/negative) do they have on each other?

What effect (positive/negative) do they have on the group as a whole?

Most importantly, what effect (positive/negative) do they have on personal mindset, goals, implementation, and outcome?

Red Flag Moment : Are the people in your circle making you more successful or are they holding you back?  Are they a hard charger to success or do they find every reason not to find success?

An example that will help…

Upon entering Job #1 at a gym, there were two distinct cliques – the hustlers and the non-hustlers.  The hustlers made money, the non-hustlers made excuses.  The hustlers were slammed with business; the non-hustlers were still living at home, in their late 20’s, and would retreat to the nest for a daily nap.  As an intern in a large operation, one gets placed below the non-hustlers who, within the business hierarchy, are well below the hustlers.  It can be very difficult.  The hustlers wanted nothing to do with an intern and the non-hustlers were just happy someone other than their mother was “interested” in what they were doing.  It was like being the new kid in school and the only person that shows any interest in the new kid is the one that picks their nose and eats it, pops their zits with a compass and scratches the dandruff off their head or the psoriasis off their leg and runs personal taste tests for cohabitation with the human palate.

To make a long story over four and a half years short – the hustlers ended up being selfish, self-centered, narcissistic weasels or in the case of one, an attempted pornographer.  On the other hand, during all expenses paid trips to the Riviera Maya and Caribbean, the non-hustlers complained about things like lack of ice in drinks, lack of carbonation in “their” Mountain Dew, and used heat as an excuse to stay in the room and watch SportsCenter on repeat all day.  Those experiences over that time led to the conclusion that three cliques would have to exist – the hustlers, the non-hustlers, and the Driven.  Being around the other groups was not beneficial to being a CARNIVORE.

That experience proved that maybe the best circle for focused, relentlessly driven, hard charging people is their own.  Slow to let others in, fast to show them the door.  For that reason alone, entrepreneurial individuals and those chasing limitless triumph can be the loneliest people on the planet, but it is by choice, and often times, necessity.  Skip the crap, cut the bull, be no nonsense, if someone is not getting one closer to their goals then they are driving them further away.

Need to be a loner…Read, watch, listen, learn, and immerse in the way of someone that is successful or preaches, teaches, and breaths success, achievement, and attitude and aptitude.

Stay away from complainers; they are time and energy vampires.  Have a friend that is a complainer?  Wear a cross pendant and carry a sharp wooden stake at all times, flash the cross, brandish the stake and all complaints should end.  Complainers are mad about one of two things – their job or their lot.  They picked one, they chose the other.  The former is probably the issue, they have a job.  Jobs lead to dead ends and pissiness, vocations lead to Mountains of Success with endless limits and endless achievement.  If the latter is the issue, once they experience enough problems they will eventually get where they want to go.  For those hoping no problems will cross their path, expect defeat.  Without problems, there can be no identifying chinks in the armor (hopefully the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network is not reading).  As long as people are unwilling to identify their weakness they can never sufficiently be prepared to succeed.

Red Flag Moment : complainers complaining get worse when they get around other…complainers.  Instead of looking up to find the next obstacle, accomplishment, and success checkpoint, they are nose to the ground like a bunch of chickens bickering with each other because they can’t differentiate the dirt, the small morsels of feed they feel should be thrown their way, and their own barnyard fertilizer…that they are making.

Scott Alexander said it best in his book Rhinoceros Success, “charge with the rhinos, soar with the eagles, run with the cheetahs, and eat with the lions.”  Toss this in their also, “attack, conquer, and prevail with the CARNIVORES.”  LEAVE THE CHICKEN LITTLES OF THE WORLD ALONE TO DITHER, DAWDLE, DILLY, DALLY, BICKER, PISS AND MOAN TO THEMSELVES.  YOU DON’T NEED THEM!

PANKO Strength & Speed, Charging CARNIVOROUS Stewards of the American Dream

My college experience was one well-traveled.  I went to three colleges in four years; one exit because of my rules, the second exit because of their rules.  In all honesty, had I never told the first head coach how I felt about him; I would have never found Exercise Science at Olivet.  Without Olivet, I would not have been bored with football, and would have never transferred home.  Had I not transferred home, I would not have trained at the Training Zone (an absolute hole in the wall in Avon, GOD REST ITS SOUL).  Doug Salyer, co-owner, said I should train with Bryan Neese, America’s Strongest Man in 1999.  Bryan introduced me to Chad Coy.  Chad was a strongman and training source of abundant knowledge that owned Powerhouse Gym in Kokomo where I worked from May 2005 to December 2009.  In 2006, he bought the 13^th national Parisi Speed School franchise, and I was exposed to real sports performance training.  Invisible Guidance from the Hand of Divine Providence, a chain reaction of events, and planned actions with a purpose led to PANKO Strength & Speed, but it all got started with a “F*** You” to a guy that tried to push me around psychologically.

Because of my bubbly personality, I had many acquaintances but few friends from my college years.  As a matter of fact, I keep in regular contact with two of them – Kahlil and Willy – and see a third on a yearly basis.  Kahlil is half Syrian, half Mennonite and Willy comes from one of Kentucky’s most prominent families.  Kentucky never seceded from the Union, but in Antebellum South, he would have been a gentleman planter.  On a Sunday evening, Kahlil asked Willy, if his grandpa, who is on the board at the University of Kentucky, could get us tickets to the Regional Semi-Final Round of the NCAA Tournament being held at Rupp Arena in Lexington.  By 10am Monday, tickets were secured.

The trip to, in and around Lexington was surprising.  Indiana is considered the basketball state, but Kentucky is none far behind if not ahead.  In Indiana, a hoop gets put on a barn; in Kentucky, they just build a whole outdoor court.  THEY ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR BASKETBALL.  I watched Willy’s mom attack a carton of Marlboro Red’s and a case of Coke, screaming at Tayshaun Prince, opting for the headphones and UK Broadcast of the Kentucky/Maryland game while watching the muted CBS Broadcast of Jim Nance and Billy Packer.

The semi-final included IU/Duke and Pitt/Kent St.  The entire arena was blue and I figured fans for #1 and #1 seeded Duke severely out-numbered all others.  WRONG!  It was blue-clad Kentucky fans that had shown up to watch hated IU versus really hated Duke.  It would be akin to Lucas Oil Stadium hosting the Steelers or Chargers and Patriots.  In case, you don’t know why UK fans hate Duke…

Actually, it was…

IU played horrible basketball and at one point was down 17 in a stone cold silent arena.  There was a lingering sense, if IU could just keep it within 10 points, the game could be manageable.  And then, AJ Moye, IU’s 6’2” sixth man stole the hearts of the Kentucky fan base.  As he made increasingly important plays the crowd became alive.  He scored a couple buckets off back door cuts, converted HUGE free throws and played adhesive defense on 6’9” Carlos Boozer, and stuffing him with about five minutes to go in the game’s biggest defensive play.  The crowd erupted in a chant of A-J MOY-A, stayed on their feet for the last seven minutes, and cheered their second biggest rival to a wild comeback.  Even Willy, who bleeds more blue than anyone I know, was hysterical.  The way Kentucky fans passionately pulled behind IU and made AJ Moye the darling of Wildcat Nation for 12 hours gave me chills.  And it still does to this day.  On the way out after the Pitt/Kent State game, I was fascinated with the “We are ALL Hoosiers Tonight” feel of Lexington.

The passion that night has always stuck with me.  There are not a lot of gray areas in sports, but there were some loyalty lines crossed that evening.  Most times fans are or they are not, but in this case it seems like there was an unspoken agreement that they would cheer for anyone to beat Duke.  Too many times, because of some distorted mindset, people are too timid to put their force and conviction into something, but that night, not in the case of Kentucky basketball fans.  Nothing will ever avenge Christian Laettner’s shot in 1992, but for a moment, Kentucky fans felt vindication.

PANKO Strength & Speed, Stewards of the American Dream

If such an area exists in on the west side of Indianapolis, Andico Road is the industrial hub of Hendricks County.  The Complex (home of PANKO Strength & Speed to the ill-informed) is right in the middle.  There are seven factories and/or machine shops, two excavators, and three garages.  The other half of the Complex is storage for one of the plastics factories and is the setting of this encounter.

Monday marked second confrontation I have ever had with scrappers – scavengers who dig through trash to find metal so they can turn it in for some (emphasis on some) cash.  Just about any stereotypical rodent analogy can be drawn to describe these two.  They had the appearance one would expect – sharp, narrow, rat-like features.  They were listening to Johnny Cash (no shame there) and they were smoking Marlboro reds.

I happened to walk outside as they were making their way towards the open door of the storage unit next door.  They asked if there was anything in there they could have and I said “no.”  They asked if I was the owner and I said I was not.  His next reply was to ask me, “Who are you to say we can’t have anything?”  I responded that I was a business owner and my business was my livelihood, and if someone attempted to steal my livelihood I would defend it until somebody was carried away on a gurney.  I told him it was inconceivable he was attempting to subsidize his livelihood by stealing cast dyes from a business owner who carried the burden of providing for every single employee, and their family, on his payroll.  The two got in the car and left.

Wealth, well-being, and success can’t morally be attained by taking from others.  It can be earned, it HAS to be earned.  But success can never be stolen.  Success should not be measured on an inter-personal scale.  Success is intra-personal.  It’s not person to person, but it is within.  Success should be measured on small scales, whereupon, an individual makes sure they are taking small, progressed steps forward daily.  Putting their head on a pillow better than when they woke that morning

This vulture believed he could steal (“from someone who could afford it”) and achieve some sort of wealth, success, or happiness.  When in reality, he will never be successful because he is always going to place blame on someone else.  He won’t take steps forward because he will always be concerned those around him will be taking greater steps forward.  He will be diving in dumpsters and sorting through people’s trash until he is put in the ground because he was never given a “fair shot.”  Unfortunately too many share his opinions.  Success comes at a price, but it’s not someone else’s price, it is the individual’s price to pay, and it is paid with sacrifice, persistence, blood, sweat, and, sometimes, tears.

Sports performance training, at all levels – high school, college, private facilities, has become a commodity.  Everyone does things the exact same way.  Actually, almost everything has become commoditized in the big-box-over-saturated-everyone-sell-everything-damn-customer-service-for-the-economical-cookie-cutter-run-through-they-built-one-over-there-so-we’ll-build-one-over-here world of retail/products/service.  Without sounding duplicitous, sports performance training is being described to the “T” by Dan Kennedy.   Coaches, trainers, owners are reading the same regurgitated information, being consulted by the same people, hobnobbing at the same conferences, attending the same seminars, and getting the same results.  They have passed on self-endeavor!

Resembling a Soviet (ne, new American) style trickle down bureaucracy, the masses are timid enough to follow the oligarchical few.  Once connected, they hope to be passed a scrap of this or a nibble of that, living safe on their knees instead of chasing exception on their feet.  This is all done in anticipatory delight of being recognized on a Facebook page or in a blogosphere blast.  At best, the followers are sitting behind a computer screen, fingers-crossed, that their own videos, ideas, blogs/articles, forum posts are not getting blasted by arm-chair quarterbacks.  Here is the secret to success, but this stays between author and reader: push away, turn off, follow instincts, implement with conviction, lead with passion, don’t give a damn, take people who invest their trust to the top, and build a culture.

There is nothing hypocritical here.  This is not an attack on those oligarchical few, but there has been a commoditization of the product.  People get comfortable not taking the required risks to blaze a trail, and become comfortable heading down the path of others.  Like the NFL, everyone follows the same skeletal rubric.  Contrary to political ideology, in this case, kudos should be given to those that are constantly re-setting the bar; it is ingenuity.  Their hard work, research, and results have made their businesses successful.  Businesses are in place to make profits and they fulfill that obligation to themselves, their partners, associates, investors, shareholders, and employees, and rightfully so.   They have independent people buying into dependence, be the wizard but beware the wizard.

What’s the purpose of all this?  Blast followers for following, praise leaders for success.  The world needs leaders and the world needs them people to lead.  What is the point?  Commodities know no differential bounds – grain, corn, livestock, oil, cotton.  It is all the same everywhere.  Performance training is entering that paradigm; it is being overtaken by the overeducated and undertrained, researchers and not executioners.  Those that lecture yet don’t implement those that study the statistics, probabilities, trends, past circumstances and outcomes, to look at what they may be but certainly never having the stones to take risks to figure out what they can be.  These individuals place more worth on information than action.  It’s becoming dominated by people placing limits on an environment because the “book” said to do so.  Its auto-bots, all stamped from the same mold that have only the rationalization that the PowerPoint/PDF said “to do it,” the DVD “looked cool doing it,” and the alphabet of accolades that follows their name entitles them to do it.

Read and re-read this statement: a good program does not deal in sports performance training, but makes people more successful, more successful in every phase of their life and becoming more successful at something every day.  PANKO Strength & Speed is a SUCCESS program.  There has never been any doubt that the strength training aspects, speed training theory, application, and implementation, force production/reduction uses, and injury prevention courses of action executed within the program will build the best athletes.  But that is just one (1) distinction of the success program at PANKO Strength & Speed.

A good coach will teach athletes/trainees/program participants to break down the false limits they place on themselves.  Teaching individuals that they can overcome and then showing them how to overcome ALL artificial, self-built, walls between the current and success.  It is showing young people, parents, anyone they can get close to the edge, their edge, whatever that may be and benefit physically, psychologically, and emotionally instead of dwelling upon the sacrifice of effort and the pain that may bring, then teaching them to re-set the edge daily.  Set a big goal, implement to achieve the goal, set a bigger goal – REPEAT.  It is proving that the best version of oneself is infinitely better than the best impersonation one may attempt of someone else.  As a success coach, the greatest aha moment, comes when a person figures out that cliff, or any obstruction in their path, is not as high as they previously perceived.

As a business owner, it would be wonderful if people really cared about the business, and to some extent they do, some.  But what people really care about is how they benefit from the business.  They do not care about the place as much as they care how they feel when they leave (empowered).  They don’t care about the x’s and o’s of becoming successful only that they become successful.  They don’t care what it takes to be successful, only that they stay successful.  The success platform is the most important part of the program.  The passion for empowering individuals, the conviction with which a change is made in people lives, attitude, outlook, performance etc., and the efficiency in the way the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of the program are coupled CAN NOT BE COMMODITIZED.  They are not anywhere else, the way they are at PANKO Strength & Speed.  The part of the program that, at the beginning, can be uncomfortable for individuals; finding their reasons for self-doubt, lack of self-confidence, self-efficacy, and increased activity in self-destructive actions is the true asset of the experience.  Grow or die, get better or get worse, but staying the same is not progress.

PANKO Strength & Speed, Stewards of the American Dream

Neal Molloy - 5th Place 132 lbs (Courtesy Paul Tincher/IndianaMat.com)

Brayden Montgomery - State Qualifier 145 lbs

Neal Molloy and Brayden Montgomery from Danville, Brian Harvey from Cathedral, and Brian Snyder from Avon were all qualifiers for the Individual State Finals.  Neal placed 5^th at 132 lbs., Brian Snyder placed 6^th at 285 lbs., and Brian Harvey was a State Champion at 160 lbs.  Jordan Naughton was a 38 win, 220 lb. force that helped Perry Meridian to a Team State Championship, and Evan Smiley along with Harvey was a big part of Cathedral’s advancement to the semifinals of the Team State Tournament.

Brian Snyder - 6th Place 285 lbs

Brian Harvey - State Champion 160 lbs (Courtesy Paul Tincher/IndianaMat.com)

For the first time, PANKO Strength & Speed also had an influence with the Fort Wayne Semi-State, as PSS member and head coach at Yorktown High School; Trent McCormick took five of his wrestlers to the State Finals, one of which was a State Champion at 138 lbs.  Collegiately, four freshman wrestlers competed at Wabash College, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Indianapolis.  Before a season ending injury at the Region 3 Super Regional, a true freshman 184 lber from the University of Indianapolis was ranked 8^th in the nation.  Four Middle School wrestlers – Cael McCormick, Ethan Smiley, Nathan Walton, and Isaac Gomez – had phenomenal wrestling seasons and three of them earned All-American status at the Virginia Beach Middle School Duals.  Nathan Walton was also Champion of Dixie Nationals.

University of Southern Maine Wrestling

Wabash College Wrestling

University of Indianapoils Wrestling (athletics.uindy.edu)

Most of these guys have been with PANKO Strength & Speed for 18+ months, a couple came on later but made the most of their training experience. They have trained when it was 114 degrees inside and they have trained when it was 53 degrees inside.  They have been trained not to accept failure, but to use it as a building block.  They know where their edge is and they are not afraid to push themselves there.  They will go as far as they want in life; they have tasted some success, but they are aware that can be taken at any time, and only their sacrifice, persistence, work ethic, and focus will keep them climbing the mountain, for they will never be completely satisfied with their progress.  State champions two years in a row, eight top 8 finishes since 2010, and an influence in three of the four semi-states, PSS is establishing itself as the top place to train in Indiana!

The upswing into the New Year can be a time of maximal progress for athletes.  Unfortunately, it can also be the maximum time of tunnel-vision for narrow minded parents and coaches.  Football is the lone holdout single season sport, Indiana is slowly moving to spring football with coaches hosting non-school related events.  EVERY other sport has become year round, and with understandable reason.

College coaches are unable to get out and heavily recruit during their season; scheduling does not allow it.  Summer has now become the crucial time for wrestlers, baseball/softball players, and soccer and basketball players to get recognition in showcases, combines, and national tournaments where scholarships are rewarded, sometimes on the spot.  Since summer is the apex of the athlete’s opportunity exposure, it only makes sense that the winter and spring are the facilitators to an athlete having a great summer.

The constant stimulation of sport and game specific skill sets and the monotonous application of these skills impede athletic development.  The romance of the nose to the grindstone mentality (think shooting 1,000 free throws a day on a barn hoop in small town Indiana) will not be enough to keep most athletes on pace with the five percent that set the curve.  When the nervous system is no longer stimulated by the repeated practice of sport skills it will not react, and without the need to react to a stimulating environment progress grinds to a halt.

This is not a knock on single sport athletes, but it is an awakening for athletes who only play one sport and they play it year around.  They do not prepare, they do not train, and all they do is compete.  Preparation is the most important part.  Straight A’s are made on tests, they are spent in the hours preparing for the test by studying different ideas, methods, facts, or paradigms, and then applying them during a test.

The alternative to mundane practice and constant games is training.  Training will fix movement patterns, athletes will learn to become more efficient, get stronger, sprint faster, change directions better, dominate by being less susceptible to injury, and obtain amazing mental toughness.  Athleticism has become the cornerstone of sport success.  A young ball player can have all the game skills in the world, but if they lack the athletic competence to get to the point of attack first, decelerate, win a small battle and re-accelerate to the next point of attack then they will end up watching every else play when it matters (that would be high school when scholarships are being given to the athletes.)

As a coach or parent, think about how much time kids shoot hoops, field grounders, run routes, or practice shots on goal – ALL without the chaos of defenders and unpredictability that sports pack.  Reflect upon how much they really do that when they play.  They are severely over-trained to do skills they rarely use.  The next time they play a game, watch what the best player in the game is doing.  They are the fastest, get to the point of attack first, they change directions the best, and they are stronger than everyone else.  Slow, weaklings who think they are going to play professional sports are a penny a dozen.  Trained athletes that train in an environment of stimulating chaos pay a path of destruction that gets noticed. It is time for a paradigm shift.

Speaking of an Alpha Athlete, here is some footage of the first 40 Ryan Forney ran this winter and another 3.97 short shuttle…

PANKO Strength & Speed, Proud Stewards of the American Dream