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| James Grande |
The only thing I did was underline a few sections and throw in some pictures.
If you are a high school kid training on your own ... read this.
If you are a college kid training on your own ... read this 2x.
To quote James:
"You don’t want to be sitting at a BBQ with friends in 10 years saying I wish I did this differently in college...."
THE LETTER
Hey coach
hope all is well with you, your family, and the amazing program I finally
bought into last summer (2012). I just wanted to reach out to you to thank you
again for everything you have done for me. You sacrificed your time and many
weekends to make us better athletes and men. I wanted to write you this for a
while, but didn’t know how to say everything that has been going through my
mind. Here it goes. First off I miss you! You’re a great man that I can
consider a great friend and a father figure. I miss working out with the fellas
throughout the summer all for the same purpose of balling out on the field.
That bond that we have created from
putting in the hard work together is just unreal. It is just like the bond you
have with your family. I consider all those guys brothers now from the pain we
went through with the best mentor out there. Working out now isn’t the same
with people around me who “think” they know what they are doing, but in reality
they aren’t working out the right way.
I sit here now after work typing
this hoping the young kids you are training take your program as seriously as I
did that last summer. I hope they are listening to what you are preaching on a
daily basis and not just going through the motions. I regretted everyday
throughout my senior year of college that I didn't listen to you from day 1.
You told me to give it a shot and to buy into what you were preaching going
into my freshman year of college. But NO, of course I didn’t listen! I was a
stubborn senior in High School that "thought" I knew it all when it
came to training. I just wanted to enjoy my senior year summer and train on my
own. That was the worst move! I wish I had the power to go back in time to go
to my senior year to do things differently. I should’ve been training with you
for years instead of months. If I trained with you for all 4 years of college I
would’ve done much better than what I did. I still did very well and happy with
how I finished, but I know I could’ve done better if I trained with you for
those other years I didn’t buy into the program. You helped me reach numbers I
never thought I could ever reach in my life. The gains I made in those 3 months
were tremendous.
I’ve learned in the past few years that life
goes on. I figured out that since I can’t change my mistakes made in the past
maybe I can change some of the mistakes the younger kids can possibly make.
Some may be contemplating on doing your program and might think maybe I’ll do
it next summer. My advice to them is just do it, just show up! Don’t take your
time for granted while you still have the chance to improve. The summers will
be there after college. The shore will always be there loaded with girls every
summer.
The parties will always be there with your friends for the rest of your
lives! But what won’t be there forever is your time to shine in college
football. You only have 4 years to make it count. You don’t want to be sitting
at a BBQ with friends in 10 years saying I wish I did this differently in
college like I am doing now, you can say I did 4 years of training with coach
Mahoney. You need to seriously take a look into the mirror and see what you
truly want. Don’t take these 4 years for granted because you can’t go back like
I wish I could now. Like Coach Manos always said,” How do you want to be
remembered man?"
- James
He looks exactly like Wez from Mad Max.
My goal was to turn him into Lord Humungus. (See below)
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| James Grande |
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| Wez From Mad Max |
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| Lord Humungus - who James looked like after 3 months |
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