If I Were Your Coach: Empty Spaces at the Table

One of the things I love about my team is our ability to socialize at the drop of a hat. We're not like some of the other groups in town where the primary focus is alcohol intake. We train hard (enough), race hard and play hard (enough)...but not so hard as to not be able to train the next day.

I might not be able to line up a team for an event in two e-mails or less, but I can get a party scheduled.

Since my coach decided to spend a week on holiday down in Destin, just an hour away from here, we decided it might be a good enough reason to have a little get-together. Beats waiting for funerals; what's the use of dressing up for a person who can't appreciate the fact you wore a tie that matched your suit for once?

Plan "A" was a cookout at the club president's house. Oops, his step-daughter graduates this weekend, and her grandmother is coming from Mississippi. That means no drunken bacchanal there. Plan "B" was telling them to show for the traditional Friday evening "spill American beer all over each other" meeting at our favorite pizza joint. However, driving through Gulf Breeze (even while over-served) is never a good idea. Since the club's VP has a nice house and a pool in the backyard, it was only logical to ask whether she could or would step up to the plate.

The original plan (and the wish of my coach) was to invite the inner circle of the team; club officers, regular Friday-nighters, and the like. However, the VP didn't want to be put in the position of "not inviting" people. For once it couldn't be just about (without!) them.

We had a wonderful evening, with a decent crowd. Most of the folks I suspected would be there showed...with one notable exception. Sometimes, you wonder whether people who didn't show chose to or just had something else going down. I've caught flak for not making a presence at a race when my athletes were participating, because I needed the training session. But that's more an exception than a common occurrence. Many of my athletes (and their spouses) have spectated - and volunteered - at events they were not doing, like the Three-Mile Bridge Swim/Aquathon.

I know that during the Passover seder a space at the table is set aside for Elijah, in the hope of his (imminent) return. In our workouts, and our social life, we (at least I) always feel there is room for at least one more person. We can always pull in another chair, we can always find another glass, we can always buy another pitcher to share.

It wouldn't be family without 'em.