You ever notice when you speak with your grandparents how their stories meander and wander all over the place?
If you zoom in, you will see that a lot of the best stories old people have involve a lot of random chance encounters.
“We just happened to be at the same party that day and so we both ditched our dates for each other and that’s how we fell in love!”
“I got a random catch up call from a friend and they so happened to know someone at the place I was looking for a job for and voila, I got the gig!”
“Some random coach started following me on Twitter from Boston College and next thing you know I’m visiting their spring game next weekend, nuts!”
There is a false narrative that we can 100% control what happens to us if we are diligent or work hard enough. Schools promote this idea too - hard work = success.
Hard work does have value. And, it is possible to influence the contours of our lives to some extent. We are not lottery tickets. But, we should be forever on the look out for randomness, timing and fate’s fortune.
In recruiting, almost no one ever went to the school they first thought they would end up at. In fact, it is usually the norm to not end up where you think you are going to go. This isn’t just a football thing, it’s a life thing too. No one ends up doing exactly, living exactly, working exactly, marrying exactly who/what/where/when they think they will.
Can you coax luck in your favor? Sure.
But you need the stamina to stay in the game long enough to give it a chance to show up. It is unreasonable to expect that a college coach will reply to you on your first message to them. It is also unreasonable to expect them to reach out to you first. But if you send out, say, ten or so messages a day for a month, it would be unreasonable for a coach not to get back to you.
As you go into your recruiting, work or life this week work hard, yes, but also understand that randomness, timing and luck are forever on the prowl unexpectedly influencing your life (for better or for worse)
Weekly Riff Raff -
Interesting Tweets, Videos, Items, Quotes and Books I’ve Stumbled Into This Week
Check out Tony Caljean’s tweet the other day that really resonated with me, he’s not wrong. Most teams are waiting on spring football results to decide if they need to hit the portal well again to patch their roster holes:
Check out Dr. Elissa Epel’s interview on the Huberman Labs podcast on her new research looking at how we develop our unique stress responses. I think the implications for student-athletes on how to manage their own stress are huge. When we talk about confidence, we really are just talking about how athletes respond to stress. Would highly recommend her new book The Stress Prescription
Check out “The Knees Over Toes Guy” as a former college athlete and veteran of two hip surgeries (not to mention not chasing around my toddler at age 32) Ben’s unique approach to mobility and longevity would have been incredibly valuable to me at a younger age. Maybe it wouldn’t have totally avoided the hip surgeries or knee issues, but I think his work can help stave off major injuries for many young kickers.
How I Can Help You
When you’re ready, here are a few ways I can help you
“Your First Offer” or YFO is my online recruiting course designed to help you go from zero interest to your first offer in 90 days. Our next cohort starts Tuesday May 2nd 8pm - 9:30pm you can RSVP to our waitlist here. Spots limited to 10 participants. Join The Waitlist
Book a strategy call with me to help kick start your recruiting or training here:
Check out my ebooks How To Kick In College and How To Kick Under Pressure here:
Want to get in touch? The best way is to chat via Substack’s chat function here or email me [email protected]
That’s all for now,
Coach Cahill