BUT IT MUST HAVE MEANING!

I got my first tattoo on my 40th birthday, twenty years ago. The tattoo was only an inch tall and it would never be seen unless I was sleeveless. To me, it was a big deal, a rebellious act by a conservative-looking chemistry teacher back in 1999. The tattoo itself had no meaning, but the act itself was momentous.

Since then, I’ve added many tattoos. Recently, to celebrate my retirement from teaching and no longer needing to look like a chemistry teacher, I decided to get not one, but two new tattoos. Both would be highly visible. What a rebel!

For one of my two tattoos, I designed an artistic arrow. For some reason, I’ve always loved drawing arrows. This must come from my football and basketball childhood. When drawing up plays, arrows showed the movement of players. The best coaches drew the best arrows. My dad (basketball) and my two uncles (Larry and Kelly Kane, football) drew beautiful arrows. Besides my fascination with the arrow, I attached symbolic meaning to the design. The continuous but interrupted arrow represents my most recent decade.

The second tattoo was an interlocking triple triangle I believed to be Celtic in origin. (See header picture.)

My wife, Jill, also got a couple tattoos, both of which were very meaningful to her. When she asked the meaning of mine, I explained the arrow to her satisfaction, but not the triple triangle.

At first I explained that I simply liked the artistry of the triple triangle design. That didn’t fly with Jill. “But it must have meaning!” I explained that some of my other tattoos had no meaning but she responded, “They should!”.

So, thinking on my feet, I said the triple triangle represented mind, body, spirit which I incorrectly attributed to Aristotle. Jill was unimpressed. Then, I said the triple triangle could signify our three grandchildren… Kendrick, Axel, and McKenna. Jill countered, “But we will eventually have more than three grandchildren.”

So, I wrestled with this for a long time. Eventually when it came time to get my tattoos, I chose to get the arrow and skip the triangles. The arrow hurt like hell, so maybe that factored into my thinking.

The quest to find meaning for the triangle did not end. I’ve done some research.

In addition to the triangle being the symbol for the aforementioned mind, body, & spirit, it’s also a symbol of the Holy Trinity (father, son, and holy ghost).

The three sides of the triangle is also significant. Three is a big deal. The number 3 is used 523 times in the Bible.

If you put an eye into the triangle, it becomes the “Eye of Providence” or the all-seeing eye.

Two triangles laid on top of one another becomes the “Star of David”.

Three is a big deal in nature, too. Matter is made of atoms and each atom has three different particles (protons, neutrons, and electrons). There are three atomic charges (positive, negative, and neutral). Every proton and neutron consists of exactly three quarks.

My favorite triangle is shown on the Pick Floyd album, “Dark Side of the Moon”. The cover art was so powerful that no words accompanied the design. There’s no mention of the band or the title of the album. “Dark Side of the Moon ” stayed on the Billboard charts for 741 consecutive weeks. The triangle is powerful. (The Dark Side of the Moon triangle is also a prism that separates light into six colors, not the occult-influenced seven colors reported by Sir Isaac Newton. Indigo?)

The “triple triangle”, as I described it, is actually called “The Valknut” and originates with the Vikings, not the Celts. The Valknut appears in connection with the cult of the dead, runestones, and ship burials. Not exactly the meaning I was searching for.

I decided researching the triangle was getting me nowhere. Meaning must be self-generated, a personal thing. Meaning does not choose us, we choose meaning.

For example, my track team attaches meaning and significance to running fast. Without meaning and significance attached to high performance, track teams are aimlessly running in circles (and many of them do!). As coaches we must constantly work to attach meaning and significance to activities that others find meaningless and insignificant.

So… if I should ever choose to get a tattoo of a triple triangle, what three things would it symbolize for me?

WORK – PASSION – LOVE

Don’t judge! I realize this sounds like something sappy you’d find on Pinterest, but let me explain.

Work is what I do for shelter, food, and transportation. I get paid for doing work. Teaching Chemistry was work.

Passion is what stirs my blood. I describe passion with Dick Vitale’s “Three E’s – Energy, Enthusiasm, and Excitement”. My passion is coaching. I also have a passion for sharing ideas that improve the lives of athletes and their coaches. #FeedTheCats

Love. Love is the base of the triangle. John Lennon said, “All you need is love.”. Love is at the heart of a good life.

In 2004, Greg Walters had arranged for me to get an interview at his school, Champaign Centennial. One question disqualified me from the job. “If it wasn’t for the coaching position, would you be applying for this science job?” I said no. “My life’s work is teaching, my life’s passion is coaching.” I didn’t pass the test. You can’t please everyone.

Work, passion, and love forms my triangle because, like the three sides of a triangle, they are all connected. Passion fuels work. Love fuels passion. And sometimes, you must work at passion and love.

Consider the inverse of “Work, Passion, Love.” LAZY, APATHETIC, AND HATEFUL. Wow, that life would suck. Reminds me of my favorite line in Animal House, when Dean Wormer addressed Flounder (and his 0.2 GPA), “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

I wonder how other people would define their triangle?

Vice President Mike Pence likes to define himself as a “Christian, Conservative, Republican”. (No comment.)

“God, Family, Country” is popular among football coaches. I’ve never understood what makes football coaches so religious and so patriotic. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, but prayers and flags are not big in other sports.

In the past five years, I’ve had the opportunity to become friends with some brilliant people. The Track Football Consortium has attracted some spectacular coaches, people that possess “rebel talent”. When coaches attend a TFC, they become “one of us”. Forever in the network.

Arguably the most inspirational speaker we’ve ever featured at TFC is Steve Jones. Steve Jones is the head football coach at Kimberly High School in Wisconsin. At the time of this writing, the Kimberly Papermakers are 7-0, winners of 107 of their last 113 games, including a 70 consecutive game winning streak. But Steve Jones doesn’t talk about the wins. He talks about culture and mental toughness. He speaks of meaning and significance. He talks about love.

At TFC-9 last June, Steve Jones asked coaches to take two minutes to write “what you want others to say about you at your retirement banquet”. Several coaches read aloud what they had written. Steve pointed out the obvious. None of us wanted people to talk about our record, our championships, or our awards. Coaches want to be known for their work. Coaches want to be known for their passion for the game. Coaches want to be known for the love they showed their players and their fellow coaches. Here’s a guy who wins 94.6% of his games but understands that winning, in the end, is not the measure of a coach.

Steve Jones followed the retirement discussion with a 2016 video of Jim Carrey addressing the Golden Globes before announcing the award for Best Musical or Comedy.

After being introduced as the “two-time Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey,” the 53-year-old appeared to improvise his entire speech.

“Thank you… I AM TWO-TIME GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER JIM CARREY.”

“You know, when I go to sleep at night, I’m not just a guy going to sleep. I’m TWO-TIME GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER JIM CARREY going to get some well-needed shut-eye.”

“When I dream, I don’t just dream any old dream. I dream about being THREE-TIME GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER JIM CARREY. Because then, I would be enough… it would finally be true… and I could stop this terrible search… for what I know ultimately… will not fulfill me.”

If we are not careful, we become the guy that Jim Carrey is lampooning. We as coaches can become the guy on a senseless mission, “a terrible search”, to win games, win championships, and win awards… an ongoing search “for what I know ultimately… will not fulfill me.”

If it’s not about winning games, championships, and awards, what is it?

I believe it’s work, passion, and love. My triple triangle.

For 38 years, it always seemed that the track season was approaching too fast. Here and now, in my 39th year, track season can’t get here soon enough.

+++

By Tony Holler
@pntrack
tony.holler@yahoo.com
630-849-8294

UPCOMING EVENTS

Coach Holler will be speaking at all of the following.

TFC-Chicago, Dec 6-7, Elmhurst College… featured speakers: Vince Anderson (sprint guru) and Brian Kula (track coach and trainer of Christian McCaffrey)

Feed The Cats Seminar (first of its kind!), Wichita, KS Dec 13-14 (11 presentations, early bird only $100, staff rates available). Seven sessions will appeal to football coaches. Presenters: Tony Holler, Alec Holler, and Quinn Holler

Georgia GATFXCCA Coaches Clinic Jan 10-11, Atlanta, GA

Central Illinois Track Clinic Jan 17-18, Unity High School, Tolono, IL (only $50 pre-registered!) Special event… Coach Holler and distance coach, Andy Derks will co-present, “Cats vs Dogs”.

Minnesota Track Clinic January 24, Minneapolis, MN

TFC-Dallas January 25-26 (Amazing Line-Up!), Jesuit Prep, Dallas, TX… featured speakers: Vince Anderson (sprint guru) and Brian Kula (track coach and trainer of Christian McCaffrey), Steve Jones (112-7 at Kimberly HS, WI)

TFC-St. Louis February 7-8 (Maybe best-ever TFC lineup!) Festus H.S., Festus, MO… featured speakers: Kevin Kelley (200-29 at Pulaski Academy of Little Rock, team averaging 57.4 ppg, doesn’t punt) and Kurt Hester (author of Rants of a Strength and Conditioning Madman)

TFC-Chicago June 2020 (date TBA)