zeroing in

my brother-in-law was in town this weekend.  cool guy, family man, former collegiate soccer player, current compliance a.d. at arkansas state university (howl yes!!!)  he visits on occasion, but finds it increasingly more difficult to travel for leisure with two children under the age of 3.  we often see his crew when we head south for the holidays, but he snuck onto the charter bus that brought his asu track squad to ames for an open meet.

my kids think their uncle daniel is the bee's knees, and are down for doing whatever when he's around.  although he made the road trip to hang with his sister and us boys (and feel around about some job prospects on campus), he had an unspoken obligation to attend the track and field meet.  we of course have never been to an event like that, so we tagged along.

daniel guesstimated that 30+ schools were participating in the meet, large and small programs alike.  track is such an individualized sport in most cases, so i suppose the size of the program doesn't necessarily matter.  asu is in the sunbelt conference, which pales in comparison to the big 12 or sec, but still had some excellent athletes.

the track meet was a trip.  there were a multitude of athletes all over the place.  some stretching and warming up, others cheering on teammates, and most were lying down with headphones on.  nobody interfered with other events, and a sense of urgency was conspicuously absent.  i was both surprised and impressed with the relaxed vibe, considering the potential for chaos.  the asu red wolves represented at the meet.  we saw a guy triple jump, another pole vault, a gal run the 5k - and they all kinda happened at the same time.

we watched a girl named sharika race in the final heat for the 60m dash.  she stretched, fussed around with her feet in the blocks, watched other competitors do the same, composed herself, and then blasted off at the sound of the gun.  she tore down the track, blazing past most of the other sprinters, and finished up in 3rd place - a scant .002 seconds behind the winner.  it was very impressive.

i was struck by her focus.  i'm standing about 10 feet from her, talking with my kids about why they think they need a mountain dew at 4:00 in the afternoon.  other people are on the phone, laughing with their friends, heeding direction from their coaches, and encouraging her competitors.  we were right on top of her, and she remained intensely focused on the matter at hand.

i don't care to play in big concert venues, especially the type that preserve this stage protocol of yesteryear.  the audience gets quiet, a dramatic opening of the stage door reveals the performer, a polite exchange of applause and acknowledgment between the two parties, play the piece, another exchange, exit, do it all over again.  bleh.

i like playing places where the crowd is in your space.  i don't mind if they talk, pass by closely, gawk, cheer, or chat with me between tunes.  there is something street about that - doing my work at my highest level, for myself and for the people.  the stiff concert hall routine scares me.  i thrive on cranking up my focus in a setting full of assorted stimuli and distraction.  i like the way my brain spins in overdrive when i'm locked into a creative space, one that i can't be dislodged from.

i admire sharika's ability to center and deal with the task at hand.  it's cool that i have something in common with a top notch sprinter.  but she definitely looks better in spandex...