July 2019 - Hope Sports

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or find the file at http://traffic.libsyn.com/hopesports/HS28-Season-One-Celebration-with-Laura-and-Guy.mp3

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About This Episode

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It has been an incredible first season of the Hope Sports Podcast with 27 elite and Olympic athletes sharing about their journeys, challenges, failures, and triumphs. Laura Wilkinson has interviewed athletes both in and out of her sport, a task that proved challenging with sports that differ so drastically - like NASCAR. “We always eventually get to their story,” she said. Some stories brought laughter - like David Colturi attempting to hide a split suit at his first cliff diving competition. But others were incredibly raw and tear-filled - like Katie Ulhaender losing her father or Frank Shamrock’s story of abuse. But what tied each conversation together is the common thread of overcoming. Each athlete had something to overcome, to rise above. Whether physical, relational, emotional, or spiritual, the struggles have been real and heartbreaking. But with the support of friends and family or a nagging, relentless sense of hope, all of these athletes have overcome. Success hasn’t always looked like winning gold medals or getting to the top, though. In fact, the greatest victory for most athletes is the opposite - discovering deeply that it’s not, in fact, about the victory. It’s about the journey. “It’s about how far we’ve come, how much we’ve changed,” says Laura.

It’s this profound realization that leads athletes to use their platform for good, for more than just winning. Season One had amazing guests like Dana Vollmer who is empowering female athletes who are mothers through the Power of Mom, or Sarah Wells who is inspiring the next generation of Canadian kids to dream big through the Believe Initiative, or Ryan Hall’s Steps Foundation. Their stories are trickling down to up-and-comers like swimmer Michael Andrews who, at age 19, is already pursuing a purpose-based career.

This season was also particularly special for Laura as she began recording interviews while in a neck brace after fusion surgery. Hunkered down in her closet (in the pursuit of a quiet space), Laura listened to stories of athletes overcoming incredible challenges, all while she herself was living in the tension between an immobilized neck and Olympic dreams. Hearing their stories fed her own sense of purpose, hope, and commitment to her recovery. Back at training, she carries the wisdom from other athletes with her, as well as their support and friendships.

Season Two will launch this fall - chock full of more stories from athletes that are deeper than the headlines and the latest wins, but that are rich with perseverance, meaning, and wisdom. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

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or find the file at http://traffic.libsyn.com/hopesports/HS27-Jamaican-Olympic-Bobsledder-Winston-Watts.mp3/p>

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About This Episode

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Winston Watts didn’t get his start in bobsledding because of “Cool Runnings”, like you might think. In fact, he was a dedicated, committed member of the Jamaican Military when his natural athletic ability stuck out to a friend looking one more member of the famed Jamaican bobsled team. Put up against a series of physical tests and challenges, Winston excelled at them all and, if he wanted it, the spot was his. But the difficult part wasn’t over just yet. He was plucked from his spot in the army and flown to the training center in Evanston, Wyoming where experienced not only his first winter weather, but his first actual bobsled track. “I asked to go home after the first week,” laughed Winston. A combination between being ill equipped to handle the climate and the relentless nausea because of the unfamiliar G-forces on the track made him miserable. Of his first run he remembers simultaneously wanting to be ejected, stop immediately, and throw up. At the bottom he was so discombobulated that he couldn’t even stand up or unclip his helmet. But he persisted, crediting his military training for the fortitude to forge ahead through immensely uncomfortable situations. Giving up was never an option in the army, so why would it be an option now?

This training also helped him cope with the fear of racing at over 90 miles per hour down a slick track of ice. Before racing he was shown footage of runs and crashed in an attempt to prepare him for what was to come. And the crashes did come. “One time I crashed from curve two all the way down the entire track to curve nineteen!” said Winston. The only strategy is to curl inside the sled and wait until it stops - easier said than done for the world’s largest bobsled pusher of 260 pounds. With time, his experience improved and he tempered the months in Wyoming with seasons of training in sunny Jamaican that focused on time in the gym and the push-start portion of the race.

Winston had the privilege of participating in four Olympics over his career and has experienced the fame and love that the world has for his team. Their positive, feel-good attitudes brighten the Olympic village and the track. They have become a staple race broadcast by every network, whether they make it to the finals or just a preliminary run. But the most difficult part of his career was watching the team continue to struggle for funding. Their athletic abilities were equal and above many other nations, but often they could not afford the same equipment, travel to the same races, train in the same locations, or even qualify for matches due to a lack of sponsors. They still hold track records around the world, but for three Olympics could not even afford to qualify. Winston came out of retirement in 2010 to help bolster the team and rally support to get Jamaica back to the 2012 Games in Sochi. Their absence was felt both from the nation and from the other Olympians, but the president of Jamaica was honest with him; there was no money to pull together a team. Winston began recruiting members on his own, personally funding their travel, clothing, equipment, and visas. Soon the team was fully assembled in Evanston, but still lacked a sled. He reached out to friends on the German team to consider the Jamaica as a part of their “Adopt a Team” program, but unfortunately their two sponsorship slots were filled. That didn’t stop the Germans from taking action, however, and soon a sled arrived as a gift to the Jamaicans, a gift worth more than $350,000. Over the next two years the team trained and traveled, picking away at the necessary races, points, and runs that would qualify them for the Olympics. It would be tight, however, and the week before the elected teams were announced they had nothing to do but wait. Winston, however, didn’t have to endure the anticipation as long as others, as he received a personal call from the office of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, telling him that the team would be welcome at the Sochi Olympics.

Winston was simultaneously elated and defeated. They may have qualified for the Games, but there was not a penny left to get them there. He had depleted all of his personal funds in the pursuit of qualification. Determined, he decided to look elsewhere. Tapping into contacts from year previously, Winston called a friend at NBC in New York City and shared his plight, asking that she consider airing their story in an attempt to draw attention to their GoFundMe page. Without hesitation the story was on the news that day. But not just in NYC. The story quickly gained momentum and spread across the country and soon, around the world. Donations began coming in from every continent, along with well wishes, encouragement, and support. The team needed $80,000 to make it to Russia and back, but within 48 hours over $120,000 had poured in. “It took the entire world to get the Jamaican bobsled team to the Sochi Olympics,” said Winston. Despite cancelled flights, lost luggage, a missing sled, and only two practice runs, the team represented Jamaica in the Sochi Games, but truly, they were racing for the world.

Winston acknowledges bobsled as giving him a chance to see the world, tap into a deeper strength inside of himself, overcome adversity, and relate to others in a new way. He advises younger athletes to train hard and not give in to easy ways of getting ahead like drugs and performance enhancers. “You will get caught and it’s not worth it,” he warns. At the end of the day he wants to be remembered for being a positive, loving individual who spread goodness throughout the world on behalf of his country. He worked hard to be a world class athlete, but also a kind individual. These days he mostly spends with his family, realizing that he will never get back the time he was away from them training and competing. But, of course, he has bigger, newer dreams that include acting, speaking, advertising, and films. He wants to continue to reach the world through a new, different medium, but we all know that it’s the same committed, sunny Winston who can rally the world through the most unusual of circumstances.

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About This Episode

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Frank Shamrock’s childhood was marked by many things - foster homes, group homes, shenanigans, and trouble. But more than anything and perhaps surprisingly, he would also say that it was marked by unconditional love. He became a ward of the state when he was eleven years old after being removed from a physically and emotionally abusive home. Sometime around age thirteen, he landed in the group home of Bob Shamrock and despite getting removed and into further, more serious patterns of destructive behaviour and trouble, Bob never gave up on Frank. When he was eighteen years old Frank went to prison for three years and Bob visited him often and brought nothing but encouragement, support, and a new narrative for Frank to believe: that he could be something great. Frank committed to a complete life turn-around while in prison. He attended college, started lifting weights, and began to believe Bob’s message. His athleticism was obvious and Bob was convinced that he could turn it into a career that would eventually change the trajectory of his life.

Barely 48 hours out of prison and Frank was already on the steps of a martial arts training center for a try out. After surviving 500 hundred pushups, sit-ups, squats, and leg lifts, he had to survive a fight against a professional for twenty minutes, but not just any professional - they chose his foster brother, Ken, who openly admitted that he didn’t believe Frank deserved to be there. Despite the brutal beating, Frank emerged alive and only partially injured, but also a proud member of the team. After six months of training he was on a plane to Japan for further training and his first fight. Of stepping into the ring for the first time, Frank said, “it was absolutely terrifying.” Although ultimate fighting might seem like the pinnacle of fearless and confidence, he admitted that it took years to get over being scared of getting seriously injured or killed in the ring. The sport was relatively new and virtually ruleless, which added to the intrigue, but also the risk. But when he emerged as the victor of that first fight, he knew that he was onto something. “This was the type of sport that you could put in all of your emotion because it was about you surviving. It was the first time that I felt like I was in total control,” said Frank.

Eventually, he added more tools and skills that made fighting less scary. At one point, he spent more time studying than training, observing his opponents, the systems of strategy, the lineage of styles, and the mechanics of movements. He became a student of every time of fighting imaginable - from mixed martial arts to Judo to Greco-Roman. “I didn’t really want to hurt people,” said Frank. Having coming from a home filled with physical abuse, Frank took no joy in injuring his opponent and would often go the extra mile to discover a way to beat them that didn’t involve hurting them. And it was his commitment to studying his opponents that led to what was perhaps the greatest victory of his career. He was set to face Keving Jackson, who was the UFC tournament champion, undefeated in MMA, and the reigning Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling at the time. But before the fight even happened Frank put in the time and energy to learn his weakness and even told the media his exact plan - to beat him in an armbar. When fight day came he did exactly that; he armbarred him in just sixteen seconds to clinch the UFC Middleweight Championship.

Despite his fair share of disappointing losses and challenges, Frank said that the lowest point of his career was a failure or a knockout; it was how it ended. A series of injuries led Frank to hang up his gloves sooner than he had hoped and retirement came like a shock. “The stress and risk and pressure got really big, but I was still trying to perform at the highest level,” he said. He even tried to go back to training camp, push himself further, and focus even harder, but it only further proved that his body just wasn’t in it anymore. “Just becoming a normal person was the hardest part of my career,” he said. Over sixteen years were dedicated to building skills in a physical sport, but he had neglected to invest the same amount of effort into developing the social and emotional skills that would bring him fulfillment and joy for the following years of his life. “All of the dreams on my list had come true, but I still felt empty and without purpose,” he said. After climbing the mountain and reaching the top, it was time to go back down the other side. He tested out interests in business and entrepreneurship but eventually realized that serving others and giving back to his community brought the most meaning into his life. He started a charity, began strategically supporting issues that he cared about, and joined Hope Sports for several house builds in Mexico. Having been homeless at one point himself, Frank deeply resonated with the ministry and was even able to reconnect with his son during the weekend.

Outside of sports, he says that his greatest talent is to fix things. Whether it’s a physically broken item or issues like investment issues, business problems, or that pesky back ache; his knack for keen observation and careful studying leads him to innovative solutions. In his retirement, he’s pursued opportunities in business consulting and investments in a wide range of products or causes. He also was honored to share in a TedTalk on the subject of fear. It might be obvious that he feared being beat up or hurt, but underneath that was also the fear of not being loved or being abandoned, something Frank says is common for children of abuse. But rather than step away from fear to reposition or re-evaluate, he encourages others to step into the center of it and watch it’s power dissolve. He encourages upcoming athletes to become students of their own lives, tracking their emotions, experiences, questions, and needs. Not only for empirical purposes, but also to help the brain create pathways of curiosity and skills of observation.

But at the end of the day, despite all of his accolades and accomplishments, he just wants to be remembered as a good person. Like his foster father, Bob, Frank wants to leave a legacy of generosity, love, and commitment. Because without a stranger like Bob choosing to see the best in a kid like Frank, then “The Legend” of boxing would have never existed.

Follow Frank on Instagram, Twitter, on his personal website, and through the work of his Charity.

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