Tag: Langley Thunder

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Be The Best.

Maxing out a Sprint Triathlon

My personal lexicon was increased by a new phrase just a few weeks ago.

Sprint Triathlon.

I think that’s basically an oxymoron to start with.

Ok young readers.  This is probably the highest number of big words used in the opening of this blog ever…but in celebration of back to school just 4 weeks away, we’ll continue.

A sprint triathlon is a swim, bike and running race…except the distances are shorter than a full length event.

These are perfect events for those wanting a triathlon experience and are trying something new or simply want a shorter distance.

Don’t be fooled.  This is still an extreme sport!  750m in the pool.  That is a lot of lengths.  18k on the bike.  I get tired driving that far and usually would require 2 Starbucks stops.  5k running after all that? Yah right.

So…my son Max had a goal.  He was going to do this thing.  The Walnut Grove Triathlon.

Cool.  Except he didn’t really have a bike, didn’t have any specific training and didn’t know a soul who was going in this event.

I’m super proud of the kid.  He approached this like he was trying something new and what he didn’t know wasn’t going to stop him from trying. For example, he knew he didn’t have all the specialized gear but that didn’t get in his way.  He finished in 90 minutes exactly and was right in the middle of the pack.  That is an incredible result for trying an event for the first time without coaching or training with a team or the superior clothing and equipment of most racers.

It’s really Be The Best principle personified.

What I mean by that is Be The Best is about so much more than winning.  It’s about competing.  It’s about trying something new.  It’s about not letting the fear of the unknown get in your way.

IT’S ABOUT NOT KNOWING EXACTLY HOW YOU’RE GOING TO REACH A GOAL, BUT SETTING THE GOAL AND THEN STARTING FORWARD ANYWAYS!

Nice job Max.  We are very proud of ya!!

Here’s a little video proof.  Note: (Time clock on picture is not official for each racer because of a graduated start in the pool for the swim portion of the race. Max’s official time was 1:30:00 on the nose)

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Be The Best.

Germany, #2, Lacrosse and why you need to know.

Flag of British Columbia
Image via Wikipedia

The #2 is being proudly worn on a field lacrosse pitch in Germany this week and next.

Better yet, it’s representing Canada.

Even better yet, it’s a shout out to Chris on the back of Ashley Bull who at the age of 16 made the U19 National Field Lacrosse team for Canada.  She is the only player from British Columbia and very close to the youngest on the squad.

Her Grandfather, the legendary lacrosse figure Harvey Bull, told me the story of her getting #2 this past weekend at the boys Intermediate Box Lacrosse Provincial championships.

Team Canada players were assigned numbers, but before they went to Germany to represent our country, they were allowed to select the jersey numbers to wear.  Ashley has not traditionally chosen #2, but wanted to do it for Chris.  What that means to me and our family I cannot properly express.  As the story went, another girl also wanted #2.  Ashley told her the story of Chris and what he meant as an inspiration to her and her teammate kindly, graciously and wonderfully allowed Ashley to wear #2.

Is that Be The Best or WHAT???

You can read more of Ashley’s story here from a previous blog.

I understand from Ashley’s family that the flu is going through the team and knocked her out of at least the first game of the tournie.  Some things are in your control and some aren’t.  As the team heads into the second week of competition, we wish Ashley and all of our fellow Canadians the best of luck as they represent for Canada.

Although there is no TV or webfeed, you can connect on-line with scoring and the most up-to-date info is via Twitter.

I will be thinking of that #2 flying around the field and I know that the same ‘cloud box seats’ Chris had for the boys Provincial final will again be used by Chris and friends cheering on Team Canada in Germany.

GO CANADA GO!!

Ashley…thanks for doing Chris, Langley, British Columbia and Canada so very very proud!!

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Christian Friesen

From Be The Worst, to Be The Best!

Chris’ buds were battling it out on the lacrosse floor this weekend.

Of course they were!  The first weekend of real summer weather and all the lacrosse guys are inside in a sweaty arena.  As soon as the rain starts to fall, they’ll be back outside for field lacrosse.  And that’s how it goes!

Langley has battled to become a member of the lacrosse elite and this weekend having their Intermediate A (ages 17-18) team challenging for a provincial medal was a very good thing.

Fast forward.  After an excellent tournament, the Thunder are in the Bronze medal game.  They lose, they get nothing.  Near the beginning of the game the Richmond team calls for an equipment check on one of Langley’s top players, James Rahe.  They toss him out of the game for illegal equipment.  Guess what was illegal?  He was wearing one of Chris’ memorial wristbands!!

I simply couldn’t write this blog yesterday.

The words would have been much sharper.

At this point I’m not going to spend too much time on the decision, who made it and what their motivation was.   That call took a star player off the floor and ruined his chance to play in this Provincial bronze medal final.

That’s a Be The Worst moment.

Now…this story has a Be The Best moment too.

Langley was down by a goal with 30 seconds to go in the game.

A certain Mr. Danny Spady, a defensive specialist and one year younger than Chris, had the ball.  Chris loved playing with Danny.  He is a tenacious, aggressive, hard-working, never-quit kid….and he doesn’t score that much!  As was relayed to me he drove down the floor with the passion and aggression that only comes from playing for a cause.

Yes…the decision by the opposing coaching staff and the officials gave the boys just the extra cause they needed yesterday.

You take a guy off the floor for wearing Chris’ wristband…look out…the motivation just got cranked.

Danny’s goal pushed the game into overtime and Brett Dobray displayed his amazing hands and touch with I believe both goals which pushed Langley into the overtime lead (2-1) and sealed the deal for the Bronze Medal.

What a story.

Now…for the boys on Richmond, it was obviously not their call.  That responsibility lies directly with their coach and the officials and for the love of the game, I hope that kind of decision making is reviewed by the league.  For the boys themselves, Richmond had a great season and I wish them all the best with their next steps in lacrosse and life.

In life we know we can’t change what happened.  But what do we know? WE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR NEXT DECISION!!  We can be in charge of our next shift.  Our next shot.  Our next thought process.

As I texted one of Langley’s players when I heard this news, I’m sure Chris had a few things to say about the incident yesterday from his ‘season ticket cloud seats’ and I know that he is with you all….always!!

Great job Langley.

Way to turn a negative into an amazing BE THE BEST moment.

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Be The Best.

Wat-er u doing?

There is something about the sound of water.

Water is life.

Maybe that’s a part of it.

We were given an amazing gift card for a landscaping centre months and months ago from caring anonymous souls! (thank you!!!)

This week that gift came to life as the seed capital for a water feature and landscape project we’ve added to our home.

To hear the water flowing is amazing.

Tonight Max and I enjoyed a little conversation by the outdoor fireplace with the stream flowing in the background.  Loved it.  We always had great conversations around that fireplace.  In fact, the boys would bug me that ‘let’s go sit by the fire’, would be code for ‘let’s have a little father/son chat’.  We had a great many of those in the past and tonight was good too.

Now…we just need some real summer to go along with it!

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Be The Best.

Father’s Day – the lighter side

Watch as I totally dominate Max in both cycling and then basketball.

(and if you believe that…)

Finally pieced a few bits of vid together from a great afternoon with the kid.

Of course we reminisced and laughed about the times Chris would join us on the bball court at home.  Chris played basketball like he was playing lacrosse, complete with full-on body checks and intense (if not mostly illegal) defence.

After that I showed Max a thing or two about shooting and took him to the hoop a few more times before we biked home.  (cough)

Although not on the vid, I had the chance to play ping pong with my Dad just a few days after Father’s Day itself.

We had a great time.  I’m trying to remember the score, but I just can’t right now….

(When you’re 80 year old Dad beats you in ping pong after recovering from a 2 month hospital stay and 4 surgeries…you’d try to forget the score too…!)

Hey, this sports blog post ain’t going too well for me today.

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Be The Best.

Power of Focus

I have a book in my collection that I’ve lent out and replaced probably 5 times and referred to hundreds of people since I first read it years back.

The core message is that with some concentration on the small things, the big things will take shape.  In other words, small habits make a big difference in long term performance.

From the Amazon book review: At the outset, the book identifies the three most important fundamentals for consistent success: developing unusual clarity; understanding that habits determine your future; and using a “no exceptions policy” approach to focus on what you want.

That book rests beside one of Chris’ provincial lacrosse medals.

The kid was relentless in his positive habits in pursuit of his goal.  Eating right. Push-ups. Cardio. Shooting practice.

It was all part of Being the Best.

I asked him once why at the age of 14 he stopped eating all junk food.  He said that he simply thought about the consequences of eating the food and decided that the payback wasn’t worth it.

That developed into long term positive eating habits that shaped his physique and mental attitude going into competition.

Power of Focus.  If you haven’t read it, put it on your summer reading list!

Have a great week.

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Be The Best.

Go Canucks!

Maybe a strong GO CANUCKS GO doesn’t fit in a blog about loss, grief and the new normal…but I beg to differ.

I’ve written before about sitting down with Max and Chris watching the Nux getting eliminated from the playoffs by Chicago.  I told them that sick feeling we all had was what it was like being a lifelong Canucks fan.

Sure that was an emotional statement at the time, but ultimately, I still had hope.

Now what I’ve learned about HOPE is that it’s an action word.

So, this season we cheered, watched, joined hockey pools and generally had a great time living the experience with the Canucks.

That brings us to this week.  Due to a friend’s ridiculous schedule and fantastic generosity Max and I ended up with tickets to Game 7 on Tuesday.

I was ecstatic to take Max to that experience.  This pic (lousy blackberry camera) shows the hype and excitement…and that was just the pre-game!

I wanted to wear something from Chris as well.  I chose his shoes.

When Burrows scores a goal he sometimes shoots an arrow into the sky to remember his friend and fellow Canuck, Luc Bourdon, who had died in a motorcycle crash in 2008.

When Burrows scored in overtime on Tuesday night, Rogers Arena erupted like a volcano.

I don’t think Burrows had a chance to shoot his arrow as he was mobbed and crushed in a happy dog pile.

In a previous game, Burrows pays tribute to his friend.

The emotion I felt was incredible.

I remember high-fiving with Max and others fans around, but mostly just holding my arms in the air and screaming like a moron.

In that moment time stopped and I thought of Chris.

I thought about how much he would have loved to see the Canucks slay this dragon and move forward with the playoffs.  I thought about how much I missed sharing that experience with him while at the same time so pumped to be able to share the experience with Max.

I loved standing in Chris’ shoes and drinking in the excitement of the crowd.

Although they couldn’t be there in person, I believe Chris and Luc Bourdon and many other hockey fans were cheering loudly up in their lofty box seats.

Go Nucks Go!!

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Be The Best.

Easter Sunday, and so it begins…v2

I wrote a post with that same title, ‘Easter Sunday, and so it begins’ on Easter Sunday 2010.

Although over a year has passed and we’ve marked a year from Chris passing date and service date, today marks a very important milestone as well.

Since beginning this blog last Easter Sunday, individual blog posts have been read over 127,000 times.

I get that most people still to this day don’t really know what to say or how to say it.  But as therapeutic as writing these posts day after day and week after week has been, it’s been amazing to know that a silent army stands alongside.

I love that.

I read with interest an essay in the Vancouver Sun over morning coffee yesterday.

It was titled, ‘The Biology of hope bolsters Easter’s central message’.  I’ve linked here if you have time to peruse.

I love this little excerpt:

These definitions make clear hope should not be confused with blind optimism.

When we are suffering or fearful, our hopes may often be dim, but they must include reasonable expectation.

Hope is distinguished from mere wishing. We can wish for financial wealth, or a cure for our loved one’s cancer, a dictator to be vanquished or a sudden end to global warming. But sometimes wishes are not realistic.

“Wishing are words and left brain,” Vaillant writes.

“In contrast, hope is made up of images and is rooted in the right brain. Wishing on a star takes no effort. Hope often requires enormous effort and shapes real lives.”

The transcendent quality of hope points to why researchers are coming to realize it is not only an emotion. It is a virtue.

As such, it must be cultivated, especially when times are toughest.

When I wrote the post, ‘Hope is an action word’, Chris’ amazing friend (who’s name is Hope) wrote a fantastic comment.  It simply said, ‘I am Hope’.

Yes you are.  Hope…you are Hope!

If you don’t mind, we are trying to be a little Hope-like ourselves!

The thing that really struck me about this article in the Sun was that in order for Hope to be Hope and not just a wish or dream, is that it required ACTION.

HOPE, DECISIONS, ACTION.

As I said on Friday, it’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.

Of course Sunday is here for Easter 2011, but we wait and live with HOPE for our next ‘Sunday’ with Chris whenever that will be.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Biology+hope+bolsters+Easter+central+message/4663871/story.html#ixzz1KRrA9apN

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Be The Best.

Kick that.

The Karate Kid
Image via Wikipedia

Have you seen that Karate Kid movie?

I haven’t…but I watched a preview, read a review and someone talked to me about it so I pretty much have…

I did see the first generation of films in the 80’s, and I know the 2010 film garnered a lot of solid positive reviews.

It was watching the preview bits on a Blue-Ray disc though that really caught my eye and ear.

The Mr. Han character (the amazing Jackie Chan) states ‘Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to stand back up.’

You can see it here at about 49 seconds in.

Life will knock us down…but we can CHOOSE to get back up.

There’s that word again!!

During a week like this where for whatever reasons the feelings of loss are amplified, we continue to choose.

Rock your weekend.

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Be The Best.

How to make today great.

Chris and Max jump the California surf (summer 2009)

I slept pretty well, but woke up early…like 4am early.

Is that an oxymoronish statement?  Maybe…but it’s an interesting insight into our world.

I did sleep well, just not all that long.

Today is not necessarily a great day…or is it?

Obviously as we mark one year to the day that we lost Chris there are a lot of emotions flowing through our minds and bodies.  We wish so deeply we could give him a real hug and see him again here on earth.  But we can’t.

But we can continue to make choices.  We can continue to live with a strong purpose.  We can use Chris’ passion to fuel us on our journeys.  We can continue to strive to Be The Best in everything we do.

Here’s three things that can help make today great.

1. Hug someone you love today.  (if you’re at work, make sure this isn’t an awkward moment..!!) 😉

2. Give something away. (not money…I’m talking about a smile, your expertise, a compliment, word of encouragement)

3. Live on purpose with purpose. This is the core of the Be The Best thinking.

Is today going to be hard? Probably…they all are.

Is today going to be great? With every ‘I’m the Captain of my Soul’ ounce of energy I have, I will keep making decisions all day long to make this day as great as possible.  One of the ‘greatest ever’.

(To understand that last paragraph you need to reference the Invictus blogs and The Best Day Ever blog)

Sort of makes saying, ‘Have a Great Day!’ a little deeper doesn’t it?

I THANK all of you for your support reading this blog and your thoughts and prayers throughout this year.

Be The Best.