The following is a post from the Jim Wendler forum. It was written the Monday after the SWIS Conference (held in Columbus, OH on October 28-29 2022). Special thanks to Dave Tate for doing an amazing job bringing SWIS to Ohio and running it so smooth.- Jim Wendler
This past weekend was insanely busy for me - the SWIS conference was going on (in Columbus, OH), I had friends in for the conference and London had our first playoff game. Friday, I spoke at around 2:30-3:30pm and then hung around for a short period of time, answering questions. Then me and Matt Rhodes drove to the first playoff game of the 2022 season.
We were definitely not the favorite to win; the team we played had already beaten us in the regular season. BUT...we are on a roll right now and won, 42-12. And we had a running clock in the 4th quarter. Super proud of the athletes attitude and aggression right out of the gate (it was 21-0 in the first quarter). Most important was our unrelenting effort to physically dominate the opponent until the very last second. We threw 2 passes. It was a great night of football. (See video below.)
I went back to the SWIS conference on Saturday and hung out at our booth - just meeting all kinds of awesome people. But there was one family that I will never forget. I had the pleasure of meeting a father and his son. And his son was a walk-on, too. Although he was a wrestler, he had the same hurdles/bullshit that I wrote about in the article, The Walk-On. I was told that that article helped his son pursue his dream. His son eventually came by and we all had a huge hug; it was an absolutely awesome moment of my life.
As the SWIS was wrapping up on Saturday, we had a tribute to John Meadows. I wasn't very close with John but I've had the priviledge to speak with him probably a dozen times or so. AND EVERY TIME, we talked about his son/youth fitness/football. John helped coach his son in youth football and gave as much of himself with the team as he did bodybuilding.
At the end of the night, I was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. I had no idea this award was part of the conference and was just blindsided. As I walked to the front of the room, Dave was waiting and he had a giant hug and I had a few tears. That was a tremendous honor and I'm forever grateful. Crazy weekend.
Saturday night - we went to Giordano's Pizza (myself and 10 other people). This is the only remotely good pizza place in Ohio (because Giordano's is from Chicago) - and I proceeded to stuff my face with stuffed, deep dish pizza. I also took home a large, thin crust pizza for later. So from Saturday Evening until Monday morning, I ate pizza at every meal. Amazing.
Yes, a lot of the above is self-congratulating but I haven't had this much emotion in 2 days.
- The father/son I met were absolutely awesome - I'm a sucker for people who are willing to do what is necessary.
- I'm also a sucker for the kids I coach - who could have rolled over and taken the "L" because nobody expected them to win anyway, but instead fought like lions.
- I never, ever thought I'd get that kind of award, let alone be able to share it with Dave.
