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Building an Ideal Workspace

Andy Driska

I worked on refining the workspace over the weekend, and I documented this with a few photographs… below is my attempt at time-lapse photography. As you can see in the transition, my office also served as a storage room for all of the clutter in my house. I am an ardent list-maker, and there were lists scattered all over the desk and the floor. The desk and table were not aligned in such a way that maximized space. Gradually, I sorted through a lot of old binders and notebooks from my master’s program and found a new home for them. … Continue reading Building an Ideal Workspace

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Coaching with compassion

Andy Driska

Coaching in a positive way allows the person being coached to open up and be more perceptive. Coaching in such a way where the person being coached feels angry or guilty may cause this person to shut down. These findings come from neuro-scientists at Case Western have examined the brain’s response pathways to different coaching styles. I should point out here that coaching in these cases refers more to the type of coaching you would experience in the business world… arguably, there are many carry-overs to sports coaching. This video would suggest that coaches should give communication in a positive … Continue reading Coaching with compassion

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Great Insights at the 2011 Midwest AASP Conference

Andy Driska

Life skill acquisition. Sport and gender. Mental toughness. The culture of high-performance youth sport. These topics and more were discussed at the 2011 Midwest AASP conference (Feb 18-19), hosted by Miami University in Oxford, OH. The conference was heavily student-driven, and included over twenty presentations of research and research proposals. There was a strong contingent of undergraduate presenters… always good to see undergrads getting involved early. I’ll discuss a few of the presentations that resonated with me in my post below. Eric Martin from Miami University presented an interesting piece on passion and burnout in college sports. He spoke about … Continue reading Great Insights at the 2011 Midwest AASP Conference

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Thoughts on Race-Preparation for Swimming

Andy Driska

After spending ten years as a swimming coach, I find it hard to come to mid-February without standing on a pool deck somewhere. I got a question about “tapering” and I thought I would post up some of my thoughts on the process. For those unfamiliar with a taper, it is the gradual reduction of training volume and intensity in order to help induce a super-compensation effect (the body outperforms previous best performances). It is interesting that in other sports, this process is called peaking; the language has a strong, positive connotation, it implies peak performance. In swimming, the word … Continue reading Thoughts on Race-Preparation for Swimming

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Brief Diversions During Training

Andy Driska

An interesting study confirms what many of us already suspect: brief diversions help us to retain focus on a task over the long-term. A five minute Facebook update or a brief walk around the office can help return focus to the task when the break is over… as opposed to trying to maintain focus for an uninterrupted period of time. The researchers suggest that your brain loses interest in stimuli that remain constant. For instance, fifteen minutes after you have put on your clothes, you tend to no longer notice the sensations they produce. What does this mean for athletes … Continue reading Brief Diversions During Training

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Michael Steele plays along on the Daily Show

Andy Driska

If you haven’t followed the Daily Show’s running puppet satire of Michael Steele (former chairman of the RNC), this video might not make much sense. Steele’s resemblance to the blue Muppet who frequently had something wrong with his soup morphed into Wyatt Cenac’s rhyming-version of Steele, whose speech was filled with lots of extra “bibbles.” http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:372947 Once the jokes were over, Steele was pretty candid about his ouster as RNC Chairman… kind of refreshing for the RNC, whose language is usually cloaked in the typical motherhood and apple-pie BS. Among his interesting comments were that the Republican Party has “a … Continue reading Michael Steele plays along on the Daily Show

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Abandoned Detroit: "Ruin Porn"

Andy Driska

Michigan Radio recently ran a story on The Cost of Creativity, a think piece designed to show the importance of arts funding to a state with a huge budget deficit. The story included a segment that discussed photographers “parachuting in” to Detroit, taking pictures of the numerous architectural landmarks that are now in ruins, then leaving to tell a “cliche” story of urban decay. One Vice Magazine column categorized the obsession with decayed landmarks as “ruin porn,” (I found myself thinking, “that’s a good point,” then questioning the source as I glanced at the widget next to the article that … Continue reading Abandoned Detroit: "Ruin Porn"

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Does where we live make us happy?

Andy Driska

I stumbled upon this index of “Happiest American Cities” and it got me to thinking about just what exactly makes me happy to live where I live. East Lansing, Michigan, is not the kind of place I brag about living. It’s not “where it’s at,” but for me, it has what I need: I walk to work each day, I enjoy my job and my education at Michigan State, and I have been satisfied by the relationships I have formed with the many people I have met in the past half-year. It doesn’t have the vibrancy and diversity a huge … Continue reading Does where we live make us happy?