 |
||||||||||||||||
| Program Chair: Paul Aslan | October 10, 2013 | |||||||||||||||
 |
This Week...
October 17
PDG Rick Mendoza & AG Linton Morgan "District Governor's Visit"
Upcoming...
October 24 ***Bring a Guest Day*** Tom Barron "Club Membership" October 30 |
|||||||||||||||
|
October 17 PDG Rick Mendoza & AG Linton Morgan "District Governor's Visit" |
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Tom Barron "Membership" |
||||||||||||||||
|
At long last-our sitting
president welcomed us back to
the "warm and friendly WVRC!" He
called on PP Mike Newman, who
subbed for him last week, to
lead us In the pledge of
allegiance, then PP Chris
Bradford for the invocation.
Frankie Aslan led us in a
rousing Birthday Song for Dr.
Colby Smith, who has
said Good-bye to his 20's. Pres
Mark, who bugs Colby all the
time, was nice enough to gift
him a recorder loaded with
excuses for not answering the
phone when Mark calls in the
future.
Roz Nelson and Carol Collins
joined us as guests,
as did one of our new young
professional members Zach
Brandler who met last night at
Tom Barron's house. They'll be
meeting again on November
12, so we need to refer as
many new
prospective members as
possible to help them get
rolling-think "under 35 years of
age!"
Pres Mark stumped us by asking
what PP Gordon Fell and PP Homer
Newman had in common as they sat
at the Head Table-they both
joined the club in October,
though 26 years apart. Talk
about a trick question!
Admiral Ed Gauld was fined $70 for his new granddaughter in Colorado and was happy to pay. Uncle Leo was hit with a larger $200 penalty after Brian Whitney revealed that the Dow had grown by 15% per year on average during the 60 years Leo has worked for Merrill Lynch. Leo's fine was small because he's done such a good job so far this year with the San Francisco Chinatown visit-now don't forget to bring those members back this year, Leo! (there is room for a few more).
Pres Mark showed he can give as
well as take, presenting
precious medals to the 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd place winners in the "Rotary
Pin Daycompetition" who
were outrageous Webmaster PP Ron
Lyster, Dapper Leo Tseng, and
Smooth Paul "Frankie" Aslan.
Nevin Senkan was fined for
having no pin at all- Shame!
Announcements:
Phil Gabriel introduced Christy,
a sales manager from the same
Napa Valley Grill on Glendon
Avenue as the Merchant
Minute. She showed
great enthusiasm in describing
the accommodations at the Grill
and welcoming us to visit.
PP and Past Treasurer Don
Nelson, who ran track for UCLA
over a half century ago, proudly
introduced our program speaker,
UCLA's current Track and Field
Coach, Mike Maynard, who coaches
both men's and women's track as
well as cross country.
Mike grew up in Arizona with
four older brothers who were
daily all locked out of their
family's farm house and told to
go play outdoors. It's not hard
to see how he grew up loving
sports. Of course, even in the
heat of rough competition among
the boys, they never forgot they
loved the opponents they were
pummeling, biting, and
scratching. Mike contrasted this
sportsmanlike picture with the
famous picture of Mohammed Ali
standing over and taunting Sonny
Liston who was lying on the
canvas, just defeated.
These two pictures illustrate
what the word "coach" means to
Mike- the root word meaning a
vehicle to help carry the
athlete to what he wants to
become.
When Mike greets these young men
and women put under his
management, his #1 goal is not
to win championships or even
graduate them all, but to aid in
their personal development, now
that they are away from their
families for the first time.
Personal development means
reaching for excellence, not
perfection, which is
unattainable.
As athletic as his young charges are, Mike points out that they are nowhere near as fleet as a cheetah or as strong as a bear. Humans have become the dominant species on this planet through their ability to cooperate in communities. By developing their characters and habits, his athletes are able to achieve great things, not through focusing only on grand outcomes and championships.
Last December, Mike was faced
with a melanoma diagnosis which
forced him to face his
mortality. He found he was upset
that he had not yet completed
his promise to his grandfather
to plant 1000 trees. Then he
realized that he had satisfied
that promise by "planting" so
many excellent athletes over his
30 years of coaching. Trees are
important for shade and fruit,
but how much more productive
will Coach Maynard's athletes be
for our society?
President Mark gifted both Coach
Mike and Don Nelson with our
favorite book on the history of
Westwood and confessed that he,
too, had been a trackman back in
school. We're not sure what kind
of track he was referring to.
-YRE Dwight Heikkila
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
