"Now, I may be a mean cuss. But I'm the same mean cuss with everybody out there on that football field. The world don't give a damn how sensitive these kids are. You ain't doing these kids a favour by patronizing them. You're crippling them - you're crippling them for life."  - Herman Boone (Remember the Titans)

I received a couple text messages from two of my players who are now freshman down at some big-time programs in the US.

I can't believe I've been doing this for thirteen years, but every fall I get lots of messages like these, and they're always so rewarding.

I've never apologized for being extremely tough. Why? They are going to face it in college and they need to be ready. I am flat out doing them a disservice if I don't coach how I know how to do it. It is for them. I'm in their corner, and it's my job to lead them, love them - AND love them tough when required. Their goal is to succeed at the next level, and it's my job to prepare them for how hard it (and life at times later) can be.

That particular quote at the start of the post, from Remember the Titans, has always really resonated with me and has continued to guide me all these years later, just as it did when I started coaching eighteen year olds when I was just twenty-two.

Now, here's the key - and this morning I stumbled across this quote from UCLA coaching great John Wooden. His words are particularly poignant as the Oilers are set to break camp with new coach Mike Babcock ...  but I digress.

You don't just have to be a mean cuss, in my opinion - if you are, then go find another profession. If you've seen Remember the Titans, you can understand that the Herman Boone character cared deeply for his players and wasn't simply a dictator. If he was, he wouldn't have let them dance on the field to warm up!

It was an awesome spring and summer of training for our hockey athletes, and I'm really excited to watch and follow all of their seasons.

It's remarkable to me that we had over 100 hockey athletes train with us this summer. It wasn't too long ago when I sat down and made it a goal to squash the notion that AHP was "just a baseball gym."

It's hard to believe it's September, but here we are. In a post later this week, I'm going to outline my principles and strategies for training hockey players in-season, but today I just want to stress the WHY.

Long-Term Development! If you only train in the off-season, you are leaving six months of potential development on the table. With a proper prescribed program we can accomplish three objectives: a) prepare to perform our best this week ; b) build qualities to ensure we are prepared to play our best at the end of the season ; c) build qualities to deepen our foundational potential to develop long-term

Below is a great example, of an athlete who has trained with us since he was 12 years old.

This is a post from a couple years ago. Colt is now in his NHL draft year, after putting up an excellent 16-year old season with Moose Jaw in the WHL (38 points in 61 games as defenseman) - a season that also included him playing on U17 Team Canada.

This particular post was in his grade 10 year. His team trained with us twice a week, and he also consistently trained an 'extra' third session with us every single week.

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A post shared by AHP | High Performance Training Facility (@absolutehumanperformance)

Consistency wins. For young athletes, think of in-season training sessions as small weekly deposits that, over time, can accrue a ton of compound interest.

Just like investing - even something small is better than nothing. One session every couple weeks is still thirteen quality training sessions over six months. They absolutely can move the needle!

Below is the absolute pinnacle example of this working long-term. I've coached and trained Erik Sabrowski since he was thirteen and he's now in his third MLB season (and has been absolutely dominant). A couple days ago he was featured on MLB network! (It's a different sport, obviously, but the principles still apply!)

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"Then, as it was,

then again it will be

And though the course may change sometimes

Rivers always reach the sea."

         - Led Zeppelin (Ten Years Gone)

This Sunday, I'm going to tell you a little about my story. Ten years to this very day, August 23rd, my love of pitching, my seemingly innate disposition to follow a different path, and my love of the Tragically Hip all intertwined in an inexplicable way.

It cemented my belief that the universe will show you signs that you are right where you are supposed to be when you are overcome with doubt. It will also help you know when you are not on the right path. The key, you see, is being open to seeing the signs.

If you know me, you know how much I love the Tragically Hip. They're my favourite band. So, yesterday, when I sat down to watch the ten-year anniversary of their final show, it dawned on me it was also the ten year anniversary of something else.

Ten years ago, I decided to do something crazy. At twenty-six years old, with one year of eligibility left, and one year left to finish my degree, I moved to Warrensburg, to (finally) play my senior season for the University of Central Missouri.

It was a huge risk. I had a life I loved in St. Albert with a solid career starting to bloom both running a baseball academy and growing a business as a personal trainer. I had great friendships and my family was all close.

Not only that, the bigger risk was my still pretty much injured shoulder. I had labrum surgery five and a half years prior and I wasn't able to return to the mound. Suddenly, in the winter  of 2016 I could throw hard again.

Fast forward five months and, yes I could throw 90 mph, but I had yet to throw two days in a row because my arm would be SO sore still from the day prior.

Regardless, I was going for it. My mantra was one that I picked up in Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist': You can always go back to being a shepherd.

I was going all in on trying to play professional baseball and win a national championship. Burn the ships. All of that.

I had to be down in Missouri for August 10th for the start of team practice and classes and so I quite literally packed all my stuff into my Honda HRV and drove the twenty-six hours straight to Missouri. I was hoping for the best: hoping my own resolve, and will and determination, and grace too - would get my shoulder back to 100% in time for the spring season.

I had coached the U18AAA Edmonton Cardinals that past season, and we won provincials, so after just a few days of being a collegiate athlete again, I left to go to Quebec for the National Championship Tournament for a week.

At the conclusion of Nationals in Quebec, I remember landing in Kansas City, on August 23rd, in the early afternoon and starting the hour plus drive to Warrensburg. Suddenly, a truly awful feeling started in the pit of my stomach before completely washing over me. "What have I done?"  

And then? Literally, a minute later, on a random US radio station, the song Bobcaygeon by the Hip came on. This couldn't - no it wasn't, a coincidence. The Hip never broke into the USA. They didn't get played on FM radio down there. They were my favourite band and just the night before I wept like most of Canada watching Gord's final show due to his battle with terminal brain cancer.

I don't really know how to explain it, but immediately the feeling went away and was replaced with: "this is exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Ten years later, when I feel lost in the fog, or at times (okay often times!) overwhelmed with the inevitable curveballs life throws at me - I remember when Bobcaygeon came on the radio and to trust my gut instinct to know what is right, and to follow my intuition wherever it may lead me.

Happy Thursday!

I recently finished Larry McMurtry's Western classic, so I thought I'd share my three favourite quotes/excerpts.

1. "If you want one thing too much it's likely to be a disappointment. The healthy way is to learn to like the everyday things, like soft beds and buttermilk." - Augustus McCrae

2. "I've got to have sweets, at least," Clara said, eating a piece of cake before she went to bed, or again while she was cooking breakfast. "Sweets make up for a lot."

3. "You're so sure you're right it doesn't matter to you whether people talk to you at all. I'm glad I've been wrong enough to keep in practice."

"Why would you want to keep in practice being wrong?" Call asked. "I'd think it would be something you'd try to avoid."

"You can't avoid it, you've got to learn to handle it," Augustus said. "If you only come face-to-face with your own mistakes once or twice in your life it's bound to be extra painful. I face mine every day - that way they ain't usually much worse than a dry shave."

Happy Friday,

Today, I thought I'd share our internal coaching values. These nine principles are our guiding lights in terms of how we want to conduct ourselves as servant leaders. I'm proud to say I put this document together five years ago and I believe trying our best to live and coach to these standards is a big reason the program has grown how it has.

1. First and foremost, we are striving to help teenagers become better people.

• “I coach boys to be men of empathy and integrity who will lead, be responsible, and change the world for good.” – Joe Ehrmann

2. Be who you needed when you were younger.

• This is simply what we are all about. It’s why we are doing this in the first place. It means giving kids tough love when they need it, it means having tough conversations when they may not want to hear it, and it means being the support system; the shoulder; and the ear they will need a whole lot.

3. Our goal is to not help players to get to the next level, but to prepare them to have success once they get there.

• This means giving them the big-time skills that will scale (tools); it also means we do a better job than anyone else on helping them be great ‘baseball players’. This encompasses playing the game hard and playing it the right way, going about their business the right way – and taking care of all the little details (controlling the running game, base running, positional defense, etc.) It also means making them mentally tough and preparing them to be able to handle adversity.

4. DEVELOPMENT FIRST. Treat every player like they’re our only one.

• Each player’s training program will be designed with only what is best for that individual. If this means they should throw innings in the fall they will. If it means they start their off-season September 1st they will.

5. “Embody only what you teach, teach only what you embody.”

• If we expect our players to be on time and professional, we must always do the same. If we expect our players to maintain good body language and positivity when the game doesn’t go their way – we must do the same in the dugout as well.
• “Leaders lead the way” – Dick Winters

6. Athletes won’t care what you know until they know much you care.

7. If you allow it you encourage it.

• This is applicable on multiple levels. First, from a culture standpoint: we are doing kids a disservice if we don’t hold them accountable. That doesn’t mean we always have to rule with the stick, but if we allow something we are encouraging it.
• This is applicable on the field in-games. If we don’t pull players for not hustling, we are flat out encouraging it. It’s not enough to just get on guys about certain things. You cannot compromise the uncompromisable.
• This is applicable in practice and training. You can’t allow poor reps in the weight room. Similarly – there are certain things about how drill work, throwing etc. need to be done. If you see something that isn’t excellent – coach em’ up.

8. KAIZEN.

• This is a Japanese term meaning “change for the better” or “constant improvement.” As coaching professionals we want to have a growth mindset – we can constantly improve and evolve as coaches and teachers.

9. We are not for everyone!

Happy Thursday!

Glen Hansard passed away yesterday. I loved what he had to say here.

Glen Hansard reflects on busking in Dublin and what makes people stop and listen.

Recorded during our recent XS Noize Podcast conversation.

Rest in peace, Glen.

Full interview link in the replies. pic.twitter.com/4ObGWxMULa

— XS Noize (@xsnoizemusic) July 30, 2026

It got me thinking about this quote:

" I realized how much easier it is to write than not write. Not writing is probably the the most exhausting profession I've ever encountered. It takes it out of you. It's very psychically wearing not to write - I mean if you're supposed to be writing." - Fran Lebowitz

"Do not count your defeats before the war is over. One victory may yet make them all forgotten." - Musashi

I enjoyed The Odyssey so much on Friday, I went back again last night. If you haven't seen the movie yet, stop reading.

The movie is a remarkable feat in both filmmaking and storytelling. There's a particular scene (and theme) that has been rattling around in my brain.

After spending seven years on the beach with Calysypo, Odysseus is finally ready to return home. She says:

"You're a man who needs to control his fate. But you cannot control this. You must give yourself to the storm. And take your punishment. Give up the fight, give up the control, and live."

As someone who likes to be in control, this hit a little close to home. To be honest, it was as moved as I've ever been from a scene in a movie. Ten years ago, I felt I had complete control over my fate. Today, I'm not so sure.

Of course I still have control over my life (and more importantly must exert my power to both choose my path and respond to and from perceived ill fates), but perhaps it's the romantic in me (and some unexplainable signs from the universe at certain times in my life) that I now believe in the power of letting go to a degree. By letting go we can actually control our fate and perhaps end up where we are supposed to be, and more importantly - enjoy life much more along the way.

I'm also a positive nihilist, and this scene also immediately reminded me from a line from one of my favourite books, 'The Way of the Peaceful Warrior."

“There is no need to search; achievement leads to nowhere. It makes no difference at all, so just be happy now! Love is the only reality of the world, because it is all One, you see. There is no problem, never was, and never will be. Release your struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the world. No need to resist life; just do your best. Open your eyes and see you are for more than you imagine. You are the world, you are the universe; you are yourself and everyone else, too!”

The other theme here is, Odysseus was finally ready to live again - and go home. He was also finally ready to face, head on, both his trauma and the consequences of his failures and his mistakes.

It's a lot easier to lay on the beach and eat lotus flower in order to forget and not deal with trauma, grief, and our own failings. However, that's no way to live.

I was reminded of another excerpt:

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could." - Louise Eldrich (novel 'Painted Drum')

This isn't just about romantic love - it's about chasing goals; your livelihood; and ultimately just living.

Give yourself up to the storm.

Happy Saturday! I tweeted out this list on a whim this week, and it got a ton of engagement, so I figured I'd share it here as well.

We live in a world of information overload, and for high school athletes it's amazing they have access to so many resources. However, on the flip side, there's a lot of bad information out there - or information that may not be applicable to them or where they are currently at.

Pitching is hard enough, it's important to simplify. Here's my list:

KISS Principles for High School Pitchers!

1. Shift mindset from getting hitters out, to letting them get themselves out. Attack, attack, attack. The game is on your side

2. Don't overcomplicate your delivery. Be athletic, have some rhythm and fluidity, repeat your separation, stay back over the rubber, stay closed, and really finish.

3. Fuck the 3rd and 4th pitch if you can't command two. I'm sorry. You don't get to learn calculus until you've mastered algebra. Also, if you can't get high school hitters out with 2 pitches, you aren't very good.

4. Best pitch in baseball is a well located fastball. Learn to throw a FB low and away to your glove side in your sleep.

5. Create a routine. You should do the same thing every pitch. You should have a reset. You should use a deep breath.

6. Play high quality catch. I love lots of different throwing drills, but the best drill is simply coming set just like in a game, and delivering the baseball to a spot.

7. It's you versus you. Win The Battle Within!! It's lonely on the hill. No one is coming to save you. Embrace that. Love it. Be a bulldog; a warrior - whatever you want to be. No excuses. Control what you can control - and we always have control of: our attitude, our mound presence, our body language, our tempo, our thoughts: THIS PITCH.

"Is coaching players now, different than even 10-12 years ago?" I got asked this question by Matt Best on his podcast a couple months back.

0:00/1×

The other day, I was flipping through John Wooden's book when something he wrote reminded me of the above conversation.

In the book (which was published in 1997), he remarks on something he had written 25 years prior to that. His original words were:

"There was a time when the mass majority would follow blindly, even into the shadow of death, but such is not the case now. Young people of today are far more aware, inclined to be more openly critical, and more generally inquisitive than they used to be. So leaders must work with them somewhat differently."

He then states, "I wrote the preceding observation more than a quarter of a century ago. Are people really that different today? Have times changed so much? I wonder about that."

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This idea that the next generation is more rebellious and individualistic has been going on for centuries. It's not new.

As coaches it's our job to relate to the kids we coach, earn their respect and trust, and hold them accountable. It's the same as it's ever been.

I'm in a reflective mood. It's Mother's Day. I decided to go help coach our Renegades Baseball Academy in a tournament over the weekend down in Okotoks. The team played quite well, competed hard but came up just a little short in the semi-finals.

It's just before 4:00 on Sunday afternoon as I sit to write this. I got back home at 2 am last night, and have a million things to do before the gym gets going tomorrow. So, I decided to go to a coffee shop to focus and work (write programs, answer emails, etc.).

Metaphorically speaking, AHP, and the Renegades Baseball Academy, has been built during Sunday afternoons in various coffee shops.

Probably because it's Mother's Day today, I find myself transported to Sunday afternoons in 2018. The business (where it's now at), and the ball academy was all but a dream for the future at that point. I would go sit at the Starbucks in St. Albert all afternoon and grind away.

The difference between then and now? I'd go to Mom's for Sunday dinner afterwards. Some of my favourite memories, to be sure. "In retrospect, the times of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful." - Sigmund Freud

I digress. In my (only ever so slightly) melancholy current state, it hit me that I had shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum fifteen years ago, to the day, following my junior year of college. It's crazy that it took me until the afternoon to realize the date. It's more crazy fifteen years has passed.

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What was once the worst thing to ever happen to me (up to that point in my 21 year old life) turned out to be the best thing.

I remember watching Sunday Night Baseball, way back in High School (2007 or 2008), and something Curt Schilling (who then did the colour commentary) said, and it has stuck with me ever since.

He talked about the first step in a young pitcher's development at the next level is the ability to pitch backwards. You need to be able to command your off-speed in hitter's counts.

Ok, you can pitch backwards. What's the next stage in your development? He stated: You need to be able to throw a fastball, in a fastball count, when the hitter is hunting the fastball, and still be able to get him out.

I'm a pitching nerd. I love all the advanced tech we have now, and pitch design, etc. I can spend countless hours on Baseball Savant. With that said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The ability to command your fastball in all four quadrants when you want to is as important to Paul Skenes as it was to Nolan Ryan as it was to Bob Feller.

Sticking with Curt Schilling here I'm going to do a 180 for my second point in this post. I want to talk about something he tweeted yesterday in regards to the unfortunate injury to Tarik Skubal. "Second? Max effort pitching, the hunt for velocity, is destroying the pitcher."

https://t.co/JI6g0evEsg So many comments. First off? WBC? NEVER would I allow a pitcher in my organization to do it, ZERO upside. (But as a player I would have KILLED to do it). Second? Max effort pitching, the hunt for velocity, is destroying the pitcher. Third? I had loose…

— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) May 4, 2026

Let's dissect this.

First off, give me a break. As long as pitcher's have existed they chased velocity and stuff. Bob Feller did. Bob Gibson did. Nolan Ryan certainly did.

Justin Verlander, one of the best to ever do it, gave a really long and introspective answer on why pitchers have to chase throwing every pitch as hard as they can. Early in his career he could afford to throw slower early in games. He was notorious for his velocity steadily climbing and finishing games at 100. With every hitter a real risk to leave the ballpark, pitcher's strategies had to change. Check it out below:

Anyway, I love pitching - and if you do too, I plan on making this a regular Tuesday segment!

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Good morning! Today, I'm going to share three quotes that I've had front and centre at my desk in my home office for the last little while. They serve as good reminders of how I want to live, and who I would like to try to be.

"He has the power to render us happy, or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil... The happiness he gives us is quite as great as if it cost a fortune" - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (Scrooge talking about his old boss Fezziwig)

"The proper function of man is not to exist, but to live. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." - Jack London

"My future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there's a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does." - LM Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

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Happy Wednesday! I wanted to share my notes directly from Ben Horowitz's book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers.

The book has been a tremendous resource so far, and I wish I had found it earlier. His chapter titled, "How to Lead?", I found particularly enlightening.

So What makes me people want to follow a leader?

3 Key Traits:

1. The ability to articulate the vision
2. The right kind of ambition
3. The ability to achieve the vision

1) The Ability to Articulate the Vision

• Can the leader articulate a vision that’s interesting, dynamic, and compelling?
• More important, can the leader do this when things fall apart?
• IE: Steve Jobs got the employees of Apple to buy into his vision when the company was weeks away from bankruptcy.

2) The Right Kind of Ambition

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• For some reason there’s a huge misperception in our society that a prerequisite for becoming a CEO is to be selfish, ruthless, and callous.
• In fact the opposite is true.
• The first thing any good CEO must do is get really great people to work for her or him.
• Truly great leaders create an environment where the employees feel that the CEO cares more about the employees than she cares about herself.
• In this kind of environment, an amazing thing happens:
  o A large number of employees believe it’s their company and behave accordingly!
• A truly great CEO would happily sacrifice his own economics, fame, glory, and rewards for his employees

3) The Ability to Achieve The Vision

• The third leg of the leadership stool is competence.
• If I buy into the vision, and believe that the leader cares about me, do I think she can actually achieve the vision?
• “Will I follow her into the jungle with no map forward or back and trust that she will get me out of there”

Happy (Masters Sunday)!

Today, I have a top 10 countdown of my favourite quotes to inspire you to persevere!

10. "What is to give light must endure burning." - Viktor Frankl

9. "Life will throw everything at you but the kitchen sink. And then it'll throw the kitchen sink." - Andre Agassi

8. "Outrun those who stop from despair." - Muhammad Ali

7. "Don't give up. Don't ever give up." - Jimmy Valvano

6. "The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that can survive all hurt." - Max Lerner

5. "The greatest victory is the victory over ourselves. Remember, it's always too soon to quit." - Gary Mack (Mind Gym)

4. "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." - Sir Winston Churchill

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3. "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." - John Lennon

2. "Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. Despite its  sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it's still a beautiful world." - Max Ehrmann (Desiderata poem)

1. "I do believe there is something within all of us, as illusory and ephemeral as it may be, that gives us the strength and courage to withstand all that life throws your way, even my loss." - Lynne Burns

Happy Thursday!

Here are three quotes that have particularly resonated with me lately.

"The cause of most stress can be summed up by the word attachment. Freedom from stress does not necessarily involve giving up anything, but rather being able to let go of anything, when necessary, and know that you will still be alright. It comes from being more independent - not necessarily more solitary, but more reliant on your own inner resources for stability." - Timothey Galley (The Inner Game of Tennis)

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"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." - Michelangelo

"Endure, o heart. At other times you have endured worse." - Homer (Odyssey)