I’ve been thinking a lot about wins lately.

In my youth I was never someone that looked at the positives in anything. If there was a person you knew that always dwelled on the negative, I would be that person. I was often upset for little reason, had a short fuse, and frequently would find myself wondering why I reacted the way I did to situations after they happened. Teenage and 20s Scobes was a mess.

I’m assuming my tale isn’t all that different than most. It took me a while to get over myself.

There was a girl in my journalism program in college that always had a smile on. She was the type of person that would ask you all kinds of questions about your life, was interested in what you had going, and she was sincere about it. Lots of laughing, rarely quiet and, or upset. She was the type of person that could make you feel exhausted with her energy.  Looking back, she’s the one that had it figured out.

The great John Lofflin, my journalism advisor and mentor, used to have a great saying about her: “God Bless the cheery people”.

At 39 years old I find myself thinking about many of Lofflin’s teachings. The sign that hung on our newsroom wall that said “It’s About People, It’s Always About People”, he had a rule that you should find a job that would “never make you wear hard shoes”, and God blessing the cherry people.

Those that focus on their positives, their “wins”, are the type to surround yourself with. Find them, gravitate towards them, hold onto them. Wins, no matter how small, lift the soul, and thereby others around you.

Twelve weeks into this project it is easy for me to focus on how far I have left to go in order to accomplish the goal. I took a week off from throwing due to some shoulder pain but used that week to run 10 miles and do some stretching. While the miles-per-hour throwing is down 3-5mph per drill, I’ve set four new records in the taps and medicine throws. Win.

Focus on your wins. You’ll find yourself more apt to laugh, be positive when facing the world around you, and be cheery to others and brighten their day. And God bless the cheery people.

I found my new favorite drill. At the suggestion of former partner Mike Neal (Intensity Athletic), I introduced a medicine ball throw that incorporated a full stretch position starting with the 4-lb medicine pre-loaded just over the shoulder.

Mike knows my biggest struggle has always been lower body efficiency and probably more specifically, the lack of rotational force generated from my hips during rotation. We spent hours working on it during our after hours workouts when our college and pro guys would come in for their workouts.

So in order to get myself to feel my hips and legs better, this drill was incorporated

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I love it. I’m able to feel my hip ride into rotation better, and keeping the medicine ball loaded over the shoulder forces me chest to stay closed while my hips open up. This is a must add for anyone that has lazy lower body rotation like me.

Current MPH Gains On Throws

Throwing	Starting	Current	Difference
Double Knee	45	62	+17mph
Standing	55	65	+10mph
Torque	62	74	+12mph
Step Behinds	72	77	+5mph
Turn & Burns	75	75	—
Whips	68	68	–

Week 12 Testing Numbers

Week 12 Throwing

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