I don’t post on here much, but think this is worth the read and...

I don’t post on here much, but think this is worth the read and can provide a great deal of info on perseverance and resilience in a world that gives up easy far too often.

I stopped making resolutions about 6 years ago, focusing on creating firsts instead. Have been much happier since. I’m a week out from turning 46, and couldn’t be happier to be spending the week out from my birthday in Boise, ID. Have never been there, and fitting that a travel first falls within a professional first for me. I’m here to coach my first fight in the UFC at #UFCBoise. I’ve coached dozens of MMA fights, but never in the sport’s biggest league.

My MMA journey began in 2006, when asked to work wrestling with a local fighter. That ‘local’, was Din Thomas, a UFC star. I had never watched a single MMA fight, knew nothing of it at the time. It planted a seed for me, but that seed was seemingly washed away less than two years later when the first of a pair of unforeseen tragedies happened , the first of which cast doubt on whether I’d even be physically active again.

In October of 2007, I obliterated my lumbar spine while lifting a bedroom set up steps the day before high school wrestling season started. I coached all year on it, further damaging it to the point of potential paralysis. In June of 2008, I had a discectomy, known as a partial backeotomy in comedic circles. This allowed me to return to coach my team the following season, but the end was near. The repair of the higher damage put stress on the lower issues, and I was facing the knife again a year later in August of 2009. That time, was told I’d never be able to be physically active again. I had a 3 vertebrae lumbar fusion, known amongst comedians as a full damn backeotomy. It took 3 additional operations to get it right, and the surgeon was sentenced to prison a few years later for insurance fraud and using counterfeit parts. I quit high school coaching and braced for a life potentially spent on disability.

I was bitter, angry and as defeated as I’ve ever been. While in physical therapy, in a geriatric pool scene that looked like it came straight out of the movie Cocoon, I contemplated what the craziest goal would be to make in light of my prescribed future. I settled on fighting in a cage, or at least being in good enough shape to be able to. I was upset that my initial foray into it got short circuited. It was a ridiculous notion. If you’ve known me for any amount of time, you know me and the word ridiculous have a long and intimate history together.

Reese Shaner at Waukesha MMA hired me to work with his fighters and kids program in July of 2010. A few weeks later, he coaxed me into his jitz classes, then the gym cardio. Before long, I was learning to kickbox and teaching/training 5-6 days a week. I spent 5 years there, learning the ins and outs of the sport from a respected professional, and getting in the best shape of my life. Then, the 2nd tragedy struck. In August of 2015, Reese perished in a motorcycle accident. The gym closed, and there were no real local established places to continue coaching. I was resolved that my time in the sport was over.

Fortunately, I got another chance. I spent much of the next three years working at Roufusport in Milwaukee , one of the top MMA gyms in the world. I had a chance to work with some incredibly talented fighters and coaches, and got to see a pair of UFC champs train there. I learned a ton, and had some unique opportunities to prepare guys for some big fights. As things typically go for me, I had some unexpected life changes occur, primarily a great change in my day job. I made the decision to return to teaching high school again, and tackle repeating my past success in Milwaukee’s struggling athletics scene. I took over a struggling wrestling team and blew it up big. We had a storybook season and are poised for big things, but something was still missing.

In March, I found a new MMA home at Pura Vida in Milwaukee. I had a chance to play a bigger role in an up-and-coming MMA team and create some unique experiences for my boys in the process. I am working directly with two fighters in the UFC and with a team that has several high level prospects. It was a gamble to leave such an established place, but it’s worked out tremendously.

We all hit forks in the road, and I hit several over the 9 years since thinking life as I knew it was over. Surgeries, a divorce, career switches, and multiple unexpected deaths were all seemingly met with intense positives in return. To quote Rick Nielsen of legendary rock band Cheap Trick, I was too dumb to quit. Somehow, being too dumb to quit just kept leading to other opportunities; in and out of MMA. Got remarried the woman of my dreams, my kids are thriving, ended up with a day job teaching at one of the top urban schools in the country, and have possibly the most exciting young high school team in the state to lead with Milwaukee Marshall/Carmen Northwest Wrestling.

So, here in the surprisingly cool city of Boise, staring out the window from an elliptical machine, feeling pretty thankful for the opportunity to work with Zak Ottow for Saturday night’s Co-Main Event at UFC Boise, on FS1. Thankful for all the fighters and coaches I’ve worked with, especially Jake Klipp, Solo Acosta and Nickolas Trost for bringing me along and welcoming me to the team Pura Vida BJJ & MMA.

Life’s good, even if on a stationary runner. It’ll be done in a few minutes. Fortunately, the rest won’t.