What is Important?

I don't know if I'm allowed to quote from this site, so I figure it's better to just put up a link:

http://www.weboflove.org:80/060309cabride

This is an important story, one we should all read and take to heart.

Go.

Leadership at WMMA

Our Leadership Team at WMMA is getting some good lessons of late. This last Saturday we had guest speaker Jim Zei, fund raiser extraordinaire, talk about getting involved in community projects as a way of developing leadership skills. Mr. Zei focused on some of the attributes of a leader, talking about integrity, honesty and commitment - and giving both book definitions and real world examples of how these skills are essential to leadership.
Integrity, Mr. Zei told us, is when the values on the inside of a person match the actions on the outside. It's not enough to talk the talk... walking the walk is what a true leader does.
We've got several more community leaders lined up to speak to our group in the coming weeks. I am really enjoying listening and learning from our guest speakers because the different perspectives that are presented appeal to different students. Something that one speaker says might just light up a student's eyes - and getting that light to go on - and stay on - is really our job in creating the next generation of leaders.

Great Article on CNN

I don't know how long CNN.com keeps their stories up, but there's currently a great article about the state of MMA in the U.S. today. Check it out here:
MMA in the News

If you've ever watched Ultimate Fighter, you've seen crazy young fighters living in a house together in the weeks of final training (and matches!) before the awarding of the Ultimate Fighter trophy. In my opinion, many of these fighters could use a lesson or two in self-control, but I realize that a lot of that behavior is encouraged in order to make for a more - ah -interesting "reality" show.

I believe that the future of MMA is predicated on it becoming a "real" sport, moving more on the lines of football and baseball than Pro-Wrestling. Sure, it can be argued that football is more entertainment than pure athletics - but the quality of the athletics is always far more important than the parades, the halftime shows - and the trash talking interviews.

MMA needs to continue to clean up it's act at the Pro level - because there are suddenly lots of interested amateurs coming up in the ranks, amateurs that have learned the value of respect and self-discipline.

That's our vision for the future of MMA - and it's what we teach.

Guest Lecture Series!

Our leadership team started a guest lecture series on Sept 6 with Officer Chip Amati (Jake's dad!) visiting our studio. Sergeant Amati spoke for about 40 minutes, entertaining one and all with stories and information about being a police officer in Woodstock. Beyond the smiles and laughter was a larger message about leadership, about putting yourself on the front lines as an example to your followers, to not be afraid to do what you'd ask others to do for you.
There are plenty of different leadership styles - some involve working from the planning headquarters, some demanding that you be in the front lines. Officer Amati made a good argument for the latter, explaining how it works for him and the men under him. Thank you once again, Officer Amati, for a great talk!

This last Saturday, we had another guest lecturer although this one was via DVD. The late Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" is one of the most inspirational speeches of all time and our S.T.O.R.M. watched the first hour of it - and we've got about 15 minutes more to watch this coming Saturday. Mr. Pausch is worth a Google - and there are several YouTube videos of this lecture (some more edited than others). Sadly, he passed away from cancer this last July - certainly not unexpectedly as the "Last Lecture" explains - but the world is certainly a better place for his short 47 year visit. He talks about the reasons for "brick walls" that seemingly keep us from our goals, he talks about the importance of childhood dreams, he explains how, sometimes, when concentrating on one lesson we find we've learned an entirely different one as well - something he calls a "head fake". An amazing man - and we're lucky to be able to learn from him.

And there will be more lectures - both live and DVD - coming up in the next several weeks! (As well as more projects - that involve more DOING than sitting!)

Back to School...TODAY!

And I'm still finishing up the summer months with pictures from our pool party (here), pictures from the Boot Camp (also here) and the Wonder Lake Parade (here as well!)

For those of you who wonder what I do in my spare time... you can check out a video Mrs. Schulenburg took of me playing with the Sinful Saints Dixieland band here.

And... since I'm going link mad today, you might as well check out the NAGA site (here), to read about the next MidWest Tournament that they are holding on November 15 in Evanston! TeamWMMA will make an appearance - and will do their best to better last spring's record!

That's it for this time... I've got a newsletter to put together!