Why we need to be athletes

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Why we need to be “a-thə-lēts”
 
Coming up with mottos for The Ranks, a debate materialized between a close advisor and me over vocabulary.
 
I went with “The Ranks - Building The New Older Athlete”
 
My advisor, a close friend and brilliant business consultant named Steve Barney –argued why alienate with the word “athlete” when so few people truly identify that way…
           
Regrettably, connotations of the word “athlete” have diminished.
           
What is an athlete after all? Is it someone paid to play a sport? – Partially, yes...& unfortunately the asinine behavior of these few – facial tattooing, judge threatening & self-applied gunfire- distract from the ideal of what the athlete should be….
           
The Greek root of athlete is “athl”, meaning a contest or challenge. An “athlete” is one who struggles with challenges.
 
There is no shortage of challenges these days – especially for The Ranks – parenting, mentoring, staying muscularly young….We do have a shortage of athletes however….
  • An athlete is someone cognizant of their body, and regularly cultivating it in order to face challenge
  • An athlete is one finding success through collected small failure –  with a mindset finding composure amidst disorder, plans against long odds, and will to carry out
In Ranks Academy we have the plans building 50, 60, 70+ year old athletes - the kind of people you can count on – and we can’t get enough of those….