4 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JULY 2017 Work hard, then train even harder Sports is like everything else – if you want to suc- ceed, you have to prepare. But there are differences. A guy like Usain Bolt (above) trains very hard, but because he’s a sprinter he doesn’t spend much time in the gym. Then there are guys like Michael Phelps, who train so hard you have to drag them out of the pool. And then there are freaks like Jim Thorpe (right). At the 1912 Oympics, someone stole his cleats. He found some old ones (2 different sizes) in the trash and won anyway. The one event he didn’t win was the javelin. He’d never competed in the javelin. In fact he didn’t even know that he could throw it with a running start. He threw it standing still and won the silver medal. And on the left, don’t let that cute smile fool you – Simone Biles would walk through walls to beat the competition. Having won a combined total of 19 Olympic and World Champion- ship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast in history. “I train 32 hours a week over 6 days. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 AM until 12 PM, I focus on basics and skills so I can break everything down and really get a hold of them,” Biles says. by Lt. Henry Brettrager O lympic athletes train for years for an event that may only last for minutes or even seconds. The athletes that train the hardest with the utmost dedication and diligence inevitably are the top competitors. What if by some miracle of science (or the proverbial crystal ball) you were told that in exactly one year at 0230 hours you are going to respond to a domestic vio- lence call, and after arriving on scene you are violently attacked and would soon be in a fight for your life? How hard would you train for that day? How often would you train for that day? How much time would you take from your already demanding schedule and responsibilities to devote to that one day? Of course training like an Olympic athlete takes an incredible amount of time, commitment, hard work and dedication. We realize statistically only a small percentage of officers (less than 3 percent) will have to answer that call and face the day. So we ponder the ques- tion: Will I be the one who answers that call or do I play the odds, accept the percent- ages and tell myself it won’t happen to me? Only time will tell! It will pay off when you need it Deported to Mexico, US veterans are pressed into service by drug cartels – Task and Purpose magazine HEADLINE OF THE MONTH HEADLINE OF THE MONTH t
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