Play the cards you're dealt with

There's a member of my judo club who is able to train only twice per week because her job schedule doesn't permit her to train more. She works nights and most of our training sessions are at night. So, she is only able to come on her two days off during the week.

I realize this is frustrating for her because she has told me should would like to train four or five times a week if she could.

There is a possibility she could get a morning shift assignment in the future but for now she's stuck with the evening shift. I told her that in the meantime, we just make the most of the two days she has and make every moment count during the training.

There are, for example, some players who attend a session and don't really focus on what's being taught. With such an attitude, even going for training four or fives times a week is a waste of time (waste of their time and waste of the coach's time too). In contrast, someone who just comes twice a week, but is very focused on learning and trying out new skills, will gain so much more.

Yesterday, I chatted with a foreign judo player who happens to be working in Malaysia now. She also has a late shift and has only one day off per week. That's the only day she can come for training, which is not much for someone who wants to get back into competition (she used to be an international competitor but has not trained for nearly a year).

I told her that once a week may not be much but we've got to play the cards we are dealt with. She would rather train more times a week and I too would rather have her train more times per week, of course. But this is not possible given her work schedule. So, what can we do? The answer is we make the most of her one off day per week and make that judo session really count.

Some people like to do things only when the conditions are ideal or "perfect" but in judo, as in life, there's no such thing as perfect conditions. Some situations are better than others but it's never perfect. Whatever cards you're dealt with, you play them the best that you can.

If you've got only two days a week, you train hard during those two days. If you've got only one day a week, make that one day the best session ever. Make the most of your situation, always. If you do that, you'll be much better off than someone who does things just as a matter of course, without any thinking, without any focus, without any intent. Just simply going through the motions. Such a person will gain little to nothing from training.

I always like to say that whatever we learn in judo is applicable to real life and this thing about playing the cards you're dealt, it really applies to real life as well.