Growing up as a kid, my father would sit down with me and we would have these long talks about life. One of the messages he always reiterated, one I vividly remember to this day was “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.” As a kid, I didn’t fully understand the power of this statement and how much truth there was behind those words. It wasn’t until I was a young man that I realized how much of an impact this statement would have on my life.
Fast forward to the spring of 2018, I was wrapping up undergrad and had found my passion and love for strength and conditioning and coaching. I had just medically retired from football a year prior due to a spine injury, after walking on to UNC Football team in 2014 as an offensive lineman. My senior year of college I spent interning with the football strength and conditioning staff at Carolina. I always had a love for the weight room and training. I also had a love for working with people. Growing up, many of my mentors were my coaches. So naturally I was drawn towards strength and conditioning and coaching. In the spring of 2018, I made up my mind that I was going to do just that, and it was the best decision I could have ever made. I believe in the development of people, and love mentoring and developing young men and women. Helping and challenging them to grow as individuals, aside from developing them mentally and physically as athletes for their sport.
I want to share some of my thoughts and opinions from my life experiences, in hopes that they may help someone else along their journey through life. To touch back on my father’s quote I mentioned previously, “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance,” you are constantly planning and preparing for the next phase of your life, the next opportunity, or to overcome the next adversity or challenge you’re faced with. There are things you can do and choices you can make to prepare yourself for these events, which will come in many different shapes and sizes. There are also things that you will face throughout your life that you don’t have any control over. The way you respond to these events is extremely important. When you are hit with adversity, you will fall back on your baseline of preparation, there is no such thing as rising to the occasion. Proper prior planning will prevent you from poorly performing in these events and situations you will find yourself in throughout your life. These events and situations may be good or bad, they can come in the form of opportunities or adversities. Regardless, you are constantly planning and preparing, either consciously or subconsciously, for the next phase of your life, the next opportunity, or to overcome the next adversity or challenge you’re faced with.
As you continue to make the journey throughout your own life, and as you’re planning and preparing for that next phase of your life or that next opportunity, there are a few things I’ve learned along my journey that I wanted to share. First, you are capable. As you enter a new phase of your life, or are presented with a new opportunity, you are more than capable of successfully accomplishing it. You just have to apply yourself. Second, you have all the tools you need to be successful. As you go through life and are planning, preparing, and being prepared, you are collecting tools along the way. These tools get thrown in your tool box, and when needed, you pull out the right tool to accomplish the job. Third, everything happens for a reason. Whether you understand that in the moment, or not, is irrelevant. In time you will understand that everything happens for a reason, regardless of the outcome. You can learn and grow from it. Being aware is key, and self-awareness is the first step to grow and development.
Throughout my life, just like we all have, I have faced many adversities that challenged me in a variety of different ways. Many people around the world have faced adversities far greater than I can ever imagine. Life is all about perspective, what kind of outlook do you have on life? I say that to say this, in times of adversity use those moments, events, or situations as opportunities to learn and grow. Growing up I used to talk to God and ask “Why is this happening to us, why is this happening to me?” At the time, I didn’t realize that I was being prepared. I was learning, growing, and preparing myself so that one day, when I would be faced with even more challenging adversities, I would be prepared. When you are hit with adversity, you will fall back on your baseline of preparation, there is no such thing as rising to the occasion. As challenging as it may be, embrace adversities and attack them head on with the right mindset that you can and will accomplish and overcome. You will be better off for it. Now, in my current role as a strength and conditioning coach, having the opportunity to lead and mentor many young men and women, I use my past life experiences and adversities to help others overcome their own adversities. We as people, not only coaches, we all have the opportunity to positively impact others. I would encourage everyone to use the adversities you’ve overcome throughout your life to help others overcome theirs. It’s in these moments in time when I think and reflect back to when I would sit and ask God, “Why is this happening to us, why is this happening to me?” I would get the answer I was looking for. You were put on this earth to serve and pay it forward.
You are constantly planning and preparing, either consciously or subconsciously, for the next phase of your life, the next opportunity, or to overcome the next adversity or challenge you’re faced with. When you are hit with adversity, you will fall back on your baseline of preparation, there is no such thing as rising to the occasion. You are capable. You have all the tools you need to be successful. Everything happens for a reason. And remember, “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”
I’d like to thank my mom and dad, Jimmie and Mark Uptegraff Sr., my sister and brother, Morgan and Charlie, as well as my grandparents, Mo and Pap, and Haley Russ for all of your unconditional love and support as I continue this coaching journey. Thank you to all my friends and extended family for your support too. I love and appreciate you all so much. I’d also like to say thank you to all of my mentors from Fork Union Military Academy, North Carolina, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and my current staff here at Wittenberg who have taken the time to invest in me; your unmatched mentorship and guidance has been vital to my growth and development as an individual and professional, and I can’t thank you all enough for it. Thank you Coach Rick Court for the opportunity to share some of my story, much appreciated.
Stay the course,
Mark S. Uptegraff II, SCCC, CSCS
Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
Wittenberg University