Testimonial Letter

Testimonial Letter

Coach Kim,

Thank you for including me in ELEVATE this past fall.   Frank Garza and his colleague (and son) provided great insight into how the mind works and how I can use that information to gain an advantage for my 5th grade county select team.

While I plan to incorporate aspects of Franks teachings with my team as the season goes on, I did use the breathing exercises at halftime of a recent game.   While we were winning a close game by 5 points, I felt my team did not have their usual focus.  We were giving good effort but missing easy shots and making unforced turnovers.  Rather than discuss X's and O's during the intermission, I had my players refocus by utilizing the breathing exercises demonstrated by Guru Ganesha Khalsa during one of the ELEVATE seminars.  While I can't scientifically prove the method helped, I can say that our team immediately took a 20 point lead in the third quarter.

I tried it again prior to Sundays game against a very competitive Arlington team.  During warm-ups, the kids were not hitting shots.  Rather than let them continue with the warm-up, I pulled them aside and had them conduct breathing exercises to get them to relax and re-focus.   While conducting the breathing exercises, I spoke to them about visualizing what it looks like to win- making shots, running our plays, boxing out, etc.  Our team came out and played well throughout a tight game before breaking it open in the 4th quarter with a ten point win.

As you know, Division 1 County is going to be a grind and there won't be any easy wins.  We have an amazing group of kids and I think they're up for the challenge.  I look forward to incorporating some of the concepts from ELEVATE as we progress through the season.

One side note-- while there may have been some thought that the material from the seminar may be too advanced for the younger kids, I feel that they would benefit greatly from the instruction.  In some ways, they may be more receptive to the training than older kids.  If you do this next year, I would be willing to have my kids attend to see how it works with them.

Thanks again to you and Frank for including me in the seminar and will keep you posted on how I'm able to incorporate some of the techniques throughout the season.

Paul Diffenbach
202-489-3860