In 2003 I had the pleasure to be part of the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey National Championship while at the University of Denver. As a team, we were invited to the White House to meet President Bush and celebrate our victory. As you can imagine, we were all extremely excited by the opportunity to see the White House (from the inside) and meet the commander-in-chief. As it turned out, we were scheduled to meet the president in the afternoon in one of the secured rooms. We were there early and were able to walk around to some of the rooms in the White House. One of the rooms we were allowed into was a library that had a glass case that contained George Washington's sword. Long story short, we met the president (I got to shake his hand and almost ran over our goalie to get to him) and had a little press conference in which we gave President Bush a hockey jersey.
After we left the White House, we were let out on our own to see the sites. It would be getting dark soon, and the general advice for tourists in Washington, D.C. is to stay away from the National Mall after dark. We decided not to listen to this advice because we had about 15 hockey players, trainers, equipment managers and strength coaches and felt pretty safe. We ended up walking to every monument that night. We went to the Vietnam Wall, the World War II monument, the Washington Monument, etc. The next day we were able to go to Arlington Cemetery and got to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
As we were walking, checking out the sites, something started eating away at me. I can't really explain the feeling I was experiencing, but the longer we walked and the more I saw, the stronger this haunting feeling began to grow in me. I started to realize that I had feelings of exhilaration and depression, feelings of sadness and happiness, and feelings of remorse and even some guilt. The monuments really got me thinking about the amount of selfless sacrifice that American citizens have put forth in order for the rest of us to enjoy the freedoms and the things we enjoy. Most Americans don't even realize how blessed we are to have the freedom's we have. Worse yet, many Americans complain and don't truly appreciate our fortune.
I started to think to myself, "I have done nothing with my life. What am I doing to deserve the freedoms I enjoy? What am I doing to pay back the people that sacrificed so much?" This got me thinking about making career changes. I thought about following in my father-in-law's footsteps and becoming a fire fighter. Maybe I could join the military or become a police officer. It's something that I wrestled with a lot over a few years but couldn't pull myself away from what I enjoy so much, exercise science.
Two years later, my wife and I were back in D.C. for a conference. I couldn't wait to take her around during our downtime and show her the sites. This time we went during the day, a smarter idea. Again, we went to the Vietnam wall, Arlington, Lincoln's Monument, etc. We had been walking all over D.C. for most of the day and decided to head back to the hotel after getting something to eat. I wanted to stop at the WWII Monument one more time before we went back. As I stood there, I looked over and saw this little old man standing up top leaning over the railing of the monument. With his service hat on his head, he just stood there looking out at the water. I wondered what he was thinking as he looked. This is the same reflection pool that, in my opinion, represents the tranquility that we were blessed with after so much violence, bloodshed and sacrifice that occurred during the war. This tranquility was being disrespected and stomped all over by people who were running around in the water and ignoring the signs that asks otherwise. I was greatly angered by these people and their lack of respect and understanding for what our citizens have been through; I wondered what the little guy must be thinking as he watched these people disrespect what his monument stood for.
I walked up to this little old man and asked him if he had served. "Yes," he answered. I thanked him for his service and asked him what branch of the military he was part of. He began explaining to me that he was stationed on a ship during the war and was part of a major battle against the Japanese in which fellow country men and friends were lost. Then he began to get teary eyed and said that he knew the bomb (atom bomb) was a terrible thing, but there were a lot of people that breathed a sigh of relief the day it was dropped because they all felt the end of the war was near.
I asked him if I could take a picture with him, shook his hand, thanked him for his time and walked away. As I walked away, I commented to my wife that that little guy deserves so much more than what he has been given. He deserves more money, medals, thanks, appreciation, love, respect, etc. He deserves more!
Again, I began to think about how I could help. How could I give something back?
Fast forward a couple years. I began thinking of ways that I could take the talents that I already had and began thinking about how I could offer them to our police and military. I thought it would be great to take exercise science and research and design exercise protocols for tactical athletes. I voiced my thoughts to my friend and co-founder of Tactical Physiology Associates, Mark Stephenson. Mark had already been involved in working with tactical athletes and suggested that we take our expertise and start a website. Lo and behold, TACSOF was born.
Thanks to all that sacrifice so much for our country and our freedoms, both currently and in the past. You put yourselves on the line for the rest of us, and just know that there are people who appreciate all your sweat, blood and tears. It is my goal to do what I can to help you all become the best warriors that you can be.
God bless,
Mike Sanders
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