This is the first post about about a course that me and my team have now opened to the public for the following year.

For this course we have consistently had a dedicated videographer and the coaches are always constantly filming as well. So I will be posting a lot more on this course.

Each session we run for this course runs for 3-4 hours long. I have a support of several important people who find a great value in a course such as this.

One being a former Navy SEAL Brad Mcleod, owner of Sealgrinderpt.com who we had the privilege to take time out of his day to face time and talk to the youth in our group, discussing strong character traits that makes a good person, a good teammate and what it take to have a never quit attitude.

Over the next few weeks I will be working through the various days of each classes videos and posting small clips discussing what we have accomplished in each day from the first of July upto today.

Before these next few post I want to just quickly sum it up.

The who idea of the course in the years past was to develop in the kids a deep self trust, a confidence in themselves. As they progress, we began to transition the course more over towards the idea of teamwork.

Why is this?

Teams, as we have shown over and over in the course is far more effective than a really strong individual, so learning to work as a team is a vital skill for any future endeavors.

Yet in a team you have to learn to be selfless, you have to learn to take care of others, and you have to have compassion for those who are weaker than yourself. In this process each individual from the strong to the weak grow and become stronger within themselves, which at the end will only enhance and make the team stronger and overall more effective as time progresses.

In society and in schools we are taught to compete selfishly. You write a test by yourself to be graded, and when you get a grade the student usual wants to see what their peers got, to compare against another.

Its not like that directly, but in schools kids will ask for others grades to subconsciously make a comparison of intellect. In schools even in team games, kids that pick players, pick all the strong players and leave the weak one to be picked last. Even teacher find it more preferable to work with strong student rather than focus on the ones falling behind.

Society teaches unhealthy competition, often selecting by “who has what” determining who is picked and who is left behind. This kind of environment moves into adult hood, with each looking to get their own, looking to be “picked” driving ego and adult immaturity to strive to be the one who “has it” the one to be picked by the team, the one to have the highest grade and score, driving ego.

In this course no one is left behind, a true team will carry the weak on their back (metaphorically and literally if needed.) Ego is driven out of even the strongest, as I have been taught by my coaches (past and present) that ego is a detrimental factor to self and performance. That instead mission and team survival through the obstacles of a task is the front sight focus.

There are some amazing things that happen through out the course. In the beginning they do what is expected, try to survive on their own, try to be the quickest up the hill leaving everyone behind. Over time the learn to coordinate, create team systems, motivate and inspire each other, sacrifice for those who struggle and grit through so the members of the team don’t have to carry their weight. The weakest grit through to reduce the load for the team, the strongest carry more so that the weaker ones can make it through.

They learn that they have a deep strength inside them as individuals that can push through the hardest things in service of their team and all the while realize that each one, as powerful and gritty as one can be, they can amplify their output 20x together than alone. That even as strong as they are almost none of the task I create for them can be done by themselves.

They are taught that their hard work is used to develop and create beauty in the world as their strength help develop themselves as well as provide for those around them, that the team in the big scope of things is not just their immediate peers but also as warriors in a garden, they tend to the beauty of the environment and society around them.

They, on the daily have slowly moved to developing far greater character, as has been testified by the parent and other family members of the youth in the course, in how they conduct themselves and their discipline. Through the shared struggles the kids have bonded and become greater friend who help, care and encourage one another.

This is one of the greatest drive and joys of running this class, because if this is what I can see in a small group of the future generations, a glimpse of what society can be like, this gives me more hope for the future.

Lucky Nghi – Monkandwarrior

The Badass Buddha

Willing to lead and willing to follow – A Navy SEAL Motto