Today’s headline in our local paper reads, “Time to Choose.”

Of course, it’s referring to Election Day.

But for you and me, every day — every moment — is time to choose.

Where you are in life right now is the sum of all the decisions you have made. Your friends, your food, your habits, your study all represent choices on your part.

In the athletic office at the school where I coach, a plaque reads, “I am 100% responsible for the choices that I make.”

As the sports psychologists like to say, “It is not what is going on AROUND you that matters. It’s what’s going on INSIDE you that matters.”

You wonder how much our national obesity epidemic is affecting the level of coaching — not because the athletes are overweight but because the coaches are. Coaching requires a certain level of energy, and poor conditioning will sap that energy.

The chain is not hard to follow – Bad food choices lead to low energy, and low energy means less intensity in practice. Low intensity means less performance.

We often tell our athletes that practice begins long before you get to the gym. It begins when you get enough rest the night before, and when you pack your equipment to make sure you have everything you need.

It’s the same for coaches. Practice begins long before you gt to the gym. And it involves critical choices.