The weight-room consult with Lyle: a hundred keys

pivotal · 6 Nov YDAU, 1610h

• When: 6 November YDAU, 1610h — E.T.A. Weight Room, freestyle circuits
• What: An "extremely moist" Rader stands at the towel dispenser conferring earnestly with Lyle, nodding as Lyle bends and leans in, while Pemulis does facial isometrics on the cooler bench and strains to eavesdrop. Lyle poses his parable: suppose a key ring with a hundred keys, one of which unlocks the door opening in onto all Rader wants to be, as a player — how many of the keys would he be willing to try? Rader answers he'd try every darn one, and Lyle reads the answer back to him: then you are willing to make mistakes, willing to accept 99% error; the paralyzed perfectionist you say you are would stand before that door jingling the keys, afraid to try the first. Rader's fullest exchange and the only window on his interior — earnest, coachable, un-paralyzed.