Name: Dan Gable on The Origins of His Mental Toughness
Uploaded: 2021-03-31T17:04:26.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dan Gable on The Origins of His Mental Toughness' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-03-31. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dan Gable on The Origins of His Mental Toughness' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-03-31. Transcript available.

mental toughness is one of the most important aspects of wrestling obviously
technique and
fitness are huge but mental toughness is what defines wrestlers in my opinion
because when
you see wrestlers successful wrestlers in the UFC in particular there's no one
like them when
they come over to MMA you recognize like there's something special about them
as athletes and I
think that it comes from the fact that wrestling is so difficult the practices
are so hard but in the
world of mental toughness where mental toughness is one of the cornerstones you're
known as a guy
that stands out like you stand out amongst like like David Goggins likes to say
you're uncommon
amongst uncommon men like what what is that like what what what made you stand
out from these other
wrestlers well I'm going to jump forth to my high school coach even though I
got a lot before that
but I just remember what he said in the room and he was like the best high
school coach in the state
he said guys win with humility
lose with dignity but damn it don't lose
and he put those last two lines together real quick so he kind of had to listen
to him but you know it's
pretty neat because you win with humility you lose with dignity but damn it don't
lose and so you know
it's it that was my first major coach that really taught me a lot of those type
of principles but
before that I was I was a kid that was at the YMCA when I was five six years
old and basically the reason why I was there because you know you want to learn
how to swim because if you're an outdoors guy and you want to be around water
and you want to you want to make sure you know how your kids swim so my mom and
dad got me to the YMCA but what they got me into the YMCA really for was they
needed help I mean they just my dad was a full-time worker and my mom she
stayed at home a lot but she also helped my dad if he had an office at home but
I was a little hellion.
And they needed me to learn how to swim but they also needed me to learn how to
be a little bit sociable they needed me to learn how to
to get along with my first sport competitively was besides practicing was
swimming and I won a YMCA state championship when I was 12 years old believe it
or not in the backstroke which you know in wrestling you know I know in
fighting you can go to your back and there's lots of tools that you can do
there but I hate going to my back you know and I think if I was a fighter I don't
I would think I hate going to my back you know and I think if I was a fighter I
don't I would think I hate going to my back.
Gravity coming down on me so I don't mind putting it down but you know and
there's skills there you have to learn but I am I really I really liked the YMCA
because it gave me a chance to learn something away from home.
It was home with my mom it's home with my dad home with my sister four years
older than me but you know it's it's just something I call it going for help
and I think my mom and dad realized at that time that they needed some help
with this kid.
And I think that's a really good thing to think about as people in the world
when you have kids growing up and if you're not giving them what you need to
give them why not go for help and there's organizations out there.
Now you got to be careful you know who you're putting them into or even if you
give them to a babysitter or whatever like that but you know if you if you're
if you're pretty confident that you have a good place to get some help you get
some help.
And I and I same way with me as a coach same way with me as a husband I mean I
got my wife I got my family I got I had my assistant coaches and I got my fans
I mean I got I always had them looking out for me I built that kind of trust
with them or more than even trust just they want to help and that was the way
now you can't go overboard you still got to make sure that the help you're
getting is the right help.
But the YMCA was perfect for me because I mean I can remember the first day
they took us to a wrestling room we had a little wrestling room at the YMCA and
I was already wrestling before that because my dad was a wrestler not a great
wrestler but his friends were.
So when they when they when they came to the wrestling learning the sport my
first wrestling room was at the YMCA there even though I had been in a
wrestling room because these older guys had drug me around into the wrestling
rooms but in Waterloo but I can remember wrestling a kid and I I handled him
pretty good because I had already been wrestling to my carpet at home wrestling
outside in the grass and and these people had had a had a little experience
with me.
So but the kid you know kind of got mad so I was waiting for my mom and dad to
pick me up after the the what after the wise couple hours where you spend there
and this kid came out and he goes you know you can you know maybe you beat me
in wrestling up there.
But he goes how about a street fight and I said whoa you know I was probably
eight nine eight years old at the time and you know I was was downtown Waterloo
Iowa tough town.
I was on one side of the river and he was on the other side of the river
growing up and and so he probably had been in more fights than me but I didn't
wasn't going to really I wasn't going to fight him.
I was waiting for my dad pick me up and all of a sudden he punches me and so
you know what do you do you got to fight.
I mean either that or run you know and I I fought and I did all right.
I mean just like in the wrestling room I did all right.
And so I was I had I had some of that in me too.
But when I had the guy on the down and I kind of let him up.
We both looked over.
My dad was there standing watching me and that guy's dad was standing there and
my mom my dad and his were talking to each other.
And so you know that's part of an experience that you kind of grow up in and I
don't know if they even knew each other but they were kind of supervising yet
we didn't know they were there.
Right.
And that was kind of one of my first experiences with understanding a little
bit about competition outside the organized sports.
You know yeah raw competition right yeah yeah primal yeah.
So you know actually speaking of the story there it was a really good one this
is about my mom and dad my mom and dad were great people.
But they like to drink a lot of beer and smoke a lot of cigarettes and that's
why they probably didn't live so long and they probably had a lot of had some
trouble at home.
And by that I mean the cops visited a home quite often just to break up fights
or my mom would probably call the cops on my dad.
And so the first time I ever really took notice was when they came the first
time and they took my dad away.
And you know he had been rough with my mom so I probably understood but I saw
him kind of throw a handcuff on him.
I think they just I think they just threw one on and kind of took him out the
door I didn't really see from there so he came home that night later on he got
he was he just you know I don't know they brought him back later.
But so the next day I went to school and the cop that had the policeman that
had come and picked him up was actually a neighbor down the street just lived
about a block from us.
And I was really bad you know at the police taking my dad away even though
probably was a good thing but I didn't really understand what was going on at
that time this and this is different today probably wouldn't go on.
But the neighbor policeman about a block away had a son in my class at school
so after school that day I we were both walking home.
And I was really mad and I pulled out of my pocket a wire and I took this kid
down on the ground and I wired his wrist together.
Not real hard but like there were handcuffs and I grabbed the wire and I said
this is what your dad did to my dad last night and I'm going to do it to you
and I'm going to take you and I'm going to take you home this way.
And I took him home because they lived about a block away and I untook the
things off and let him go in.
But it's like probably fourth grade but my dad found out about that and wow
what did I get in trouble.
I mean he used to hit me on top of the head with a ring probably why I don't
have much hair but but and and he looked at me and he said you know what I was
intoxicated last night.
It's good they took me out of here but you know what they did to me when I got
me down to the police department.
He said I played pool with them.
They had a little billiards room down there and they played pool with me until
I sobered up and then they brought me back.
And and you did that to his son.
I said dad I I I was just protecting you I thought you know but and everybody
understood but it's kind of funny how things are and I don't think that's the
old days good old days compared to I don't you know they'd probably do a lot
more.
You know they'd lock you up probably but I don't give you too many breaks but
it's kind of funny how that's the kind of house you know difference between 40
years ago 50 years ago 60 years ago.
What do you think is better though like the good are the good old days the good
old days I think I like the good old days.
I mean I got picked up one other time and it was my former I was back home from
college and and he he was my gym teacher in eighth grade.
And uh Mr. Mr. Blue and he uh he ended up being a policeman so when I came home
college so that was about in seventh grade so we're talking six seven eight
years later when I was home for the weekend and and I was driving and he picked
me up and I probably had a beer in the car or something.
And you know he he actually um let me go but he picked me up again the same
night so he took me down a second time and he put me in his office in the
police station and we talked for quite a while.
But he let me go too but you know you just can't get away with that I mean
there's just more rules regulations and if people find out it's like whoa whoa
you know I think the good old days probably gave you a chance to actually
realize things better than you can today.
You can actually get a second chance maybe and you know that type of thing.
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