Page 10 of Locke

Juno waves at me from across the expanse of the auditorium.Yesterday she explained the releases I had to sign to allow her to film me and obtained detailed info about my background.

I wave back at her.

“How are you finding everything so far?”Coach Monahan asks.He’s got a paper coffee cup in one hand and the rigid posture of a man who hates meetings and would prefer to be out on the ice.I met him and the rest of the staff several months ago when I interviewed and we’re all just now getting acquainted.Lucky for me, everyone has been incredibly welcoming and receptive to my work.

“It’s perfect,” I say, and mean it.“I may never leave.”

The corner of his mouth lifts.“Patrick has that effect on people.Treating you so well right off the bat you feel obligated to earn it.”

“Is that his strategy?”

“One of them.”He glances toward the door where players are still trickling in.“Van, you know if Dunn’s going to make it this morning?”

Van shakes his head.He’s quieter than Monahan, younger than I expected, and recently retired from the Pittsburgh Titans.“Trainer had him at six so he should be here.”

“Good.”Monahan looks back at me.“We’ll give you about fifteen minutes, enough to introduce yourself and take a few questions.These guys warm up fast when they feel like they’re not being managed.”

“That’s all I need,” I say.

Today is my introduction to the team and I’m admittedly a little nervous.

Players come in mostly loose and unhurried, dropping into seats in clusters of three and four.They’re talking with ease, many of them laughing.A pair of younger guys sit up slightly straighter than everyone else.I’ll learn all their names and personalities eventually, but now… I observe.

I notice Locke comes in without looking at anyone.

He scans the room once—quick, comprehensive—and then chooses an isolated seat.Not in the way back, not in the corner, just positioned with three empty seats between himself and the nearest cluster of teammates.It’s enough space to be unreachable and because he sits on the end, the message is he doesn’t want to be sociable.He pulls out his phone and scrolls.No one looks at him twice and no one attempts to sit near him.

I note all of this while nodding at what Van is saying about the afternoon schedule.

Monahan checks his watch, makes a coment to Van, and moves to the main podium at the front.The room settles without being asked, which tells me he runs a tight ship.Not one player is late, not even Dunn who comes straight from rehab with an ice pack on his shoulder.

“All right.”The coach’s voice carries without effort, a microphone not required in the cavernous room.“Quick rundown before we get into it—morning skate at ten, film at one, and I want everyone in the weight room by three.No exceptions, no creative scheduling.”He scans his notes, looks back up at the room.“Now… I want to take a few minutes to introduce someone who joined our staff this week.”He glances briefly at me.“Livia Cross has been hired as the team’s Director of Human Performance.There’s a lot that goes with that title, but she’s here to make great athletes exceptionally better.It’s a resource that very few of our competitors employ and Patrick Rowe is the type of boss that will do whatever he can to give us an edge.”

He pauses and looks around the room to make sure he has everyone’s attention.My eyes go to Locke Donovan who is watching and listening, but his face is stony.

Coach looks back down to his notes and starts reading them.“Livia has the educational chops to back up her talents.”

I tune out as he goes over my educational background and work history.It’s been thrown out there a lot, because it lends some level of credibility to my position, which is a job that most people have a hard time understanding.

Coach looks up again.“Know this… Livia is a tool and you should use her.The organizations doing this kind of work are winning more than the ones that aren’t and I, for one, want to be ahead of the curve.We’re lucky to have her.Livia.”

I step up and forty-seven sets of eyes are pinned on me.Some curious, some politely blank, some running the quiet calculation of whether this is worth their time.I get that.

I don’t seek out Locke, but I can guess what his expression looks like.

I move to stand in front of the podium.I don’t need it.I’m five foot nine and can easily see over it, but I don’t believe in walls and barriers.

I stand with my hands loose at my sides.“I think people hear my educational credentials and can be impressed by them, but does that translate into real-world experience?In my case, I can tell you it does, because before I am anything, I am an athlete.I played D1 field hockey, taking the Bruins to back-to-back national championships.My current obsession is obstacle course racing and I’m going to be putting together a Wildfire team if any of you want to join me.”I can see a few smiles of interest because while races like Tough Mudder and Spartan are brutal, they’re a hell of a lot of fun.“I’ve worked with athletes across eight sports at the professional level, and I’ve been doing this long enough to know that the difference between a good athlete and a great one almost never lives in the body but rather lives in the mind.”

I start a slow pace along the front of the room.“Now… I know that sounds like the kind of thing someone says right before they ask you to close your eyes and picture a beach.”Several of the men chuckle.“That is not what I do.What I do is applied science—sleep architecture, stress response, recovery optimization and a dozen other fixes for the problems that can slow us down.The mental and physical are not separate systems, they affect each other constantly, and when you understand how they interact, you can make gains that the weight room alone will never give you.”

The team is quiet, politely so, but I can see on their faces that they’re intrigued.

“I’m here for all of you,” I continue.“My door is open, everything we discuss is between us, and I don’t report to anyone about individual sessions.”I pause, because that matters and I want it to be clear I’m their advocate.“I’m not here to evaluate you or build a case about anyone.I’m here to help you perform better at a job you’ve already proven you’re exceptional at.”

Crosby, the team’s captain, raises his hand.He’s one of the few I know by fame recognition.“What does a typical session actually look like?”he asks.“Like practically… what are we walking into when we come see you?”

Good question.The kind that opens the door for everyone else in the room who was wondering the same thing but wasn’t going to ask first.