Dig The Dig
The purest joy is found inside the act of becoming and the trick is staying there. Of course it's important to have goals and aspirations but it's my opinion that when we finally arrive at the top of the mountain, it's the hike we’ll remember, not the view from the summit. We feel that way because the hike was filled with challenges and traverses. The hike gave you the sense that you were going somewhere and that is the feeling that feeds the human spirit. Goals are just ladder rungs - a place to put your foot while you push off towards the next one.
After the Celtics won the 1986 NBA Championship, Larry Bird, the MVP, stood at center court holding the trophy with a piece of the cut net draped over his shoulder. This was the pinnacle, right? This was certainly the moment that he dreamed about as a kid? He had reached the highest level a basketball player can get to for the most part. This exact moment was most certainly what drove him to put in the extra work, to stay late at practices, to be the first one in the gym and get in those extra shots.
Or was it?
An interviewer held a microphone in Bird’s face and said, “Larry you are the best player in the league and you just won your third championship. How are you feeling?” I remember seeing this interview as a kid and even in my young brain his answer struck me hard. Instead of saying something like, “Oh man, I feel great. This is what it’s all about," he said “I wish I was in French Lick (his hometown) shooting with my Dad.” Here was a guy that was standing on the top of the mountain wishing he was still on the hike. This spoke volumes to me.
Success comes to those that not only put in the work, they enjoy it. Larry wasn’t the last guy to leave the gym every practice because he thought if he forced himself to do it he would get to the end goal. He stayed late because it was his happy place, he was inside the act of becoming. I call it, “Digging the Dig.” Successful people get that way because they love the work - they crave the grind. They don’t force themselves to like it - they just do - it's in them. They like swinging the pick axe into the stone because each strike reveals something new. They dig the dig.
Like Larry, when I look back at my playing career my mind goes immediately to our childhood backyard. I remember throwing my first behind-the-back and the feeling that simple moment gave me. It was pure joy and it happened when not a single person was watching. Our backyard, although small in size, was a massive magical place to us young small town dreamers. A clothesline, a chain link fence and a PVC goal. It will forever symbolize in my mind the birthplace of where I first started to dig the dig.
Aside from the actual act of learning to play the game I was also experimenting with arts and crafts. Our Dad built a small Woodshop in our backyard and it became our lab. I’d try anything and everything. I would string a stick with any materials that I could find - duct tape, striped copper wire, boat rope - like a little human crow building nests I would engineer, imagine and create. I would spray paint the heads, brush on acrylic patterns, dye them crazy colors and even hand carve shovel handles to fit a lacrosse head. I would use my Dad’s awl to carve names into our metal shafts so they felt more like a part of us. I’d work on them for hours and then walk out the door straight into another lab where I could test them and make changes.
Many moons later I find myself here, as happy as can be, still in a state of becoming. I’m learning more about life and pressing off the rungs when I can reach for that next one. I find peace in innovation and I’m still digging the dig, perhaps even more so. It’s this feeling that makes me really enjoy helping put together Woodshop Collections. It somehow allows me to remember those feelings I had as a kid but also feel like we’re pushing forward into uncharted territory.
Strata is defined as a series of layers of rock in the ground.
Meet the Strata Series. A collection of twenty totally unique complete sticks bundled together with a matching tee shirt and commemorative storybook. The goal was to create a collection that pulls from some of those early concepts we were going for back as kids and puts it all together. Each handle in this series has a unique gemstone name engraved into the top spine - much cleaner than my freehand awl work I tried as a six year old I must say, but done with an equal amount of heart.
The heads are what gave us the name for the series. We knew we wanted a world-class marble dye so, just like the Earth Stick, we headed north. This time we hit up our friend and talented artist Wade Decker from Decker Dyes. In our opinion his marble dyes are absolutely unbeatable. They are beautiful. They feel natural and organic. They have a bold richness to them that’s hard to explain in words. You have to see it to truly get it. Wade is a master marble dyer in my opinion and we are honored to have his work here to feature. Check out more of his unique work on his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.
We worked with Wade on the color palette and got it to match a couple of brand new jewel and ball stop combos. Each one of these completes is different - no two are alike. We built this collection as a symbol of the joy we are finding becoming a stronger and more focused brand. We are swinging the pick axe and each strike is revealing more beauty.
Like I previously mentioned, there are twenty completes available in this collection, however, you will notice that only sixteen of them can be found on the Woodshop page. We’ve hid the last remaining four gems, buried deep within this website. In order to access their product pages you need to search for their unique links, they’re all here right under your nose. This is a scavenger hunt and only those that dig and uncover the product pages will be given the opportunity to own these rare beauties. Pay attention to our social media accounts for clues on how you can find these hidden gems or just start searching.
We are digging the dig and we hope you are too.
