http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-strength-coach-tim-difrancesco-kobe-bryant-metta-stories/2017/07/01/
http://tinyurl.com/y8tdy6w6
Q&A With Former Lakers Strength Coach Tim DiFrancesco
By Serena Winters - 07/01/2017
湖人體能教練即將離職，所以有一篇Q&A形式的訪談，以下簡略翻譯。
When Tim DiFrancesco, a Boston raised kid who grew up on a farm in rural New
England, was hired as the head Lakers strength coach back in 2011, he was
quick to recognize the irony of it.
當TD，一個在在BOS長大的小伙子，在2011年任職湖人體能教練，馬上就體認到其中的
諷刺之處。
“I always had this dream of making it to the NBA (as a player), and I
realized somewhere in middle school that I was really going to never make it…
but the irony of ending up with a job in the NBA as a Laker, after growing up
in New England…to kind of step back from the rivalry for a second, and grasp
the gravity of this situation that I was being presented with, by an
organization of the magnitude of the Lakers, it was crazy.”
「我之前一直夢想以球員身份進入NBA，但到了中學左右我大概知道了無法成真。但最後
以湖人隊的一員進入NBA還真有點諷刺，在不考慮兩個球隊之間的歷史之下體會到是個多
麼大的際遇被湖人這種等級的球團招募。」
With six seasons under his belt, DiFrancesco has resigned from his position
with the Lakers to pursue the next phase in his life, which most importantly
includes spending more time with his wife, and his 11-month old daughter,
Averie. He recently penned an open letter to Lakers Nation, thanking everyone
for their support.
六年之後，TD即將離職並追求人生的下一步，其中最重要的是多陪老婆跟11月大的女兒。
他之前有寫封公開信給LN感謝大家的支持。(
http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-strength-and-conditioning-coach-tim-difrancescos-open-letter-to-lakers-nation/2017/06/02/ http://tinyurl.com/ybvfksmx )
We sat down with DiFrancesco to ask him about his past six years with the
Lakers, his favorite Kobe Bryant stories, anecdotes about the real work ethic
of the Lakers young core, the most impressive thing he saw during his six
seasons, and what’s next on his horizon.
Enjoy!
所以我們就和TD聊聊他過去六年在湖人的生活，最喜歡的老大故事，湖人這群年輕核心
球員的一些趣聞與工作態度，這六年看過有趣的事情，以及未來的生涯。
Q: You spent most of your time with the Lakers in the training room and in
the weight room, what are some of your favorite memories?
你大部分時間都在健身房，有什麼最珍藏的回憶嗎？
I think one of the moments, is probably when I first met Kobe, and I just
went to shake his hand. So, I put my hand out (to shake it), and he just
pushed my arm out of the way! And, as Kobe could and did say…He said get
that [expletive] out of here and said, let’s get some work done!
And so, that was my intro to Kobe.
我想其中一個就是第一次跟老大碰面。我過去想跟他握個手，所以手就伸出去了，結果
他把我手拍掉！然後老大說「把你的XX拿開，我們去工作！」
I think that one of the great stories…I mentioned (in my letter), that I
think Metta World Peace is absolutely somebody, I’m so thankful for crossing
paths with, and on one of the first East Coast trips in my first season, we
went through Boston, and had a day off. It was a practice day, so I was
warming the team up, and as you can imagine on an off day in Boston, it’s
probably not their biggest priority, trying to get ramped up for a practice
that’s about to happen… It’s a little bit of pulling teeth at times, so I
get them down to half court and Metta World Peace says: ‘Wait a minute, wait
a minute, wait a minute, stop, stop, stop!’ He looks at me, says, ‘You’re
from Boston, aren’t you!! I bet you have a Larry Bird bobblehead on your
desk right now! He says nobody move! Nobody move!’
And then, a few players on the team say, ‘Prove it! Prove it that you’re
one of us!’ So, I had sweatpants on with shorts underneath, so I dropped the
sweatpants down and sat five times on the leprechaun head, and the team kind
of went crazy, so I think from there I was welcomed in and allowed into
Lakers family.
我覺得最棒的故事之一，我在信中有說世界和平真的有讚，很高興我有遇到他，那是我
第一年的第一次東岸行，我們在BOS，是個沒有比賽的練習日，所以我要帶球隊熱身，你
可以想像一個在BOS的休戰日，我想為練習興奮起來不會是他們的優先工作之一。有點要
強拉著他們，所以我把他們帶到中場，結果世界和平說「等等，等等，等等，停，停，停
！」他看著我說「"你"是從BOS來的吧！！我敢賭你桌上此時此刻一定有個大鳥公仔吧。
他說不準動！不準動！」
然後其他一些球員也開說「證明！證明給我們看你是我們之一！」那時我熱身長褲底下還
穿著短褲，所以我把長褲脫了然後坐在賽人吉祥物圖案的頭上五次，球員們一整個瘋狂，
我想從那時候我正式被歡迎加入了湖人家族。
And then, just generally speaking in the weight room, the atmosphere, and the
camaraderie of the guys. When that environment gets really up and running and
guys feed off each other, and there’s music playing and all that stuff, that
environment is a really special, unique environment…and that young core is a
group of guys that I had a lot of fun developing in that environment for the
last 2-3 years.
年輕人的氣氛都很好
Q: I was going to ask you the best Kobe story, that we wouldn’t know, but
you kind of already gave me one with that story of Kobe pushing your arm out
of the way when you went to shake it!
我本來要問你你最棒而且我們沒聽過的老大故事，但你似乎已經告訴我們那個有關要跟
老大握手的故事。
I think another one that stands out with him…He had come from a tough loss
in Memphis, I think going into Chicago, and when it’s all said and done, we’
re probably not getting much sleep, and getting in at 3 AM, and we might be
getting back and shutting off and unwinding at 4 AM. So it’s 4:15 AM, 4:30
AM, somewhere in there, and I’m drifting off to sleep, and I see a text
coming from my phone.
It’s Kobe saying “What are you doing?”
In my head, I’m like, ‘What do you think I’m doing? I’m getting ready to
sleep right now’ So, of course my response to him was, “What do you want me
to be doing?”
Of course, as only Kobe would say: “I’m up to get a workout, meet me in the
gym in 15 minutes.”
If I’m not mistaken, I think he was actually playing some classic piano
ballad on the hotel piano, as he was waiting for me to enter the gym and get
our workout on, from about 4:30 – 5:30AM, so that one definitely stands out.
另一個印象深刻的是，有一次我們在MEM輸球，然後我們當晚要去CHI，我們凌晨3點到，
雜誤弄一弄就4點。所以已經4點15或30分左右，我準備要睡了，結果手機傳來了訊息。
是老大，說「你在幹嘛？」
在我心中我想著「你以為我在幹嘛？當然是準備睡覺阿」但是當然我的回應其實是「你
要我幹嘛？」
當然，也只有老大會這樣說「我想要火動一下，15分鐘後健身房見。」
如果我沒看錯，當我到飯店大廳的時候，老大正用飯店的鋼琴彈著古典音樂等我，然後
我們大概從4點半一直活動到5點半，這個絕對印象深刻。
That sounds like a movie…I’m just imagining you walking down those stairs
listening to Kobe playing a ballad on the piano at 4:30 in the morning…
這實在很像電影情節。
Yeah, I was thinking, there was no way that a hotel would’ve brought
somebody to be playing at this time….But of course, I looked to my left
corner and of course I should have known (it was Kobe).
對阿。當時我想，飯店應該不會在這個時間點還請人演奏。果不其然，往左看果然是老
大。
Q: I know that during at least one point while you were with the Lakers, you
kept a session tracker for how much guys worked out with you, and I remember
Ryan Kelly was one of those guys that was always at the top of that list. So,
who was at the top of your session tracker for the last season?
我知道你會記錄球員上健身房的次數，然後我記得上將永遠是前幾名。去年誰第一呢？
For the last season, it was Ivica Zubac and Brandon (Ingram) were neck and
neck. Now, I do have to qualify that had Jose (Calderon) finished the season
with us, then he probably would have been ahead of those two guys, so Jose
was sort of the honorary captain of that board. Jose shattered everybody’s
record, even Ryan Kelly’s. That was the cool thing, having time to be around
those great vets like Jose Calderon and then going back to the first year and
being able to see my first experience to see what a real pro does at this
level. Guys like Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, obviously Kobe, Steve Nash and
Metta World Peace. I think those guys, they helped me recognize the standard
and accountability that these young guys needed to have.
去年是Zubac跟BI。如果Calderon沒有被交易的話，第一名大概會是他吧。他連上將的
記錄都打破了。這些老將工作態度真的沒話說。老漁、姊姊、老大不用說、Nash以及
世界和平。他們讓我瞭解現在年輕球員應該具備的標準與責任感。
And, I’ll just share a story about Metta. Maybe the most impressive thing
that I saw in my time with the Lakers, was ultimately his very last practice.
Now theoretically, at this point, you never know what Metta’s plans are, but
I think what will have likely ended up being his final practice, as a Laker
and it was on a date that he knew and we all knew was going to be the last
practice of the day. And Metta was just so routine driven and disciplined
that it was actually incredible…
So, very last practice of potentially his long and very successful career and
one of his routines throughout all the times I was with him was that
immediately after practice, he would always do a 15 minute cooldown and
flexibility. So, it’s the final practice of the season, and I look out to
the weight room and I see him go through his same routine, which to me, he
had every reason in the world to be like, look I just finished my last
practice of my career more than likely, so I’m just going to take a shower
and head home, but no. That, to me was one of the most precious things.
Literally, this guy is saying by his actions, this is what it means to be a
pro, and that was really, really impressive and I’ll always remember
watching that.
我要分享一個有關世界和平的故事，也許是我在湖人這幾年看過最印象深刻的，就是他
最後一次的練球。也許是他生涯最後一次練球，但我們永遠無法確定世界和平的想法，
但很有可能是他生涯最後一次練球，而且那是一個大家都知道是球季的最後一次練球。
世界和平都照著他一往的流程走，非常有紀錄。
所以那是他漫長又成功的職業生涯的最後一次練習，他練習的既定流程最後有個15分鐘
的收操拉筋的動作。在他這最後一次的練球，我往健身房裡看的時候，我看他還是忠實
的進行以往的練習流程。對我來說，他大可以覺得職業生涯已經結束了，直接沖澡閃人
回家就好。這，對我來說是最珍貴的。這傢伙真的用行動說話，這才是職業風範，讓我
印象非常深刻，我會永遠記得那一幕的。
Q: On your website, the first thing that pops up is a photo of you and
Brandon Ingram, and you just told me how hard of a worker he is along with
Zubac. I’m just curious what it’s like to work with him because he seems
like a guy that is incredibly committed to his craft and has a great work
ethic.
在你的網站上，第一個跳出來的就是你跟BI的合照。你剛有說BI跟Zubac都是很認真工作
的人。我很好奇跟他共事是怎麼樣的經驗，因為他看起來是個非常認真的人。
First off, that couldn’t be more accurate and second of all, I was really
thinking about the quiet confidence that he displays in everything that he
does. I was able to see that in action shortly after we drafted him. There
was a period of time where, as an organization it was decided that myself and
Nina (Hsieh), the assistant trainer who is outstanding at what she does,
would go to Kinston, North Carolina, where he was going to be for a little
bit of time, before he got situated back in LA. He and his father were there
to show me the gym he would have access to, and then I was going to try to
make sure everything was all in line, before I had to fly back to L.A. and be
with other players, so I wanted to get him through at least one workout.
Right off the bat, this kid showed me. I put a workout together, that I
wanted to be realistic, but also challenging to see how he would handle it,
and I don’t think he said three words during the workout, but the amazing
part was just in his facial expressions, and his approach to every time I
explained an exercise…What I mean is, I’ve had guys that are like, ‘That’
s what we’re doing? or No way! And I’m like yeah, that’s just the warmup
and they think it’s the whole workout, so there’s moments where you have
guys that are new to the weight room and you have an eye roll here or
whatever, and this kid (Ingram) was like, ‘What’s next, can we do more?’
This was where the body, the mannerisms, the stuff that I was getting from
his body language, was all can we do more? He was really, really impressive
to me, all year long. This kid, he’s going to be something really special to
work with, because when somebody approaches it like that at 19, the
possibilities are endless.
第一，的確就是那樣。再來，他散發出一種安靜的自信。在他被選之後沒多久，我就有
機會實際體會到。有一段時間，球團派我跟Nina(助理體能教練)去北卡跟BI一起練球。
BI跟他爸帶著我們去看健身房，我希望我在回LA之前可以把事情都安排好，所以希望至
少跟他做過一次的練球。
從一開始，這小子就表現給我看了。我規劃了一套節目，沒有太誇張但有些許挑戰性，
才能觀察他如何面對適應。我想整個過程中他沒說超過三個字，但讓人驚豔的是每當我
在介紹下一步的時候他的臉部表情以及他的態度。我有遇過人會說「我們要做這個！？」
「我不做！」，或當他們覺得他們已經把整個節目做完而我說那只是熱身的時候那種眼神
飄掉的情形，但這小子的表情都像是在說「下一個呢？我們可以做更多嗎？」從他的肢體
語言，語氣，給我的感覺都是「可以做更多嗎？」一整年下來他都讓我很佩服。他將來一
定會很特別，當你才19歲確有那種心態的時候，未來的可能是無限的。
Then I got a chance to meet Ivica (Zubac) and this kid was like which
wall do you want me to run through, and how many times, so those two guys
really stand out to me as having an impressive level of maturity and
understanding of work ethic for guys that are just barely 20, maybe.
(*sidenote: Ingram is still 19!)
然後我有機會遇到Zubac，他就一副「你要我衝破哪面牆？幾次？」這兩個人的成熟度與
工作態度真的非常突出，而且他們才20左右呢！
Q: In your letter to Lakers Nation on your website, you also thank Steve Nash
for bringing that professionalism to his craft. And, I think a lot of Lakers
fans might not look back on those years as the fondest, with everything Nash
went through with the injuries. But, what do fans not understand about that
time?
在你信中你有感謝Nash所帶來的職業態度。我想湖迷不太滿意那幾年的情況，尤其是
Nash本身的表現。但有什麼是球迷不知道的呢？
I think the thing most important to understand, is that nobody wanted that
to go extremely well, more than him, and nobody that I saw put more towards
trying to make that happen on a daily basis and did every single thing
possible, exhausted every possible option, turned over every stone, to figure
out how he could get to a point where he could be on the court and doing what
he felt he was capable of at that time.
But, from what I saw in the process, was a guy that was the first one in the
gym, a guy that was a consummate professional during that time working with
young players, trying to share with them what had helped him, and then also
showing by example what it meant to be faced with challenges and just fight
through.
It didn’t pan out…when you have that many miles on the body and you have
certain injuries, sometimes the body doesn’t cooperate with what you want to
happen, but he did beyond what I think any organization could ask of a person
to do to make everything as right as they could, and that was something that I
’ll always stick with me, in how to operate and how to approach your craft
in this profession.
I mean with Steve, it was like he was the oldest guy on the team, but he was
the guy that was on me when we would get into a new city and say what time
are we working out, first time in the morning and all of that stuff. But,
unfortunately it didn’t translate into what his body was going through.
我想沒有一個人比他更希望那段時間可以更成功。那段時間他比所有人都更努力付出，
所有的可能方法都試過。他都是第一個到健身房的，他也盡力協助後進球員，分享著過
去的一些成功的秘訣，以及用實際行動示範如何面對難關去克服他。
但結果就是不如預期，身體操那麼久了，那種傷勢，有時候身體就是沒辦法配合。但他
所付出的，那敬業的心態與行動，我會永遠記得的。對我來講，Steve也許是球隊中年紀
最大的，但他永遠都是那個當我們到達客隊城市時問我練球時間的那個人，但很可惜的
時不我與。
<後面的就比較跟TD的未來生涯有關，我就略過了>