The world has lost one of the greatest minds in coaching. Charlie Francis succumbed to a rare form of Cancer early Wednesday morning with family by his side. His influence on the world of training was far reaching and his influence on the coaches at C.O.R. continues to impact the training we do every single day. He will be missed greatly and we hope to honor his legacy of training knowledge by passing on what he taught us to all of the athletes and coaches we work with.
We were lucky enough to host a seminar back in March of 2008 with Charlie and Derek Hansen as our guest speakers! They covered such a vast amount of information during that weekend, but I believe it was the talks afterwards during dinners and chats in the treatment room that we will remember most! I remember one talk in particular in which we had both Charlie and Derek from the coaching side, Fergus Connelly, a Phd and coach from Ireland and Aaron Farr who is one of the brightest electrical engineers I have ever known in a room discussing the merits of electrical muscle stimulation. Also in the room was a friend of ours who was an aspiring golf professional. What I found quite humorous was when the conversation went into the realm of ions and cell membranes. I remember quickly glancing at our friend as his eyes began to gloss over with all of the technical talk! It was quite an experience to sit in on a conversation with some very intelligent individuals and Charlie never missing a chance to throw in stories from his past that highlighted his very keen sense of humor. The moment was priceless!
The following are some photos we took during the seminar that weekend that we wanted to share with everyone!
Although saddened by his passing, all of us in the coaching/training community have been blessed and made better by the existence of such a wonderful mind and mentor in Charlie Francis! We will miss you Charlie and never forget what you have done for us!
