A fresh start: make a commitment

or CHAPTER VI of Marti Soosaare's e-book "A New Beginning"

I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't have made it to school most days, at least until ninth grade, if it hadn't been compulsory. Mare Toompere's history lessons would have been a pleasant exception. That I am not quite a puce today, I have the Estonian Soviet Ministry of Education and Elsa Gretschkina to thank for the fact that school was compulsory for children even in the 1980s.

Time has passed, but finally I have also realised that going to school was useful for me and that the teachers at Tartu Miina Härma Gymnasium were not paid by the school to torture me. Today I have already forgiven them for making me sit in their classes against my will.

"If you can't do the whole thing, do half" - from time to time there are situations where it seems that there are too many activities or too much training to do in a day, and it seems easier to take a holiday at all. Then I've found a way for myself that if I don't have the time to throw discs for 2 hours, then I'll do a bit. Sometimes an hour, sometimes less. That way I don't miss a workout and I can take it easy.
Albert Tamm
Estonia's best disc-golfer

How can we also achieve a moderate commitment to attendance at training sessions, for which we can only be grateful to ourselves and to those who put pressure on us?

The best way to do this is undoubtedly to join one of the training groups. It would be best if it was a team sport, but also, for example, dancing. There, any missing arm or leg will be sorely felt, and you'll probably have received a public reprimand on the training group's Messenger chat by the time of the evening's Current Affairs Camera at the latest.

This reprimand is certainly more disciplining than, for example, having to pay for a gym ticket or a €10 fine to the group's cashier. If you pay the fine, you will feel that it was OK to miss the class because you have paid it. So, instead of fining, I give the idea to the training groups to put unexcused absentees in a public shame post. Of course, this must be done in moderation and with the utmost caution, because if the pressure is too great, it could otherwise end up with the unintended consequence of the shame-posted person leaving the group. Unfortunately, no one is required by law to go to the gym (although perhaps the government should consider it?). So - we are delicate in our admonition of absentees, but also consistent.

If ball games or dancing aren't for you, endurance sports are also coming up in all sorts of amateur groups. Runners are brought together by clubs such as Jooksupartner, Head Inimesed, Sparta, Elujooks, etc. For cross-country skiers, Tartu has the Suusahullud. There are probably a few amateur cyclists in your country who go "out of town" for a few hours with a group.

Ah, that you don't know of such groups? Really? In that case, no one is stopping you from inviting your friends to join you, and you've got yourself a training group and the social pressure that goes with it. Put up a Facebook post that you're going for a run in the evening and invite anyone interested to join.

This was the sixth chapter of Marti Soosaare's e-book "A New Beginning". If you want to download the whole book, please do so at. HERE, you can read previous posts on our from the blog.