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Ryan Handy

@slightlyhandy

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whole lot of fun

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Battalion 6 setting the tone before Day 5 kicks off.
Cadets and Lifeguards getting the real talk this morning:
Stay sharp. Stay humble. Keep pushing. Never quit.
Lifeguard academy is tough — that’s the point. Teamwork isn’t optional; it’s essential.
PBLG takes pride in keeping Pismo Beach safe, and these future guards are grinding to earn it. 💪🌊🔥#pblg #usla #lifeguards #academy

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out and about

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Winter time

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Join the team for 2026. #pblg #lifeguardjobs #lifeguard

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Celebrating the end of another amazing year with the Pismo Beach Lifeguards and @pismobeachjgs instructors.
These guards show up every day ready to put in the work: maintaining vigilance, preventing problems before they occur, rescuing people in the water, and running medical aids on the beach.
Congratulations to @steve4theplanet for earning Rookie of the Year!
Congratulations to @_sheamartin for earning Lifeguard of the Year!
#pblg #endoftheyearparty #lifeguard

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cheers cal poly love all you guys 💚

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It’s been 68 days since the doonie barns played their last game ever. 9 weeks since leaving the lower sports complex for good. 2 months since the IMLeagues app stopped showing upcoming games.

For me it’s been an eternity. I’ve journeyed from the depths of mourning to the heights of ecstasy in an attempt to make me forget. But there are moments, plays, at bats, errors, that are seared into my memory for life.

We didn’t win the championship. 4 years in division 2 intramural softball and not once did we reach our goal. This simple truth haunts me day and night. But worse is wondering if it could have been different. I’ve lived with this reality for the past 2 months.

However, through this journey I have become enlightened about the true nature of softball. There is an ancient Japanese concept called Wabi-Sabi in which the imperfections and impermanence of this world are not mourned but rather celebrated as beautiful. Let me tell you a little story about Wabi-Sabi.

68 nights ago the doonie barns played softball on a field in the back of cal poly’s campus in San Luis Obispo California. The field wasn’t raked, the team was missing a catcher, and our pitcher had a broken finger. The team we were up against was loud and obnoxious and had about 20 players and even more fans. From the moment we took BP we knew it would be a fight.

The doonie barns never back down from a challenge. In the first 3 innings we humbled our opponents. Shutting them down on defense and pulling ahead on offense. But they struck back. The next few innings were a battle, with each team having an answer for the other. In these innings I saw a fire. I saw the electric passion that has characterized the doonie barns over the years. A fight and a will and a spirit that can’t be put in a stat sheet.

Finally we entered extra innings. As the away team we struck first, putting a run on the board. In this moment I knew. I knew that even if we lost, this would be the greatest game the doonie barns ever played.

Taking the field on defense. The obnoxious opponents cracked multiple hits in between their heckling to load the bases. First run scores. It’s tied. (Continued in comments )

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Summa pt 2🩵

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Onto the next chapter

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Ironic it’s called slo when time flies here!

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