Sunday, August 5, 2012

Silly Spandex Sunday!

Our preparation camp (for the Women), is drawing to an end today. I must admit, I was a little worried as we were developing our London Olympic staging plan. Each Olympics brings with it a different set of challenges to be overcome enroute to being the best. First challenge I was worried about the placement of wrestling within the Olympic schedule. At the Beijing Games our Women were competing on days 8 and 9, this time it is days 12 and 13. As we wanted to allow our team the chance to march in the opening ceremonies, that meant the training and staging time would be increased. Preventing staleness, and keeping a balance between focussed workouts and defocussed relaxing time. Geography was the other challenge I was a little worried about. We are in the beautiful english countryside, yet the quiet seclusion coupled with the closeness of our team quarters could lead to issues as well. To my pleasant surprise the time at welbeck has whizzed by and I believe our athletes are in a very good state mentally and physically! I really want to acknowledge the work of the staff and the training partners in helping our Olympic teams enjoy this "whole" experience. There has been no shortage of laughs. 

Todays mat workout was a direct example of what I am talking about. Our women's team showed up to what could be a very stress filled last training session. Yet they all walked into the gymnasium smiling and giggling. One of the reasons they were smiling was the whole womens team had gone shopping on our recovery day and bought 8 pairs of the craziest tights that they could find. Verbeek had cheetah prints, and the rest were equally as outlandish. I will try to post a picture. The session was very short and sweet. Each athlete's practice plan was individualized for them. The energy and execution was Top Notch today! As we finished training Carol called us all together, she wanted a team cheer... we coaches said a few words about the preparation we have gone through for this competition, how exciting it will be, and how proud we are of the team. We all layed down on the mat and drummed furiously in a circle and on the count of three we said carol's word...
One... Two... Three... "GIVE YOUR EVERYTHING!!!"

Tomorrow we head to London!
Awesome, just awesome...

Go Canada,
Coach V

1 comment:

  1. Cheering you on to success and happiness, especially happiness!

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