The First Regatta
By jim on Monday, May 3, 2010 - Related Tags:- dream, jim
Racing, no matter where or when, is always a funny time. For me it is a time that really gets the nerves going, as I know this is the time when you find out if your program has worked and if your athletes are ready to race.
GP1 in Adelaide was a little different to previous Regatta’s as I was traveling will a small team and all my athletes (Kelly, Julia, Mark and Chris) were relatively new to racing. So I had to keep in mind that this regatta was going to be about learning and improving for future races rather than winning.
With this in mind I was in a good position to do well with both the girls. They had just spent two weeks at an Australian Women’s Team Boat Camp in Queensland and although this wasn’t the way I wanted to prepare for the regatta, in terms of their K1 paddling, it was a fabulous opportunity for the girls to get in team boats with the new upcoming stars of the sport.
As a coach I believe that sending your athletes to National Training Camps is a great opportunity. I always want to give my paddlers the best opportunity to improve, even if it means someone else coaches them for a few weeks. These camps are a great opportunity to learn new things and hear things from a different point of view.
Getting to a Regatta is supposed to be the easy part, but for my squad that wasn’t to be the case. Four of us were to fly from Sydney to Adelaide early on Thursday afternoon with Julia arriving later in the evening.
Sometimes some athletes in my squad test me in all areas - not just on the water. Just before I was to board my flight I received a phone call that one of my athletes was running across the airport frantically with paddle in hand and bags to check in – 10 minutes before boarding. Unfortunately for Mark the airline staff had no choice but to tell him he was too late. FLIGHT MISSED.
When I boarded the flight I started to worry about how this hiccup will affect his preparation and racing. You can’t believe how much of an effect this type of thing can have on certain athletes. Preparation for the entire regatta is so important.
After all arriving safe and sound in Adelaide, some a little late due to their own mistakes, we had a small diner and settled into hotel. I somehow I ended up on a folder away in the lounge room. Who made the rule always look after the athletes?
When the morning came around I felt it was now time to get the team ready to race. Faced with an athlete racing for the first time I was a little concerned on how much information I should give him on his first race. I didn’t want to make him more nervous then he already was. However, the sport of Sprint kayaking comes with certain rules he must know, so I took an easy approach and just warned him as the day went along. Never give an athlete to much information at once on race day.
Our first day of racing was a good one and everyone did well. Paddling in a foreign place is hard and adjusting to the coarse and its conditions takes time. That’s why you will notice that Olympic Champions always arrive weeks before a major competition to prepare.
After two days Jimsquad was going quite well I thought. As any coach will tell you, you need to work hard on keeping your team upbeat from day two onwards. With that in mind I spoke to the guys at breakfast on day three and shared some racing tips of yester year. From these stories I hope they learnt one valuable lesson - Champions never give up.
As the final day of racing was drawing to a close I was hit with another challenge. One of my guys was disqualified for breaking the start in the K1 200m - I thought he was a bit hard done by but as they say ‘never argue with the officials’. OK maybe not never!
Dealing with the heartache that goes with this is not fun for any coach. So after giving him some time alone I pulled Mark aside and talked to him about what had happened and tried to help him focus on his next race. The worst mistake a coach can make is to let one race disappointment ruin the next race. Marks next race went well.
Once the days racing was completed and the trailer quickly packed it was off to the airport to fly home.
We are now back into training and are using what we learnt in Adelaide to help us prepare and improve for GP2 in February. The best thing a coach can do is watch other athletes race and get a feel for what they are doing. Talk to other coaches and ask lots of questions as they may have something that you could try with your squad.
Until next time train hard and learn lots.
Regards,
Coach