Wait a minute, maybe I am an asshole…
Posted on December 18, 2007
I considered titling this long coming post “What the fuck is wrong with people”, but realized that this desire stems more likely from my own frustrations and inner hostilities. It is true; I really miss training with the boys in the Kreuzlingen house, racing WIC nearly every weekend, and hopping out of bed (at whatever time I felt like) just about every day, making myself breakfast, calling out: “Aaron’s riding, anyone coming?” usually joined by one or two top class skaters (usually Danny Finster, who I consider a close friend), and going for at least an hour’s ride in the rolling hills of northern Switzerland and southern Germany. Boys; I f***ing miss you guys.
There’s something missing here.
Where are all the WIC skaters?
My technique is going backwards.
What happened to feeling so motivated?
Skate practice is regularly compromised to include and help the non-elite skaters, and I believe that these skaters do not truly appreciate the impact of the gesture, or the short and long term consequences it has on those making the compromise.
Is this the best strategy? How can I best address the needs of the skaters of
different abilities? Given floor fees, and other constraints, and the pack skills
that need to be taught, it isn’t easy; but also not impossible.
Training is always “too hard” for some, and “too easy” for others, all the while nobody seems able to work on technique here, because for some reason; the impossibility of working on technique at anything above even a reasonable speed has become accepted fact.
It is improving, and more importantly that mindset is really starting to change. I have to
keep in mind that it is only December. These efforts will pay off in the form of better
quality training for everyone through the rest of what is really the ‘Off-Season’. If I may
repeat myself for Toronto skaters; Get better at relay exchanges.(hint/wink)
As head coach of the ‘biggest, strongest, and best’ skating club in Canada (eat that Calgary and Ottawa), these issues/questions have become my primary concern due to the disparity of the skaters here; the very skaters that make up the majority. I have some ideas, and I think that this has already been the best indoor season in Canadian history, and it has still more potential than I have ever witnessed in a Canadian inline club. However, I have to take a deeper look at what everyone else seems to think of things; and not simply assume that everything I think/know is best. At the same time, I still need to meet my own needs, as well as the other top skaters. Here, I believe I have best insight, and will continue to balance all else against this as the priority of our club.
To this end, what I think is truly unique, is the amount of improvement of the real skills-based stuff at our club. It is taught to every skater here, and ours is quickly becoming a more skilled, racing-intelligent, and sharp club than ever before. What makes this process great is that these skills are addressed with a sense of equality throughout the whole club. “Theory” is taught without discrimination/exception, and practiced/executed by all based on ability. This is something I am proud of, and yet wonder if its rarity is understood by those learning.
I think about all this, and here I have people, good skaters mind you, not showing up for
practices as regularly as they attend. And when they are here, they don’t hesitate to
skip out on half the workout if it suits them. And these are the skaters that frankly, I
depend upon. Some, who’s houses I drive right past on my way to practice. Guys, let’s
get this together. We need each other, and I need you.
Sound sappy? ‘Fuck it, we’re family.
Oh yeah, and our floor is absolute shit. I mean horrible. There’s no denying it. It sucks. Big time. It doesn’t matter how much it smells like French fries, no one can skate even close to ‘all out’ on it. …Not even close, and it really prevents us from improving. All the while, the best in the biz are soaking up sun in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, and training hard. I am 100% jealous.
If you are still with me [now, this is mostly of outdoors]:
“They just don’t get it”…
There’s something to understand about this sport that is somehow ‘greater than the individual’. The boys, all of them; ‘got it’. There is an attitude towards training, and the strength of the group that is more important than skating hard, proving yourself in front of people, or of course “training on your own”, which is becoming more and more popular here. There is a known importance of ‘skating relaxed’ in groups of good skaters, and it really needs practice especially when that feeling is new to a skater. I know it was something that I struggled with at the beginning of the WIC season last year. There’s no point in going stupid hard when it’s your turn at the front, and compromising the rest of your workout, especially as one of the weaker skaters. This is often done to ‘prove’ one’s self to the stronger skaters, but gets you further away from being able to skate relaxed, compounds existing problems, and actually furthers the gap. [Just chill the fuck out, man.] The same goes for training hard outside of skating. IF it compromises your ability to skate relaxed or learning to skate relaxed, or from working on technique; what purpose is it serving aside from being an impediment? And hey, what’s the deal with skaters blatantly ignoring critical flaws in their form, no, not just form, but basic fundamentals in form and going out and “training” on skates? …or more accurately; cruising around on their skates further compounding said ails?
Does thinking this make me an asshole? [I really don’t think so] Or am I only speaking
truths that are simply offensive to point out? As far as coaches go, I am certainly not
the most sensitive in terms of the advice and feedback I give. [hahaha] I know this to
be true, and I feel that what I say is accurate/true. Speaking the truth just requires
care in its phrasing. I find myself standing on my head, phrasing trough my teeth. Is
that what you call “beating around the bush”? I don’t intend to equivocate, just rather
give the real truth in as nice a way as possible. Only this seems to give skaters the
freedom to ignore it. Perhaps being an asshole is a better strategy…
This post started inherently negative, and sat on my desktop for a while, then traveled to best buy a few times… I went back, and re-read the whole thing only to see things with more objectivity, and found myself inserting more and more positivity and rationale (though not entirely) into what I had written. I can’t say how much of either of these styles were based on my mood at each time, but regardless, the overall sentiment remained the same.
I have put together some more concrete solutions for myself. In the new year, I will maintain a more organized, structured, regimented, and motivated sleeping, training, and studying schedule until I leave for Switzerland in late April for WIC/SIC 2008. By the way, getting on a WIC team for is becoming a nearly impossible task, and one of very high order. It’s a tough year for it. But more on that another time.
-Double A dot ca.
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