Sochi Olympics Day 1 -Nancy Sr.

Day 1 of the Sochi Olympics

8 Feb 2014

Wow! To all of you who have posted messages to me through Nancy Jr., thank you! :) since I don't go on Facebook or TeamSwiderPeltz.com blog, I don't get the messages myself, so Jr. takes pictures of your comments and sends them to me by text message. I am getting them all and really appreciate them, and wanting more :) this is really fun. I just text and email, but this way I'm hearing from so many of you. Oh, I know what you all are saying..."Just give in and get Facebook/other social media yourself"...well, there's been some value in Jr. meeting my friends (cause they think she's me). Well, at least I think it's a good excuse. Ha.

Anyways, I left the US frustrated on many levels because I disrespect the lack of trust and freedom afforded me as a private coach, and the control they attempted to shackle me with in an absurd contract of sorts. I also didn't like the thought of 5 weeks far away, both Jr. and Jeffrey Jr. not being with me, the dangers alluded to all over the press, and the uncertainties of Russia.
I know Jr. sent out a request to "follow me, message me, and pray for my safety and wisdom in all that I do, especially wisdom in coaching Brian to some potential "METAL". Thanks for thinking and praying for me.

I stayed up way too late last night just communicating by email and text. I literally stay up til 3:00 or 4:00 am till I exhaust all email and text returns. Well most of them. I tried going personal to some of you but I was running out of space on my phone. And then I get the "not backed up" and "out of storage" warnings resulting in my phone freezing or I lose connection, and then I was forgetting what I sent to whom because as I was deleting, I went along and tried to multitask. But by doing so, I ended up copying/pasting a huge mistake and then not wanting to cut it, in case I lose a long section, I started deleting by hand, trying to figure out where to stop...get the picture?! For those of you who know me, you are laughing right now at my simple skills, but to me, I'm impressed with myself :)

So where is Brian in all this??? Well, I was trying to set the stage for the star of the show with those first 2 days. That's called the warm up show...

We are systematically preparing, as we have since Vancouver 2010. We miss our team here with Jeffrey and Nancy and yes, you too, Darren Huang :) BUT we do have Robert Lehmann here (our training partner from Deutschland). He was able to help train with Brian for 2 workouts her in Sochi, and it was a huge help!

THANKS Robert! (I know you know).

old Russian car but also used in East Germany...the Traube

We have been able to keep to the well-worn hand-written plan (we drag out of my backpack everyday) except for some hiccups in sleep deprivation with too much to do, traveling, and walking upon arriving in Sochi, trying to figure the lay of the land and how to get around. Also the opening ceremonies took a slight toll. 

It's been over a week and we're finally getting an opportunity to buy bikes today. And we're taking the offer because it's physically taking a toll on the legs since we are not used to it. For me it's been close to unbearable. 1) my other knee is now hurting as bad as the knee I had the replacement on right before I had it done 2) I broke a toe  3) I'm carrying a 20lb back pack. Although I did skate 2 laps behind the boys today! (shush up, it wasn't that slow!)
Brian's been an incredibly consistent skater for much of his competitive years, snagging enough World Cup medals this year to give him the title of "medal contender" for this Sochi Olympics. Contrary to the opinion of the organization, we draw our success on a great working relationship of 15 years, mutual respect, and having taught him the sport and life skills all along, so that Brian is scaringly just "one step behind me " (haha Brian, you'll never catch up all the way :).

I believe much of his success also comes from not only his strength and quickness and intuitive body awareness, but his incredible desire to play and compete!!! My coaching knowledge lies in my fathers teaching, swimming and skating experience, consequential intuition, and pure "scientific" common sense and logic (too often underrated in relation to science).

But Brian is "under the radar", as it seems to be his position in the media relative to many others. And even though it's (arguably) fun to have a media hype going into an Olympics, there's also an upside for Brian's position, that I believe, can allow him to just be himself going into his races. It used to be that media, or sponsors, or endorsement opportunities would come your way once you were at a certain level. But today, with agents and promoters, opportunities such as these need to be sought after rather than them coming to you. Most top athletes have someone "working it", but he has hesitated on some levels to get involved. If anyone sees print on Brian, send it our way :)

I am also sending a few short very random video clips from today, watch below!