Show me the Support

Man, why does it have to get so hard? Over the past little while I have been dealing with a lot. Life does not get easier as the Games get closer. Not that I ever expected it to but there are always things going on behind the scenes that are hard to share with the public. Dealing with sponsors, coaches, finding good pipes and fairness in federations can be the hardest part. The snowboarding is easy element; it’s what makes all the tears, yelling and loaded emails worth while.

When there are only six months left every day counts and I have to make the most of it every time my board glides through the pipe. Having a coach keep a watchful eye, or better yet a Handycam, on you is imperative to progress; believe it or not getting those eyes can be a huge mission. Lately my coach has been slipping and I am getting frustrated with the lack of attention and professionalism I am getting. The even more exasperating piece is a sliver tongue which is very convincing to my sponsors to the point where my constant cry for help is mistaken for drama. My needs are simple and the roles should be clear but they get clouded by excuses made to look like my faults. I didn’t realize that wanting to ride cloud or shine, hard snow or soft snow, was a bad thing. I try to enlighten my investors about the industry and its workings and I come short of doing so because my points get intercepted by third parties. Sometimes I am at my wits end and I want to give it up for an uncomplicated lifestyle of school or normal work but I know I can’t stop now. I am lucky to have a couple of brilliant minds to keep me on track no matter what my sponsors or coaches say or do to me. Thank you to those people.

Finding proper training grounds at this time of year can be an even harder task. Here in New Zealand there are amazing conditions for practicing and I am currently trying to stay longer to make the most of the snow features. Counting on the weather two months in advance is a gamble that shouldn’t be taken during a qualifying year. You would think taking a proactive approach would be the right idea instead of being idle while the southern hemisphere winter passes you by. However, it feels like a battle to get the resources I need to maximize my advancement and I can’t understand why that is.

Being rational is not something my federation is proficient at, being hypercritical is more their forte. The qualifying for the Olympics is performance based and is decided just before the event. It would seem like a logical approach to apply this to a substantial contest as well, but alas it is based on a theory of opportunity rather then performance. The just action would be to include those athletes who are riding the best at that time in the contest and not a list that was composed weeks prior to the event. This would be the best for the riders and put Canada in the most optimal position for results. In sport there are always politics and this is what diminishes people’s sprit and love of the game.

Thus, all of these features have compounded for me over the last little while giving me a bad feeling in my heart and aches in my head. Currently as an athlete I am in a place where talk is cheap an actions mean the world. I feel my support team seems to help each other more then they help me. I would think in my ten years of snowboarding I have seen a thing or two and I know what works for me. If my riding has improved it is because I understand a lot more about the bio mechanics of half pipe riding, not just because someone different is yelling at me to bend my knees and look up. They all tell me they believe in me and I believe in me, they just make it hard to believe in them. If it looks like I have gone over the edge it is just because you were not listening in the first place so I had to yell to get attention. Truly, I am focused, I have planned and I am going to conquer.