三节课- Three Lessons

 The winter Olympics limped to a close in Beijing a few weeks ago. While TV ratings for the games were down over 40% and a general waning of interest has begun to pervade the quadrennial event, it is still one of those rare collections of the best athletes in the world competing in their specialty events and from these athletes and their circumstances, the rest of us can learn some valuable lessons.

赎回- Redemption

In the 2006 winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, a young 20-year-old American snowboarder named Lindsay Jacobellis competed in the final of the snowboard cross. Watch what happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWD1yVLqbpY.

Jacobellis puts a little mustard on the dog on the last jump and it cost her a gold medal. She was vilified by the press and spent the next years of her career apologizing and regretting her youthful indiscretion. Yet 16 years and four winter Olympics later, at the age of 36, she had this moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mny01JBunQM.

As one of her competitors says to her before their post-race hug, “You finally got it!” Jacobellis didn’t retreat from her miscue, she fought upstream. She stayed with what she loved, trained hard and gave herself opportunities to continue competing at the highest levels until she finally got her golden moment.

She never let her regrettable moment define her, she worked hard to redefine herself. Congratulations Ms. Lindsay.

从年轻开始- It starts with the young

If you use medal counts as the basis for who “won” the winter Olympics, Norway topped the charts. Oh yeah, they also “won” in 2018. Um…also in 2014.

What is going on here?

Norway is a country of 5.4 million people. How can this country have more medals than Russa, (144 million), Germany, (83 million), Canada (38 million) or the United States, (330 million)?

Sure, it’s their Nordic climate. They don’t do as well in the summer Olympics as they do in the winter games, although Norway DID win the Men’s BEACH volleyball gold medal in last year’s Tokyo games! They win medals in just a few winter Olympic events. They are great skiers, ski jumpers and biathletes. They don’t really factor into any of the bobsled or luge events and the last figure skating medal they had was 86 years ago.

What they do have is a program for their youth. A program that features things we should look to emulate here in the U.S. First, they are inclusive. Skiing is available for youth across the country. The cost is minimal. It is fun, it is well coached. It is not scored until kids creep into their teens. Children of Norway get to enjoy their sport without the pressure of wins and losses. They aren’t worried about the score or stressed by coaches and Parents.

They learn to love the sport because they have nothing pulling the love away from them.

Imagine your next tournament, and the kids are just playing volleyball for the fun of it. Beach is the closest thing we have to this in America, but even this is being overrun by clubs and coaches in the last few years.

Is it possible to pull back and let kids find their passion for a sport and then keep our hands off while they are learning hands on? With the $20 billion dollar market of youth sports in the United States, it seems unlikely. But can you, Mom and Dad, just allow your sons and daughters to find their own passion, their own path to sporting success? It may not lead to Olympic golds, but it can lead to better, happier and more productive athletes.

见光- Seeing the Light

Fifteen year old figure skater Kamila Valieva was set for her golden moment. Despite being shackled by a doping accusation throughout her Olympics, the Russian went into her final skate as the favorite to win gold. Then came her performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPJJIBidYYs.

As she came to the bench after her performance, she was greeted with this from her coach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlLFgZu3rcQ. “Why did you let it go?”

Whether Valieva is guilty of doping or not, the conduct here is on her coach, former Russian skater Eteri Tutberidze. The rest of the world watched in literal horror as this 15 year old skated off one patch of ice into another- a stern lecture from the person she is most trying to please. It’s hard to imagine Valieva falling on purpose, trying to embarrass herself, her coach or country, but the bruised ego of Tutberidze lashed out with those sentiments. It was described as “chilling,” “alarming” and “ugly” by a world press.

Yet, look around and listen on Saturday at your next club tournament. Listen to the things some coaches are saying to their athletes. Listen to the way some parents talk to their child. You might be surprised to hear the same sentiments and maybe worse. The rancor with which some coaches and parents use to “coach” their players can be humiliating and harmful. We allow this because we are competing; winning and losing. It’s what separates us from them.

Maybe this will help some coaches and parents see the light, we can only hope.

There was a lot written and talked about after the Beijing Olympic games about the Olympic brand being sullied. Doping scandals, allowing countries to participate despite proof of cheating and struggles to find cities to host are all at the nucleus of this conjecture.

But lest we forget the creed of the Olympics put forth by one of the pioneers of the event, Baron de Coubertin:

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.”

Lessons are learned at every sporting event, usually by those who came up short. And great athletes, great coaches, great people, embrace these lessons and learn from them. And there is no one place where more lessons in sport can be learned than at an Olympiad.

Congratulations to the medalists, congratulations to those that struggled. Respect and love to both.