Well it seems as though the first post went over well and I have been getting some great input and compliments from a lot of people.. I have also gotten some great ideas for future posts.
The Olympics is a goal that any athlete would have. You have to dream and have hopes and goals that lead you into the future. Getting Inline Speed skating into the Olympics is going to take a lot of work and I never meant to make it look as anything short of that. This post I will dedicate to some programs, that in my opinion, Could help us get to where we want to be in 2012. First let me start with reiterating that a major part of this push is going to be education the public of our sport. I think that if we get together with our school systems and introduce this sport to them in a way that is appealing, they would be more than willing to accept it and assist us in getting things going. In saying that, notice that I said in a way that is "appealing" to them, don't let me leave out "easy" to execute. No one these days is going to put forth the effort that most of us coaches do to maintain the sport as we do. I think that if we put together a system and a presentation that we could present to the schools, we have a much better of a chance of them accepting it. WHY? Because when we show them that we have an organized program, a program that is family oriented, athletic and shows a future in the world of athletics, possibly leading to the Olympic games in 2012, they might, just maybe, possibly, say lets give it a try.
I do believe that we have to start this as a "CLUB" type sport. i.e. A Inline Speed Skating Club at XYZ middle school or High school. It will probably start small, but you have to build. You have to work to get people involved. Being in an Olympic year, this is your best opportunity to do this. People are on an Olympic High and if you can show them that this is probably the next BIG sport to enter the Olympic games and "any of you" have a chance at being there. You currently have 4 years to get this down pat! I do believe that they will possibly accept this. As you get it going, you begin developing inter club competition, then schools competing against each other and so on, and so on. I remember not long ago, Lacrosse was a sport we have no knowledge of, I always thought it was just a city in Wisconsin where my sisters in laws lived. NOW, Lacrosse is one of the biggest sports in the school system. Take note, started as a CLUB type sport.
As it grows there in the school system, you can bet that the college people will begin getting involved and more and more into it. Now I do believe that we can start a marathon type club in the colleges now! So many people "Rollerblade" why can't we start teaching these people to race?
A couple years ago, I put together a program called "REC TO RACING", where I was out recruiting these rec skaters to come and REALLY LEARN HOW TO RACE. I was amazed at the response and even in our first class, I had three people order custom boots and one even flew Jimmy Blair in from Pinnacle boots to mold his foot! These people love their skating. Don't believe me? Go to www.skatelog.com and take a look at some of the posts! Look at where it talks about the training diary or post regarding their training. THESE PEOPLE TRAIN HARD! They love to train and they are almost skate geeks in that they know everything and more about skating! THOSE ARE SOME OF THE PEOPLE I WANT SKATING!
Overall, remember, the next Olympic games is in 4 years, that means love up to your Freshman and sophomore skaters! They are our future in the Olympic games! Where are these freshman and sophomores? Middle schools and High Schools. So we have to start BEFORE that, and bring up new blood. They have a future at being in the Olympics! You have to convince them of that!
I do believe in my heart that this is going to happen. I know that on a certain Chat Board, there is one or two people that always seem to have negativity or doubt, THAT IS WHY I HAVE THIS BLOG, there is NO NEGATIVITY HERE! I created this to bring a positive outlook to the skating world and to brainstorm and push forward. If you have ideas that you think I should write about tell me, I love to hear all ideas and I love to know what we can do to get us going.
A good friend, Mr. Jim Blair and I have a lot of talks about this and always we talk about how we can make a difference, and that we need to be the ones to get these things going, so Mr. B, here I am doing my part as I know you are ALWAYS doing your part.
I read a post from Joey Mantia, OUR World Champion, and I believe that he is doing his part in his own way as well to grow this sport. He is working hard to represent and to shine. read his posts, READ them CLEARLY, Do not read more into it that is written, read what he is saying. Read the reasons he wrote them. Joey is at the top of the mountain, he is obviously doing something right! To me he has always been respectful and a gentleman. NEVER has he walked past me without saying hello or recognizing me. For that I give him a lot of credit. Joey, know that we are all proud of you and that we are honored that you represent the USA as the Champion of the world! Thank you for striving for your dream and for helping us with your posts to make ourselves better. WE had our team picnic Saturday and I did a whole little presentation using your post as an example about overcoming pain and to use it to take you to victory! Thank You for that insight.
Ok, friends, I will be working on my next post, probably a lot sooner for the next one, I have some great ideas and things in my mind. I love that I can express them here without being harassed or hearing negativity!
Push forward, and lets work together on putting together the school program. It will take coaches and teams from all over the USA to do this right, it needs to be a NATIONWIDE movement! Introduced together and setting some examples.
Thank you again for the positive posts and thank you for helping our sport grow.
ALSO, let me do my plug here, TAMPA CLASSIC 2009 coming April 9-12! Get ready and make your plans now.. I believe that we have a new sponsor and this one has nothing to do with Skating! It happens to be one of the most popular beverages in the WHOLE WORLD.. I will leave it at that.. Its the real thing! ;)
Joe
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
The road to London 2012
Good Day!
My name is Joe Hanna, I am a Senior Advanced level Roller Speed Skating Coach in the USA. I am 46 years old and I have been coaching since 1983, so this is my 26th year of coaching that we are starting this week.
I wanted to start some type of blog that I could express my feelings and my attitudes about Inline Speed Skating and our journey and quest to enter the Olympic Games. Since I have learned that it is always good to have goals when discussing something, I have listed this as the 2012 Olympics in London, England.
I hope that through this blog, we can gain support and progress in bringing our wonderful sport of Inline Speed Skating to the forefront and to introduce it to those who know nothing about it. I am sure that there will be my "opinions" and ideas that will be disputed and discussed, but my hopes are not to bring any negative but only constructive attitudes and ideas to the table. My goal is that we can turn on the "powers that be" and show them that our sport is just as good as any other sport that is participating, that our athletes are just as heroic as the superstars of the Olympics we are watching today, and athletes that deserve to be recognized.
Already, many of our athletes are becoming recognized and known to the world, but to some, they have no idea that they were Roller Speed Skaters before becoming OLYMPIC ICE CHAMPIONS. Chad Hedrick, the most famous of all for winning the first gold medal in the past Winter Olympics, Joey Cheek, Jennifer Rodriguez, Derek Parra, KC Boutiette, Apolo Anton Ohno, Ryan Cox, and many more that I have not named. ALL champions in ROLLER before becoming Olympians. If so many are becoming OLYMPIC Ice Champions, then why can't we show the world what is producing these people?
WE have to begin our journey somewhere and I hope that this BLOG will start and get the world on top of this. I welcome people's comments and attitudes and I hope that we will all express some information to share. If you have suggestions for me to BLOG about, please send them to me, If you have an opinion, post a comment, If you have any ideas, lets work together.
AS I sit every night right now and watch the Summer Olympic Games, I wonder to myself, why are we not there? I strive to stand as a coach and watch my athlete as they place a gold medal around their neck and hear our countries national anthem. WOW, what a breathtaking and emotional experience that would be! Skaters and friends of the world, It is time now to be pro active and to begin our journey. WE have to stop letting them tell us NO and to do what we must to push ourselves to at least have a chance, and when we do, it is up to us to have the world stop and take a deep breath at what they have been missing!
I realize that this post will not be all about the journey to the Olympics, but it is intended to bring recognition to not only USA athletes, but my friends around the world that train, practice, teach, and compete every day. I hope that you will tell your friends and other skaters so that they may participate and to help is get to the Olympics. I will also be posting any news and information that I may receive regarding this journey as well.
Lets talk about Roller Speed Skating, and enjoy the sport that we all love and have dedicated ourselves to for so long. Introduce technology, new products, techniques, and more, but please keep the sarcasm to yourselves and keep the NEGATIVE somewhere else!
I am fortunate enough to have some great friends that are world champions from around the world and I will be looking to them for opinions, suggestions and news to blog about. I encourage you all to tell others about this and I hope that we can somehow start a list of people that want to see Inline Speed Skating in the Olympics in London 2012, that we can present to whoever we can as a petition in our support of this sport! Can you imagine a list of people from all over the world in the thousands strong or even more, that want to see this happen? What can they say then? How about we bring this forward to the sponsors of the Olympics and show them the support, do you think that there might be some pressure from them to push this sport in? How about some of the Board Members of the USOC, CIC, USARS or FIRS reading this blog which I can ASSURE you they will. ( I still have a little pull.... lol) This will all be positive energy to get us to where we want to be.
Myself, I have started my personal approach at bettering what we are doing here and as they say, "you can't win if you are not playing the game." I am hoping that I can arrange my business this year so that I can begin as an apprentice coach with the USA team in the year to come, and hopefully one day soon ( maybe by the 2012 Olympics) be the coach of the USA team. That is my goal, my dream as a coach, and I hope that each of you will take this into your heart and have the same dreams. I Hope that there are other coaches reading this that will step forward and start teaching with enthusiasm and the desire to not only win, but to showcase our sport. I hope that there are athletes who are out there that will take the dedication and step forward that it takes to reach that goal and to be a champion that will be recognized for years to come.
With this I will close today's blog, and I hope that I will be able to write and be inspired to write about all types of things going on in the skating world daily or at least a couple of times per week. REMEMBER, this is a blog that is MY opinion in most things and IF you do not like it, you do not have to read it, if you do not like my attitudes, then click the little red box at the top right of your screen. Others, I welcome you and look forward to hearing more from each person and in every country!
Thanks
Joe Hanna
My name is Joe Hanna, I am a Senior Advanced level Roller Speed Skating Coach in the USA. I am 46 years old and I have been coaching since 1983, so this is my 26th year of coaching that we are starting this week.
I wanted to start some type of blog that I could express my feelings and my attitudes about Inline Speed Skating and our journey and quest to enter the Olympic Games. Since I have learned that it is always good to have goals when discussing something, I have listed this as the 2012 Olympics in London, England.
I hope that through this blog, we can gain support and progress in bringing our wonderful sport of Inline Speed Skating to the forefront and to introduce it to those who know nothing about it. I am sure that there will be my "opinions" and ideas that will be disputed and discussed, but my hopes are not to bring any negative but only constructive attitudes and ideas to the table. My goal is that we can turn on the "powers that be" and show them that our sport is just as good as any other sport that is participating, that our athletes are just as heroic as the superstars of the Olympics we are watching today, and athletes that deserve to be recognized.
Already, many of our athletes are becoming recognized and known to the world, but to some, they have no idea that they were Roller Speed Skaters before becoming OLYMPIC ICE CHAMPIONS. Chad Hedrick, the most famous of all for winning the first gold medal in the past Winter Olympics, Joey Cheek, Jennifer Rodriguez, Derek Parra, KC Boutiette, Apolo Anton Ohno, Ryan Cox, and many more that I have not named. ALL champions in ROLLER before becoming Olympians. If so many are becoming OLYMPIC Ice Champions, then why can't we show the world what is producing these people?
WE have to begin our journey somewhere and I hope that this BLOG will start and get the world on top of this. I welcome people's comments and attitudes and I hope that we will all express some information to share. If you have suggestions for me to BLOG about, please send them to me, If you have an opinion, post a comment, If you have any ideas, lets work together.
AS I sit every night right now and watch the Summer Olympic Games, I wonder to myself, why are we not there? I strive to stand as a coach and watch my athlete as they place a gold medal around their neck and hear our countries national anthem. WOW, what a breathtaking and emotional experience that would be! Skaters and friends of the world, It is time now to be pro active and to begin our journey. WE have to stop letting them tell us NO and to do what we must to push ourselves to at least have a chance, and when we do, it is up to us to have the world stop and take a deep breath at what they have been missing!
I realize that this post will not be all about the journey to the Olympics, but it is intended to bring recognition to not only USA athletes, but my friends around the world that train, practice, teach, and compete every day. I hope that you will tell your friends and other skaters so that they may participate and to help is get to the Olympics. I will also be posting any news and information that I may receive regarding this journey as well.
Lets talk about Roller Speed Skating, and enjoy the sport that we all love and have dedicated ourselves to for so long. Introduce technology, new products, techniques, and more, but please keep the sarcasm to yourselves and keep the NEGATIVE somewhere else!
I am fortunate enough to have some great friends that are world champions from around the world and I will be looking to them for opinions, suggestions and news to blog about. I encourage you all to tell others about this and I hope that we can somehow start a list of people that want to see Inline Speed Skating in the Olympics in London 2012, that we can present to whoever we can as a petition in our support of this sport! Can you imagine a list of people from all over the world in the thousands strong or even more, that want to see this happen? What can they say then? How about we bring this forward to the sponsors of the Olympics and show them the support, do you think that there might be some pressure from them to push this sport in? How about some of the Board Members of the USOC, CIC, USARS or FIRS reading this blog which I can ASSURE you they will. ( I still have a little pull.... lol) This will all be positive energy to get us to where we want to be.
Myself, I have started my personal approach at bettering what we are doing here and as they say, "you can't win if you are not playing the game." I am hoping that I can arrange my business this year so that I can begin as an apprentice coach with the USA team in the year to come, and hopefully one day soon ( maybe by the 2012 Olympics) be the coach of the USA team. That is my goal, my dream as a coach, and I hope that each of you will take this into your heart and have the same dreams. I Hope that there are other coaches reading this that will step forward and start teaching with enthusiasm and the desire to not only win, but to showcase our sport. I hope that there are athletes who are out there that will take the dedication and step forward that it takes to reach that goal and to be a champion that will be recognized for years to come.
With this I will close today's blog, and I hope that I will be able to write and be inspired to write about all types of things going on in the skating world daily or at least a couple of times per week. REMEMBER, this is a blog that is MY opinion in most things and IF you do not like it, you do not have to read it, if you do not like my attitudes, then click the little red box at the top right of your screen. Others, I welcome you and look forward to hearing more from each person and in every country!
Thanks
Joe Hanna
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
