Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
2008 Junior World Championships
Better late than never! It's been six weeks since we returned from Junior Worlds in Italy but here are a few selected pictures from the trip. I will have to upload all of my pictures at some point. When I do I'll make sure to put a link up on the blog.
We made our way through the snow on a dark back-street. In a way it was kind of fun because I knew how beautiful our surroundings were but the skaters had no idea what was hiding behind the darkness and the snow.
Without the camera's flash you can see how dark the road we were walking on really was.
When you travel for skating your first day on the ice is always difficult. Even if the ice is really nice- your body is drained from traveling and mentally you are trying to take everything in.
And, here is a shot of our walk back from the rink. Still snowing....
Finally, the next day, the blizzard cleared. It has always seemed to me that everywhere you look in Bormio looks like a scene from some movie. I like this picture (above). I feel like I have seen this shot somewhere before but I can't place it.
BORMIO!!! I have a ton of pictures from Bormio. Like I said, I will have to put them all up at some point.
After spending the weekend in Bormio was traveled through the Alpes by bus to Bolzano/Bozen. The drive was absolutley incredible. I would like to return some day with plenty of time to stop in the small towns we drove past.
Here is a shot of Kyle Uyehara and J.R. Celski warming up before our first practice in the rink that they would later compete in.
Bolzano/Bozen's downtown streets are a maze of shops and restaurants. Everywhere you turn is a street that looks almost exactly like this one (above). Cities in Italy always have two names. The English name and the Italian name. For example Milan is actually Milano. And, Torino is actually Torin. However, there is a drifferent reason for Bolzano/Bozen's two names. A majority of the people who live in the city are actually German. Bozen is the German name. Since the city is in Italy, Bolzano is the Italian name. I'm going to leave you hanging on why so many German people live in Bolzano/Bozen simply because I don't know. My bad.
These two shots were taken back-to-back. I thought it was interesting to see the differences in light with a slight change in camera settings. Also, when you take a photography class you learn to watch out for objects that might be a distraction in the photo from what you are actually trying to take a picture of. These pictures became a nice shot of a flag pole which, at the time, I had no idea was in the shot. Oops.
In our hotel was a nice swimming pool. This is pretty much what you see when you check out the hotel online. I went up there several times during our one week stay and never saw anyone use it.
They didn't want anyone walking their dog with their shoes on while talking on their cell phone in this area of the hotel.
The Four Points Sheraton- our hotel.
This is a view from the top of our hotel. If you look close you can see a castle on the top of a hill (right-center).
The Rink.
J.R. and Kyle on the line at the start of the 1500m final.
We traveled to Italy a few days earlier than normal to help the team get adjusted to the time change and accustomed to the atmosphere. Instead of going straight to Bolzano/Bozen (I'll explain the two names later), we stayed in Bormio for a couple days. I've been to Bormio in the past for World Cup Competitions so I knew what to expect. It was fun seeing our young, wide-eyed team have their first experience (except for Aly) oversees in such a beautiful place.
We flew into Milan and drove for about 4 hours north to Bormio. For the entire drive our surroundings were hidden by a massive snow storm. It was a little dissapointing for me because I new what was hiding behind the snow and wanted the kids to be able to see.
Early the next morning we walked to the rink for our first practice of the trip...it was still snowing (Click on any of the photos to see the full size image).
We made our way through the snow on a dark back-street. In a way it was kind of fun because I knew how beautiful our surroundings were but the skaters had no idea what was hiding behind the darkness and the snow.
Without the camera's flash you can see how dark the road we were walking on really was. When you travel for skating your first day on the ice is always difficult. Even if the ice is really nice- your body is drained from traveling and mentally you are trying to take everything in.
And, here is a shot of our walk back from the rink. Still snowing....
Finally, the next day, the blizzard cleared. It has always seemed to me that everywhere you look in Bormio looks like a scene from some movie. I like this picture (above). I feel like I have seen this shot somewhere before but I can't place it.
BORMIO!!! I have a ton of pictures from Bormio. Like I said, I will have to put them all up at some point.
After spending the weekend in Bormio was traveled through the Alpes by bus to Bolzano/Bozen. The drive was absolutley incredible. I would like to return some day with plenty of time to stop in the small towns we drove past.
Here is a shot of Kyle Uyehara and J.R. Celski warming up before our first practice in the rink that they would later compete in.
Bolzano/Bozen's downtown streets are a maze of shops and restaurants. Everywhere you turn is a street that looks almost exactly like this one (above). Cities in Italy always have two names. The English name and the Italian name. For example Milan is actually Milano. And, Torino is actually Torin. However, there is a drifferent reason for Bolzano/Bozen's two names. A majority of the people who live in the city are actually German. Bozen is the German name. Since the city is in Italy, Bolzano is the Italian name. I'm going to leave you hanging on why so many German people live in Bolzano/Bozen simply because I don't know. My bad.
These two shots were taken back-to-back. I thought it was interesting to see the differences in light with a slight change in camera settings. Also, when you take a photography class you learn to watch out for objects that might be a distraction in the photo from what you are actually trying to take a picture of. These pictures became a nice shot of a flag pole which, at the time, I had no idea was in the shot. Oops.
In our hotel was a nice swimming pool. This is pretty much what you see when you check out the hotel online. I went up there several times during our one week stay and never saw anyone use it.
They didn't want anyone walking their dog with their shoes on while talking on their cell phone in this area of the hotel.
The Four Points Sheraton- our hotel.
This is a view from the top of our hotel. If you look close you can see a castle on the top of a hill (right-center).
The Rink.
J.R. and Kyle on the line at the start of the 1500m final.
Here are the top Juniors in the world collecting their winnings.
During the competition my day-to-day competition updates were posted on Ohnozone.net. Check them out if you want to read about how the racing went. Here is the link: http://www.ohnozone.net/archives/2008/01/06-week/
Monday, February 18, 2008
Going Beyond- VOS 2008 Day 3
Yesterday's Crit race did not go as planned for Kelsey. She has made incredible improvements in her time trial and road racing abilities but she still struggles with the crazy tight corners of city block criterium races. What do you do when you watch people, who you know you can beat, pull away from you in a race? It's like seeing people who you work with, who you work harder than (and are smarter than), get a promotion ahead of you.
One of the problems with being an elite, world class athletes is that you always expect to win. You don't think that you are going to win or hope that you are going to win...you expect it. When you don't it can sometimes feel like the end of the world.
That's a problem I battled with my entire career. When Apolo got good I still raced to win. I never raced any other way than as if I was going to win the race. At times...this was my downfall. I never raced for second. If I would have saved my energy in races and kept my second place position I would have placed higher at almost every competition I skated in the last eight years. I always saw myself as being better.
Back to Kelsey. She trains harder than anyone I've ever met. And that is saying a lot. The worse part of deserving to win is expecting to win and getting beat. Sometimes it's a matter of time. Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, it's just your place and time to win.
I am going to stop right there before I start getting "deep." I will tell you this- One of these days Kelsey is going to start winning and it will be a long time until she loses again.
One of the problems with being an elite, world class athletes is that you always expect to win. You don't think that you are going to win or hope that you are going to win...you expect it. When you don't it can sometimes feel like the end of the world.
That's a problem I battled with my entire career. When Apolo got good I still raced to win. I never raced any other way than as if I was going to win the race. At times...this was my downfall. I never raced for second. If I would have saved my energy in races and kept my second place position I would have placed higher at almost every competition I skated in the last eight years. I always saw myself as being better.
Back to Kelsey. She trains harder than anyone I've ever met. And that is saying a lot. The worse part of deserving to win is expecting to win and getting beat. Sometimes it's a matter of time. Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, it's just your place and time to win.
I am going to stop right there before I start getting "deep." I will tell you this- One of these days Kelsey is going to start winning and it will be a long time until she loses again.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Valley of the Sun 2008- Days 1 & 2
One thing that Kelsey was really looking forward to while racing in Arizona was nice weather. Well...for yesterday's 12-mile time trial event- that just didn't happen. Of course it could have been worse but it was windy and slightly rainy (technical meteorology jargon).
Starting 30-seconds behind Kelsey was a top cyclist from Utah who beat Kelsey in every time trial last summer by minutes. She's been training extremely hard but she was still worried about getting caught. When she called me yesterday after the race I knew before she even told me that she didn't get caught. Not only did she not get caught but Kelsey beat her by 14 seconds finishing 8th overall. AND, Kelsey was the only person there without a time trial bike!
Today's stage was a 57-mile Road Race. I talked to Kelsey breifly and, from what I can gather, she was in the lead pack of women heading towards the finish line when the girl in front of her went down. Kelsey had no where to go but over her and over her own handle bars. After falling, she jumped up and got herself accross the finish line.
When a fall happens within 3K of the finish they give everone in the pack the same finishing time. Therefore, Kelsey (with bumps and bruises but nothing major) will remain one of the leaders of the race going into tomorrow's Criterium race.
More updates to follow!
Starting 30-seconds behind Kelsey was a top cyclist from Utah who beat Kelsey in every time trial last summer by minutes. She's been training extremely hard but she was still worried about getting caught. When she called me yesterday after the race I knew before she even told me that she didn't get caught. Not only did she not get caught but Kelsey beat her by 14 seconds finishing 8th overall. AND, Kelsey was the only person there without a time trial bike!
Today's stage was a 57-mile Road Race. I talked to Kelsey breifly and, from what I can gather, she was in the lead pack of women heading towards the finish line when the girl in front of her went down. Kelsey had no where to go but over her and over her own handle bars. After falling, she jumped up and got herself accross the finish line.
When a fall happens within 3K of the finish they give everone in the pack the same finishing time. Therefore, Kelsey (with bumps and bruises but nothing major) will remain one of the leaders of the race going into tomorrow's Criterium race.
More updates to follow!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
SLC World Cup Final- Day 2 & 3
Everyone else is doing such a great job of keeping information up-to-date that I am not going to compete with them. Check out their links in my entry for Day 1 (below).
Saturday, February 9, 2008
SLC World Cup Final- Day 1
I'm a little to busy for a blog entry but you can check out some photos of yesterdays racing courtesy of Stephannie: http://picasaweb.google.com/stephannie/SLCWorldCupDay1
Watch the LIVE WEBCAST of the event: http://web.wcsn.com/index.jsp
Also, check out ohnozone for updates from fans who are at the competition: http://www.ohnozone.net/
And! Check out live results on the ISU Website: http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/Results.aspx?evt=11210100000007
If you are still looking for something to do after that...Andrew Love has a story about one of the skaters I coach and his talents outside of skating: http://www.andrewlove.org/blog/
Watch the LIVE WEBCAST of the event: http://web.wcsn.com/index.jsp
Also, check out ohnozone for updates from fans who are at the competition: http://www.ohnozone.net/
And! Check out live results on the ISU Website: http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/Results.aspx?evt=11210100000007
If you are still looking for something to do after that...Andrew Love has a story about one of the skaters I coach and his talents outside of skating: http://www.andrewlove.org/blog/
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Valley of the Sun
Make sure you send out a little cheer next weekend for Kelsey! If you would like to read more about the 3-Stage race she will be competing in check out the website: http://www.wmrc.org/vos/
GO KELSEY!!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Hard at Work II
Well, Kelsey left for Arizona this morning. :( She will be doing some hard-core training and racing. Her first major competition is coming up Feb. 15-17. We will definately keep you updated.
In Salt Lake City, we have a huge event this weekend. On top of coaching 30 athletes (between long and short track) I am in charge of all of the Broadcast companies from all over the world for our World Cup and World Championship Events. I make sure that all of the broadcast companies are getting the satellite signal that they need or the tapes of the events or whatever else they may need. During the actually competition I spend part of my time making sure that everything is happening when it is supposed to. Because, when you are broadcasting live overseas and a race starts 2 minutes late....well, that's a big problem. I spend the rest of the time in the production truck with the director pointing out skaters and interesting footage that they might be able to use for replays. There are a few other things that my job requires but reading this would start to get boring if I went into those details.
Here is the event poster:
In Salt Lake City, we have a huge event this weekend. On top of coaching 30 athletes (between long and short track) I am in charge of all of the Broadcast companies from all over the world for our World Cup and World Championship Events. I make sure that all of the broadcast companies are getting the satellite signal that they need or the tapes of the events or whatever else they may need. During the actually competition I spend part of my time making sure that everything is happening when it is supposed to. Because, when you are broadcasting live overseas and a race starts 2 minutes late....well, that's a big problem. I spend the rest of the time in the production truck with the director pointing out skaters and interesting footage that they might be able to use for replays. There are a few other things that my job requires but reading this would start to get boring if I went into those details.
Here is the event poster:
USS Press Release (a.k.a. what day/time you can see my handy work:):
US Speedskating and the Utah Olympic Oval will be hosting the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track Speedskating event in Salt Lake City, UT February 8-10. The competition schedule is as follows:
Friday - 9:30am Preliminaries and Qualifying Heats
Saturday - 10:00am Last Chance Qualifier; 6:00pm Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals
Sunday - 9:00am Last Chance Qualifier; 3:00pm Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals
US Speedskating is proud to announce that NBC Universal HD will broadcast the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track event on a tape delay basis in the United States. The event will be broadcast in two shows.
The broadcast arrangement is a partnership between the United States Olympic Committee and US Speedskating. "This will be the first time a Short Track Speedskating event will be broadcast in the United States since the 2006 Olympic Winter Games." says Bob Crowley, US Speedskating Executive Director. "We are pleased to have now had both a Long Track and a Short Track ISU World Cup event back on U.S. television."
Scheduled to compete are members of the 2008 US Speedskating World Team, including the 2008 U.S. Short Track Speedskating Ladies Champion Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) and the 2008 U.S. Short Track Speedskating Men's Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA).
Universal HD, an NBC Universal Cable network, launched in fourth quarter 2004 is currently available in systems reaching more than 55 million homes in 100% 1080i HD, 24/7. Universal HD offers the best programming in true HD, focusing primarily on movies and sports.
The first television air date is February 20. The first installment will be at 8:00pm with the second show scheduled at 10:00pm.
There will be a repeat of the first show on February 21 at 2:30 pm.
There will also be an airing of the two installments on February 24 at 12:00pm and 2:00pm.
All times are EST
Monday, February 4, 2008
Hard at Work
No, that's not me skating. Look above the skater and you will see me hard at work. I have a cool job!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Collin Matthew
Sara had her baby!!! Check out their blog for more details: www.thepitzers.blogspot.com
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