Countdown Beijing - 7 days

Saturday we had an Olympic Send Off for our team. When it came time to say a few words all I could think about was how important the supporting family and friends is to each one of our athletes. Each of us (coaches included) need to have understanding and supporting wives or girlfriends (whatever the case may be), family and friends. Without these people in our lives we would struggle to do what we do. There are not many that fully understand what an Olympic athletes goes through to make his/her dream come true. Most of our family and friends do. They see the sacrifices that are made to make the dream come true. We have just completed our second week of hard training at home. We are spending 6-7 hours a day (weight room and pool) and going 6 days a week. At this point the guys are practicing, eating and sleeping. There is not much time for anything else.

I guess as an athlete or a coach. We don’t really look at it from the view point of what I am giving up. What are the sacrifices? Perhaps they are not really sacrifices. We tend to look at it as an opportunity to make our dream come true. Very few people ever live out their dreams. We are living out our dreams and we are able to do that because we have people around us who have helped us to believe and achieve our dreams. All I can say is thank you to my family and friends (especially my wife and daughters). Coaching the Olympic team has been a lifetime goal since I stopped playing. I am living my dream.

Our move out to the Conejo Valley has really worked out for the team. The community has really embraced us and supported us in our training. So many people have stepped up and helped us. We now have 50 – 60 people coming out to watch everyone of our practices. The bottom line is that we feel that support and all of it has helped us to get to the point where we now believe that we can beat anyone in the world.

Thank you all for your support. It is getting exciting. I even began to pack my bags this weekend.

See you at the pool!
Coach