... summer 2001 review
It has been so long since I have sat down and wrote one of these entries. I guess I haven't really had the motivation to do it. Things have been very hectic for me lately. I am training hard and going to school so I am having a difficult time finding a free minute. I have some time now though so I am going to update you on everything that has happened in the past while.
First off, I decided to withdraw from Worlds this year so that I could finish up school and get my start values up on every event. I made this decision at the beginning of July. I told Edouard ( the national coach ) and the Federation at a training camp that was in Calgary. I decided not to attend this training camp because I had already decided that I was not going to participate in the World Championships. I got in a bit of trouble for this. I never imagined in a million years that I would receive as much negativity as I did from this choice. I received a letter from the Federation about 2 weeks after the camp and it outlined the consequences of my actions. Basically the letter said that I had ruined the team morale, ruined my international reputation and that I had been withdrawn from the Goodwill Games. I knew that I was going to receive a letter and I knew that they were not happy with my decision, but I never expected to hear that I had been withdrawn from the Goodwill Games. I was planning on participating in this event because I was personally invited. I would only be competing floor and vault and I would have the opportunity to earn some prize money. When I found out that the federation had declined MY invitation I was a little bit mad...actually very confused and angry. I had a hard time believing that it was true and I didn't fully accept it until a few days later when my coach confirmed it. After all of these unexpected turns of events I was pretty down in the dumps.
I didn't know what I wanted anymore. I was extremely unmotivated in the gym and I almost hated being there. I lost sight of my goals that I had set at the beginning of the summer and this just made everything in my life crash down. I began having trouble in my personal relationships and things just got worse everyday. I needed to get away from my life for a while and realize what was important. This led me to California.
Me and my best friend went to California for 2 weeks. I had the time of my life. I basically spent a lot of time hanging out with awesome people and just relaxing. I coached a bit a Chris Waller's gym club and him and his wife were even nice enough to let us stay at their house in Santa Monica for the whole time. I had no responsibilities and I had a lot of time to think. I thought a lot about gymnastics and life. While I was home I didn't even want to begin to face reality because it pretty much sucked. There were so many bad things going on around me and I just couldn't figure anything out. Well, as soon as I got on to the plane I began to be honest with myself. I realized what was/is important to me.
When I got home from California, things were immediately better. My relationships improved, training improved and I was my old self again. I went into the gym everyday thinking of how much I love the sport and how badly I want to improve. I had very efficient and effective training sessions and things began to piece together quite nicely. I realized that I wasn't doing gymnastics for anyone but myself. All of my goals are MY goals and it is up to me to achieve them. All that I can do in the gym is work hard and be focused on what I want to achieve and the rest will come.
In mid September I started school. I am taking grade 11 and 12 Physics in one semester. I go to class for 3 hours, 4 days a week. It is a very fast paced and challenging course. Some people might be wondering why I am still doing high school courses when I am 19. I will explain. I attended the National Sport School in Calgary for a year and a half, but it just didn't work out for me. I tried to do a few courses via the internet, but I will admit that I was too lazy for that. I did complete a couple of courses by correspondence, but a year and a bit before the Olympics I decided to put all of my time towards training and competing. I travelled a lot in 99 and 2000, doing the World Cups and various other International competitions. I had no time for school and so I decided to put it off until things calmed down. I started back at school last February and I took math and Social. Now I am doing Physics and then I will have one more course and I am done! I Can't wait for that!
So anyways, school is going good. It is a little bit overwhelming sometimes because we are going through the material so fast, but I am understanding everything and I have a very good mark.
Now that I have clarified everything that has occurred over the past few months, I will do a brief update about what is going on now.
Training is going well. We have Elite Canada coming up in about a month. I am nervous about that because I feel like I am supposed to show some great improvement, but that is not going to happen. I am going to do fairly easy routines for this meet because I want to be consistent and get back into that competition mode. I have a lot of new things that are in the works, but not ready enough to compete in 4 weeks. My main goal for this year is to have a great performance at Nationals. I want to have all of my start values at atleast 9.6 there and I want to challenge for the title. I am very confident that things will be awesome by Nationals. I have made noticeable improvements though. My swing on pommel horse is much better and I can actually do some "real" moves now. I love training this event. Pbars are getting better. My long hang moves and support skills are getting better everyday. I am working a lot of full turn to L grip moves on high bar because this is an easy way to get my start value up. On Rings I am doing a triple back dismount and my strength skills are getting close. I am doing watered down tumbling because I haven't spent that much time on this event. I am hoping to have a very unique 10 start value routine for Nationals, but if it doesn't happen then I will definitely compete it at Worlds in 2002. I am also planning something special on Vault too, but it won't be ready to compete for a while. My heart is jumping right now when I think about doing this move!
On that note I will end this entry. Hopefully you are feeling like you know what has gone on with me over the past while.
All the Best to the Canadian teams in Ghent. I am eagerly awaiting the results!!!! Good Luck Guys and Gals!
I apologize again for the length of time that it took to update, but you know how it is. Not enough time in a day.
Kyle :o)