Coeli:
As a child I thought that even the smallest triumph on the ice was a major accomplishment. When you are younger you will try anything - you have no fear. But as you become older and a more experienced skater you tend to over-analyze your actions and start to think more about your limitations. So my suggestion to you is to try and look at skating with a kid's eye, testing your ability open-mindedly. You will be surprised at how fast your body can learn!

Michelle

Bob Hundt
Sun Prairie, WI

 Bob:
In some ways it's more difficult to train competitively after a year off, and in some ways it's easier. I can definitely tell I took a year off. I can also tell I didn't do a whole heck of a lot for exercise that year. As a result, it's more of a challenge getting into the shape I need to be in....and even after a summer and fall of training I'm not as strong and explosive as I was Olympic year.

It's also amazing how rusty your mental focus can get when you don't practice it for a year! Little things ... like being ready to explode off the starting line at the sound of the gun; not physically move but just to anticipate the gun mentally so the body can react. I notice that I don't have as clear of a mental image in my head of how I want my race to go prior to competing; whereas leading into the Olympics I had visualized the perfect race so many times it was easy to "see" it the night before while I lay in bed.

On the other hand my expectations are adjusted after a year off. This is by design...and it's a definite "perk" of taking a year off. I felt that, had I skated last year, second place would have been viewed as "losing" after winning the Gold Medal. Now, as I prepare for Italy in '06, I can be excited with top 10 results this year ... and build from there the next couple years. Don't get me wrong, it's never fun to "lose" when you've won in the past, but it's a lot easier to deal with after a year off ... when you can tell yourself it's all part of the plan.

Typical training days vary ... we start training in May but don't get on the ice until September. As a result, my summer training is spent on the bike and in the weight room. We do running workouts, "downtime" workouts in the skating position on dry land, and other forms of exercise, but a typical day during the summer would be a two-to-four hour bike rides in the morning, followed by a weight session in the afternoon. Weight workouts usually consist of squats, plyometrics (jumps), and other lower body exercises as well as "core" (abs and lower back) conditioning. We train six days a week, 10-and-half months a year.

If I were to give advice I'd offer a piece to you as a parent, and a piece to your aspiring athletes. I would ask you to get your children involved in sports and activities at an early age. Experiment with different sports and find out what really interests them. Then make a realistic assessment of how much talent your children have and where you think they could ultimately end up with a lot of hard work and dedication. Do that initially for yourself, so you can "enjoy the ride" as they grow up. Then, gently nudge them in the direction that shows the most promise.

Don't share any limiting thoughts you have while they are young ... nobody wins all the time, and enough doubt is planted through the losses and lessons they've learned; it's more important for you to open them up to the positive possibilities. The best thing you can do to help them is to instill a self-confidence, a belief in themselves so they can reach their full potential. If you don't limit their expectations, but do let them know that anything worth achieving takes a lot of hard work, they might surprise you with how good they become. I firmly believe that people, as a whole, underachieve and that if we remove barriers we can be better than we ever imagined.

To your children I would say "Believe and you can Achieve".

Casey Fitz
Gold '02

Scott:
I was lucky in that my brother, Randy Gibbs, worked at a bike shop and did a lot of cycling himself, so he had a lot of contacts in the industry. He actually hooked me up with all of my original sponsors. However, I would suggest you send resumes out to all kinds of companies.... bike, clothing, wetsuit, even some outside the industry. If you have connections with anyone at bigger corporations, even yours if you work at one, you should try to see if they would be willing to help you get started. The sales company that my husband works for was very willing to do this and they helped pay for him to go to Worlds one year. Some companies are open to giving athletes "pro deals" on equipment too so I would check around. I hope this helps and best of luck with your training and racing. Maybe I'll see you at a race up in MN sometime.

Happy Holidays,
Becky

Susan:
I think it is important to use participating in sports and competitions as practice for real life situations. Most of the time, it's more important to me to learn something than to win. Competing at elite levels makes people do things they didn't think were possible so have faith that you are improving. Being in extremely challenging situations and demanding more from ourselves than we have ever had to give is the best way to grow into someone who is more confident, resilient and positive. If you have the self-discipline to toughen up and take that step, each step to an even higher lever after that will get easier.

 Don't expect that you have seen the worst that life has to throw at you. You should use this opportunity to make yourself stronger and better prepared for when it happens again by trying your best, learning from your mistakes, staying positive and believing that you are getting better at handling situations like this. Don't expect to be able to instantly reverse the "downward spiral." Be realistic about what you are prepared to do but don't sell yourself short. Those mental downers you described did not change the facility where you compete, your equipment or your skills. Try to separate feelings un-related to your sport from your sport by getting it all out of your system before training or competing. Write it all down or spill your guts to a friend, cry, feel sorry for yourself. Make a bigger deal of it than it is until your sick of thinking about it, then clear your head and focus on improving your skills.

Eric

For Krissy Wendell

Steve:
I would have to say I learned to stickhandle at the outdoor rinks. I would go down there for hours during the day with my brother and our teammates and just stickhandle around and even sometimes play tennis ball hockey. I even still go to the rinks when we get breaks over the holidays.

As for my college season, I love it here at Minnesota, we have our own rink, a great coaching staff, and I couldn't ask for better teammates, and when you have that you can't complain, it also helps when you are winning. But overall, I love playing college hockey here, and hopefully we can finish the season the way we started.

Krissy Wendell