Today was "opening day" for the USA Roller Sports Developmental Clinic. We are never sure exactly who will be attending. Of course we have their names, but unless you know where the athletes are from, we might not know the level of skater that we can expect.
You know you are going to have a good clinic when 30+ skaters are waiting for the Pan Am Meeting Room to be opened at 8am and it was only 7:35am. The coaches had an opportunity the night before to set up the majority of paperwork and it was on the tables and ready to hand out. But you still need just a few minutes to warm-up the projector, pull the pens out and make sure everyone has a job and every job has a "someone" to handle it! At 7:30am there are only a few coaches awake... and I am not one of them!
Before I knew it, it was a couple of minutes before 8:00am so we opened the doors and immediately got to work. Checking paperwork, amateur cards, handing out meal tickets, two different booklets and evaluation sheets, it didn't stop for a solid hour plus. We spent time looking for our instructional "Introduction to the OTC" DVD, we were not successful in finding it. I guess someone had enjoyed it so much, they "borrowed" it.
I knew things might be tough with 67 skaters and only 12 were already qualified. That meant that 55 skaters had never been to the Olympic Training Center and they knew nothing about the cafeteria, walking on the grass, the No Smoking rule or even driving fast through the parking lot. I made the video and even I have a hard time remembering to cover everything in that DVD. So each of t
he 9 coaches took a turn giving the athletes the information they would need to participate at the OTC.Our first practice session would take place in the gym immediately following orientation. Usually we get the skaters on the track, but today would be different. We would skate the afternoon and then come back for a 6-8pm skating session. As long as it is not 30 below zero (and it wasn't), it is wonderful for the skaters to skate at night. The track is at it's best at night.
The skaters did a great job today and we are looking forward to doing more tomorrow. In the meantime, take a look at today's pictures!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58909696@N00/sets/
Linda Wood
