Topic: The Nationals, where are we heading?

[Steve Gough]

The Forums's silence is near-deafening. Maybe we are all contemplating the results of this weekend past. What are we to glean if anything? Are the tea leaves revealing hopeful signs? new talents? a trends towards upward mobility? or more of the same?

If upward, then what are we doing right? If not, are changes in order? Or should we wait until the results of the Pan Ams and the Worlds are in? The Worlds are five to six months away. Can we afford to wait? The 2007 World's qualifier for the 2008 Games will be here before we know it.

Do you, individually, consider yourself a person-of-action or a procrastinator, waiting for others more bolder than yourself to take the initial step, to lead the way? Do you have visions/dreams of us rising to better ourselves? If so, are you willing to take the risk and put it out there for us all to evaluate and consider and maybe even.... act upon? Or do you really want to just sit back and wait and wait and wait and...

This Forum offers us all the chance to lay it all out there. Silence accomplishes nothing. Chance favors the prepared mind... give us a chance, take the chance.

Steve Gough

[Steve Gough]

We often speak of talent identification (and search) as a must if we are to improve. I agree with Jon, the talent is already here/evident in the names he cited. The question becomes (as it has for sometime) will that talent mature enough in a timely fashion to affect the next Olympiad? Or will at its usual pace of of progress never quite measure up to an acceptable international level? Nothing so far tells me that it is anything other than business as usual. For if it did I would not feel compelled to launch this thread.

Yes, the talent is there. Now, how can we expedite their results? Has it ever occurred to the readership that we are getting a number (though not a great number) of junior (and young adults) up to a pretty good level in a fairly short amount of time by their own homegrown, grassroots efforts, only to tailoff or seemily slow down their progress upon arrival at say... the OTC?

This may seem like a harsh or unfair analysis/indictment by me, but I am not looking to neither offend or to make friends here. Self-reflection and honest evaluation is what I hope this thread addresses. Candy coating does not serve us well. Tough-love will.

[Don Weideman]

Steve

Artfully done, the thought police will have
a hard time pinning anything on you.
I've heard in this thread the terms "rising star",
"great potential", and "the talent is there".

Who, what, where? Is what I'd like to know.

Who's got the talent? ("A" session lifters need only apply)

What's it going to take to get it out of them?(New system or new coaches)

Where can we count on seeing it? ( pressure lifts at big competitions)

Let's name names. Who's made progress and who's treading water
and why.

If we have the talent why have we failed it. The only standard for measuring success is world championships, yes or no?


P.S. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!

[Steve Gough]

Don and Jon,

Thank you both for posting. As for the thought police not being able to pin anything on me... Let me state categorically, this is not about me. It's about us, all of us... Team USA if you will.

You have brought up questions that should be answered. Let others throw-in here, and let us see what they have to say. I will be glad to answer each question as best as I can... but like I said, it is not about me.

Two items of interest that I feel have great bearing on this subject. First, the Abajiev interview when he tells the journalist that he will be in his hotel room until noon, because... WE DON'T HAVE LIFTERS IN THE 'B' SESSION.

And secondly, young Norik Vardanian on goheavy recently stating that his coach (his Dad) is not letting him go to this years Jr Worlds, because he is not ready. That last flies in the face against everything we do. But speaks volumes inre that great, great former Oly/World Champion/record holder and possibly history's greatest lifter... it speaks of expectations, determination and pride. It says we don't intend to be out of the money...

Look, I can yak till the cows come home. But it will take all of us making  noise enough for everyone to hear.

[Don Weideman]

Steve

I just spent an hour on a post and because I guess I didn't log in
first, when I went to preview it, it was all erased.  I thought I had logged
in.

Where's my revolver?

Well it pretty much came down to:
After going through all the comparisions and analysis, this Nationals just confirms that we are wallowing in mediocrity.

Also because usually the only people reading this forum are coaches and
competitors, there's not going to be much candid opinion swapping. It's
the old go along to get along syndrome and for some people that's just
fine.

By the way, have you ever read a post by a woman? I don't think I have, not on this forum. I know they have great opinions. I'd love to read some.

Don

[Steve Gough]

Jon,

Your observation inre juniors dropping off because of school, jobs, career...life, is a good one and not to be ignored. It may be the single biggest cause. We had a thread going a couple of weeks ago about addressing places and situations in which our best (who fall into this category) could train in a competitive environment. Glenn Pendlay stepped forward with a great offer. Chris Leroux and Don McCauley followed. We need to take a serious look at this.

There is an intangible I submit to you to consider, which says if we were creating "track records" (other than the one we've got) which elevated our level towards the medal dais on the international stage, that offered greater hopes of glory and accomplishment, we just might keep those "young lions" hard at it. Money, sponsorship just may take notice and we could find ourselves in a whole new world.

Other countries have done this. We could certainly investigate and maybe follow someone's lead. We are not talking "rocket science" here, but we are talking about logic, taking risks, commitment and COOPERATION.

The training philosophy must change. What we continue to have at the OTC is the "dark ages" (not my own words but blatantly on target).

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I think the mens results at nationals show a lot of promise in more than several weight classes. I believe we are seeing an upturn in the tide among a select mixture of our top juniors and seniors. Now, I think, the question must center on how best to help them achieve their optimum result.  

I believe the 62kg class is developing some intense competition between Jake Johnson, Aaron Adams, Kyle Yamauchi, and Derrick Johnson. I think our results in this class will be improving steadily.

In the 77s, I think that Matt Bruce is improving and will continue to improve. I think he is a very solid lifter who is on his way to even greater lifting, and will push Lance Fry, who I believe will also continue to improve especially with his jerk. He will probably have good days and bad days on the way to his destiny, but I think he will steadily improve and accomplish great things.

In the 85s, I think Oscar Chaplin III will overcome injuries to again produce more outstanding performances for the United States. I also think Chad Vaughn is going to lift more weight in this weight class. Innocent Ukpong seems to be improving, and this could well be a group that pushes forward for us.

In the 94s, I think it was quite clear that Robert Murphy has more in him, especially in the clean and jerk. I really think he would have made a third attempt at 205. I think he will be improving on his total significantly soon. I think that Jeff Wittmer made a great effort with 202.5 and will probably be ready soon to do 152.5 and 202.5/205. So, I see competition brewing there too.

In the 105s, I really think Donny Shankle is going to keep improving. I think he has all the tools and a coach completely dedicated to getting the absolute best out of him. I also think that having Pete Kelley there in front will serve well to keep him pushing. I think we will see some competition here.

And, in the supers, I think Casey Burgener looked great, going six for six, and looking like he easily could have clean and jerked another 5kgs. I think Casey is filling out nicely and is going to lift some big weights. I think that Shane will get in shape quickly again, if he wants to, and that is great for our sport.

So, I think we definitely have a lot to be excited about, considering this was the year after an Olympics. But, we now have to work together to help and the many other talented lifters not mention in this post, to achieve the greatest results in American history in 2008. What can we do to help?

[Steve Gough]

Chris,

We are in agreement. What can we do to help? Ideally, I would like to see all these above named battling it out in daily training, pushing each other to the greatest possible outcome. If this is an idea that gains acceptance, then the question becomes how do we pull if off? And is there an historical precedence anywhere in which we may study as an example? We have one example with the Greeks in their preperation for Atlanta, which for them commenced six months out. But, they were starting with athletes at a higher level than our own. So to my mind six months is not adequate. Plus, we are not really talking about just the Olympics to prepare for, but the 2007 Worlds. That's the nut we have to crack if we want to even consider the Olympics the following year. The Iranians did it in prep for Sydney. Actually, all the example I can think off probably come off of a Bulgarian style training system which is simple to implement once understood. And it is goal oriented. Fight all you want about the philosopy, but undeniably it works.

If we miss the boat for 2008 what have we really missed. The same thing we've missed now for decades, the hope we give our athletes that they can indeed compete and on the same level. Many say no, we can't. I say, yes, we can. The clock is ticking...