The day after the U.S. Nationals ended, the athletes I train with down here at the Olympic Training Center found out that our coach is leaving at the end of this season to go work with athletes in the U.K. via mass email. It was shocking news that none of us expected and it has been heavy on my heart ever since. In case you are wondering, I have changed coaches and training locations every year since I’ve graduated from college. That now makes a total of 7 changes. Some of those changes were necessary and warranted, but not all. I have been craving consistency and for a chance to work within a program and with a coach that I trusted and believed in. And I thought I had found that here. Some of you may remember a post I wrote when I decided I was moving down here to train at the beginning of this season. Here is an excerpt:
And then I heard that a coach I had been trying to work with since back in 2004 might be hired down at the Olympic Training Center. In my opinion he’s one of the greatest coaches in the world and from our talks in previous years I know he doesn’t think I’m too shabby myself. So I asked him and found out it was true. …..
But now that I had talked to him I began to feel the fire lighting back up. I didn’t want to train just to train, but if I could train with him at a place where virtually everything is set up for success and we have access to the best of everything, it seemed like to good of an option to not consider.
Anyway, there is a lot to think about and try and figure out as far as my future is concerned but I realize that now is not the time for that. I have big things ahead of me this summer that deserve my utmost attention and I am trying my best to continue to stay focused on that. Because of how things unfolded however, there is a bit of a disconnect and trust issues that I now have and I’m just trying to figure out how to make the best of the situation. As individual as this sport is, there is a relationship you hope to have where it feels as if you approach something with a shared desire for success and a belief and trust in each other.
For now, I’m just praying for guidance and to just stay focused on the next few months and not worry about what the future may hold. I know that the confidence I have in myself is what matters most and so I’m counting on that to see me through. Thanks for listening…I feel better now that I’ve written it out.
11 comments:
is it dan pfaff?--dude if possible--which anything is--move to the uk--why stop now--continue with him and fly out to the uk for training season only--i think he has a trusted assistent who is now a head coach somewhere in the u.s.--vargas or something like that?-well either way whatever you decide--im on ur team!--ur blog after this one ur--always gonna have haters--f them--hey since ur uniform this season have been snazzy--do you get to put ur spin on the red white and blue ur wearing in berlin?--joe p vegas/dc
Maybe "Anonymous" has a point! After you make the medal stand in Berlin, consider moving to UK to train with your coach! Let him at least guide you to and through London 2012! Life's too short and you're to talented...you have the talent to get an OLYMPIC medal...GO FOR IT!
Bri, ignore the other comments! Delete them! Now! I can't live with you on another continent.
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but I will if it'll make you acheive your dreams. They kind of have a point. A jacked up point, but a point nonetheless.
Gosh Bri
What a rollercoaster. I feel your pain.IT takes alot to select a coach and I can imagine what you must be going through. Pray on it and have a great euro season. Something tells me it will work itself out. Just a hunch!
While we would all enjoy spending the next few years reading about Brianna's adventures in the country most of you people are celebrating your independence from today, I don't think she phrased it quite right. Coach Pfaff didn't just decide to go off and spend a spell in jolly old England, as I understand it he was contracted by UK Athletics. That doesn't mean he'll be coaching athletes who happen to live in the UK, but athletes who will compete for the UK, obviously in prep for 2012.
Bri, I know enough to know that coaching means something completely different in your sport than it does for the sports I was involved in, so I won't pretend to understand what this might mean on a personal level. Having said that...
You have to have faith that, despite this week's seemingly glaring evidence to the contrary, the USOC isn't suddenly being run by idiots. After what happened last year, I can't believe that they will put someone in charge of training athletes at one of their most important facilities who they aren't convinced is an excellent coach that can bring out the results they're looking for. And as for you, sports is a funny thing. Sometimes the best coach and the best athlete don't necessarily produce the very best results possible when put together. As great as this year is going for you, there could be a whole nother level inside of you that for whatever reason, this coach hasn't quite been able to find. Your next coach might be the one who can, or he might not be. All I'm saying is that even though the coach who has helped to bring you to your greatest success is leaving, it's not a reason to automatically assume that next year won't bring you the same or more.
"moving" to the u.k. isn't the easiest of options, being that he was hired as a director in order to help british athletes prepare for 2012. i'm not british.
oops...sorry jon you said that but I saw it after I was already typing. Yes..that is his position so showing up in the UK is not really an option. As far as the USOC is concerned, they didn't really do what they needed to keep the coach we had here so I don't really have the utmost faith in them. That being said, I know it's quite possible to have a great coach next year that I totally click with. But what I was looking for...what I have been missing virtually my whole professional career, is consistency. Everyone knows you need to stick with a program for a bit of time in order to get the most out of it. I've never had that. And now it looks like I won't be starting that trend any time soon.
BRI--trust when i say to you i likeyou alot and i love ur story--but i gotta tell ya in a british term "poppy cock" no one at the usoc has gotten ur back all the time--if they did they would have kept the coach at chula--you said it urself. now that you have made a team & are the shit somebody is gonna want to sponsor you--why is it foriegn athletes train and live here and you can't do the same in england?--ur boy jon i have to disagree with & is selling you a bad thought--ur only other option for a good coach along the lines of dan pfaff(if it is him) is Loren Seagrave--you'd be moving to atlanta i think thats were he lives-my boy is a big track fan and owns many homes in the A. im sure he would hook you up--however-stick with dan--he has brought you this far why stop now?--despite ur immediate thoughts bglenn stick with him! joep/vegas dc
All I have to say is that God's best is never behind you. Stay looking to the future ahead...and it will all work itself out
Your coach not being able to tell you to your face that he was leaving to coach athletes from another country i a crock. He is a coward, and disrespected you by not telling you. Im sure he knew for a while that he was going and im sure he was doing it for the money, and glory. I couldnt imagine wanting to stay with a coach who has no respect for me as an athlete. Then when he gives up that position for more greed, does he expect you to follow him around the world. Move on in my opinion.
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