This week was scheduled to be the US Olympic team trials. That world feels like another life. How upset I was about the 2020 postponement feels like another life. I now find it hard to imagine this year happening any other way.
I’ve been doing a ton of PT and rehab after the achilles thing. Every time we find a new area of weakness or imbalance , my first thought is that I would never have had the chance to work on this in a normal season. I’ve seen so many examples of those opportunities for growth … working on mental training, increased lifting, new breathing techniques. I hope other people are finding these silver linings. The biggest one might be off the playing field.
Athletes across sports have been using their influence to help bring Black Lives Matter protests to main stream. Would we have seen this much vocal support of the movement if people had been traveling the country with games every other night? Or immersed in final training for the peak of their career, when you have to be endlessly frugal with emotional capital? Would we have seen this outpouring of personal stories and truth telling from black athletes? During the season, when everyone is weary of giving competitors any edge?
The postponements have allowed space. Olympics and Paralympics can be amazing, unifying events. But the Olympic Dream doesn’t need stadiums. It’s in every athlete working to improve. I hope we come out better for this time.
Training Notes 