Saturday was the first official practice for the Lonestar Half-Iron Team. We had a small group for our first practice but it was a good practice. We did two loops around the park and the team did a good job with the run. We have our first swim and bike practices this week and I am anxious to get the team started.
As for the Nation's Team Saturday will probably be the last time that I see most of these guys. There has been and I am sure will be many social gatherings with this team, however I will probably not attend. For one thing the dates getting kicked around for a reunion party conflict with events on my calendar and I think I need a break from the team. I was very proud to be part of this team and very proud to see the improvement of everyone but as the season went on I became very frustrated with a number of the participants. I know as a coach that you have to be patient and understanding with those you are teaching. I am also aware that each person was out there was trying to raise quite a bit of money. But as the season went on and you are having to repeat simple things that we had been talking about for months it becomes frustrating. People would be whining about stuff that we had been doing all season. You begin to wonder if anyone reads your e-mails or listens when you are speaking. There was also entirely too much partying from this team. Now anyone that knows me will probably look to see if they are reading my blog. I have been known to be a pretty hard charging partier but when it came down to the training and more specifically race day I was there ready to go. I never drank before practice and there is no way I would drink anywhere near race day. However some of the team would come into Saturday's practice with 2 or 3 hours of sleep and obviously hung over. Lastly, the thing that really burns me up is that I gave up some of my personal things including money with no thanks. I had tools and other equipment that I would loan out and would come back broken with no apologies. I made donations to several participants with very little or no thanks given. That is just rude. There of course is more to this story but I think I made my point.
If anyone from the Nation's Team reads this I know it will come across as very negative. I want to say that it was an honor to coach this team. The one thing that would make me smile was when someone would say thanks. That meant more to me than people know. I didn't get into this coaching gig for money. I got into it to share my love and knowledge of triathlon. I hope that everyone appreciates the knowledge I had to offer and the sacrifice of time and money that I made to coach this team. I'm sure that I will get over how I'm feeling very soon.
1 comment:
It wasn't the same TNT experience as it has been in the past. But don't let the selfishness of many take away from the kind acts of a few that shined. Those are the ones I'll always think of as the Nation's team.
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