Colorado Team Training Camp

The National Team got together in Colorado Springs last week. It was an extremely tough few days at the Olympic Training Center with long hours, intense training, seminars and meetings with the board. I must say it was a great experience and well worth the trip. For starters, it was an invite-only camp for those athletes the coaches felt had a good shot of representing our country in Vancouver 2010. So with that said, I felt pretty honored just to be there… Never in a million years would I have predicted I would be where I am today 5 years ago. This was also an extra special week for me because it was the first time I've been back to this training center since my USOC internship 7 years ago that led me to Skeleton.

I’ve been struggling with a leg injury in Chicago, which has limited my training for the past 6 weeks. To be honest, I was a little nervous going into the camp knowing my teammates would be further along in their workout programs. I was also worried that the coaches would think I’d been slacking on my training at school if my test scores weren’t up to par. Well, my test scores weren’t great but I was happy with my performance considering my injury setbacks. In the end I know I can’t be concerned with what other people think as long as I know I’ve been working as hard as I can. During the camp I was able to get treatment from the sports medicine department, and for the first time, felt like I was on the right path to getting my leg better. I was looking forward to moving out to Chula Vista, California and training full-time.

Besides the actual working out, we attended media training, nutrition/sports psychology seminars, team building activities and we had the opportunity to meet with our board of trustees. This may sound strange, but I really felt special to be there… the whole week was what I had always thought being on a “National Team” would be like (not to mention the trip was completely funded!!) I hadn’t experienced that in the past so it was very refreshing. Just like this picture of our coach trying to paddle his team’s cardboard boat across the pool (our team building activity)!!
My favorite part of the camp was definitely our visit to the Colorado Springs Children’s Hospital. We visited children receiving treatment for a variety of illnesses and helped them build wooden bobsleds or skeleton sleds. Being able to brighten these little kid’s day and help them forget about being sick for a glimpse in time was incredible. That’s one of the most amazing aspects about being an athlete. We may inspire these kids but what they don’t realize is that we are even more touched by them.
I’m leaving the camp excited to train hard the rest of the summer and stay healthy. I’m still not 100% injury free so that’s my first priority. I’m also sad leaving some of my teammates knowing I won’t see them until team trials… I’ve definitely missed training with them in the off-season.