More time--More thinking--more decisions. Well the more time that passes it seems like the more things I will come to realize and yet the more decisions will have to be made about my future plans.
Well it has recently been announced that Worlds in 2009 are to be held in Haining City in the Peoples Republic of China. The dates are as late as I can remember which are September 16-27. That will definitely add another twists for many people. Every year the debate comes up that the Skating season is becoming longer and longer, well with Worlds this late it just got even longer and for many reasons some of our athletes could be in trouble. First I bring up the point that it allows for residency to be longer (if so they wish) therefore if you are a team member that has a job, you could be asked to miss even more time from work.
Secondly, I have said this before and I'll say it again.. some team members will train to make the World Team, they consider the peak of their season to be June and July where both Nationals take place but the problem is if ODN is in June those members have to pick up the intensity of their training until September. I can see most of the Senior Men having no problem or the least bit of problem with this. I see the Senior ladies (or some of them) next then I see the Juniors having an equal problem. This year there could potentially be seven new junior team members. That means, seven skaters that have no idea what worlds is like and have no idea what they are in for. Therefore, some of them will not train like they truly need to for 3.5 months until worlds comes around.
Next I have realized another problem that could have a bigger effect then many believe. This past year, the Senior Women's team had two individual medalists. Brittany and Sara, Brittany is a full-time college student, and if she wanted to attend Worlds in 2009 she may not be able to simply because you cannot take time off from college like you can from high school. Not to mention you have a number of Juniors moving up that have large intentions of attending college and if they were to make the team they may have to deny or put off college for the semester to do so. Brittany was the easiest example simply because if she decided to skate worlds she would not have any difficulty making the team in the first place.
So I will now explain my dilemma. In my life there are a few things that I would like to do. One would make the world team a few more times, another is attend a four year college, and finally I would like to give ice a serious shot in Utah and see where it can take me. They all conflict with each other to some degree, mostly college. I have full intentions on going to college. Like previously stated if I go to college full-time I may not be able to go to worlds even if I make the team, and if you are wondering the only reason I would have to go to Outdoor Nationals is to make the team especially because at the looks of it Outdoor Nationals is conflicting with my High School Graduation. It has also been brought to my intention although not yet confirmed that the inline transition program in Utah has no desire to include full-time college students. It appears that I could potentially do two of those at the same time but that would be leaving college out and I don't have any intentions on putting college off completely until later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Consider a "gap year" approach. Apply to college, accept admission, but defer starting for a year while you skate. Or, look for a part-time college program in Utah. You can do it! Just ask any woman who's managed to work, raise a family, and still participate in athletics, hobbies, volunteering, etc. You can have it all, just not necessarily at once.
Post a Comment