Army swimming & diving coach Mickey Wender was selected to be the head coach for American Samoa for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Rising Army sophomore Stewart Glenister, who’s parents are natives of American Samoa, will be competing in the games as well. Wender will be chronicling his experiences throughout his 10-day stay in China with the following diary:
Sunday, Aug. 10:
Training today was the by far the best we've had yet. (I'm sure watching Phelps go 4:03 in the IM had something to do with it). Stewart has really impressed with his new found "Olympic Attitude". He was as aggressive and focused as I've ever seen him. I think he'll swim well, but more importantly I know that he'll leave this experience as a much more confident and poised athlete. Ginny has continued to impress me with her work ethic and desire to learn/improve. For a 31 year old, she has been very open and receptive to new ideas. It's been a lot of fun to work with her. As I like to say, "the best is yet to come" for both of these athletes...
One of the members of the American Samoan team will be competing in Judo on Tuesday. She is probably the most talented member of the team and is preparing well (I think). When she asked me to be her sparring partner in order to work on her throws, I agreed. This was probably not the smartest decision I've ever made (but those of you who know me well are not at all surprised- right Dad). Unfortunately, I don't think my 41 year old body was designed to be tossed around like a rag doll. But I stuck it out and came out (relatively) unscathed. That's not to say that I'm not incredibly sore. Luckily, I ran into an old friend at the pool (the Team USA physiotherapist) who gave me a quick massage and chiropractic adjustment. If I'm not able to write tomorrow you'll know why...
Those of you who know me know that I love to learn about people. Everyone has such a unique story and it's fascinating to me to get a chance to hear about someone's life experiences. Needless to say, in a place like the Olympic Village there are a lot of opportunities to hear some incredible stories. Today I ran into an old friend who I met several years ago when I was invited to bring some swimmers to Croatia to compete (an amazing experience in itself which led to getting me on their World Championship staff). We had a chance to go on some long walks together and he told some incredible stories about the civil war when he fought for Croatia and his brother fought for the Serbs (he was coaching Iceland at the time). Now he is coaching the Bosnian team and he told me another incredible story about how much has changed since we last spoke...
The reason I mention this is because whenever I come to an event like this (well, there really is nothing quite like the Olympics) it reminds me how ignorant I am about the affairs of the world. In the past couple days, I have learned (in the opinion of coaches and athletes) that Zimbabwe is run by a tyrannical warlord but it's a pretty nice place to live (even though you need to go to South Africa to get a loaf of bread). I’ve also learned that some incredibly wealthy countries in the Middle East (which will remain nameless because the coaches literally live in fear of the government) are police states run by dictators and that civil rights for 85% of the people are non-existent. The stories are fascinating and endless and always leave me feeling very happy and fortunate that I was lucky enough to be born in the greatest country in the world.
Interesting factoid- as I was leaving the stadium after opening ceremonies I saw a pile of discarded little flags laying on the ground like trash. I was disgusted and went over to pick them up. They were from France. I left them on the ground...
I know I've mentioned this before but the number of American coaches on the deck is astounding. In the past couple days I've had a chance to connect with a few more old friends and acquaintances: Kim Bracken (Zimbabwe), Mike Westphal (Ukraine), Rick Demont (South Africa), Dave Salo (Tunisia), Anthony Nesty (Surinam), to name a few... Needless to say we are all incredibly blessed to have a chance to be a part of this experience. The best is yet to come...
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