Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 Words of wisdom from HammerHammer wrote about his experience at the European Champs, including this:I think this terrain caught a lot of Europeans by surprise and some big name athletes have called it the worst terrain they have ever run in and others have stated that the woods were too thick. Are they making excuses for their poor performances? Making excuses is an orienteering tradition and it is certainly a very Canadian thing. If I had a dime for every excuse I have made the last 20 years racing for Canada I could retire a rich man. But one of the themes of the National Training Camp hosted by Holger and Sandy Hott Johansen earlier this year in Hamilton was "No excuses". We as Canadians have often qualified our International performances by making excuses. Examples: 1) We work harder and longer at our job in North America, 2) Our maps aren't as good, 3) We don't get Government funding, 4) Our forests are too thick yada yada yada. Well, yes, lots of these things are true but the point made at the camp is that we can do things about them. Work less, take time off work, approach sponsors, take out a loan, travel to good maps and faster woods, etc. OR, we can flip those old excuses around into advantages. Yes, some of our forest is thick but as I stated above for today's race being able to relate to running in thick woods was a big advantage. I've got just a couple of comments about what Hammer wrote: 1. It is interesting that he's looking back to the January training camp. That camp, and Holger and Sandy's presentations, seems to have had a big effect -- something like a "tipping point." I suspect that in less developed O' nations like the U.S. and Canada, we can try to figure out how to increase the chances of those tipping points (and I think bringing confident, experienced, world class orienteers to North America for training camps is a good way to increase those tipping point opportunities). 2. Hammer shows what I'd call an "active" attitude (which is a bit different from a "positive" attitude. An active attitude is taking a look at the situation and doing something active to make the best of it. A positive attitude is looking on the bright side of anything. A positive attitude is looking at a situation. An active attitude is looking toward the future. They are related, but distinctly different. I'd say that an active attitude is probably more important than a positive attitude. posted by Michael | 7:18 PM 
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