Sunday, July 17, 2011

Perspective: Nationals and A World of One's Own Making

3 lifters at nationals, 2 of whom were visiting for the first, and not the last, time. Definitely excellent accomplishments as there are 100s of US lifters watching the nationals on the web cast.

Brigid was the first of our lifters to go at nationals. Solid weeks of training got her to the nationals platform. And she was smoking hot in the snatches, going 3 for 3 and coming within a kilo of a PR. Big Mo in the house.
CJ warm ups go great with a 64 easily taken care of in the back. The platform told a different story. She cleans her opener and, from the side, her back is rounded like the letter C and that bar is sunk so deep into her throat it appeared as if I was watching a UFC choke hold. She stands up, clearly woozy. No J.
She has time to recover, but not enough. No full CJ are made and she is not able to post a total. Not the end of the world, but it does set a good perspective point from which to work. Of course, not 8 weeks ago, she could not press the chick bar overhead.

Keith next up for his small session of 5 lifters. Excellent warm ups. Excellent opener in the snatch. Not a PR, but a solid 90% to bring Big Mo back to the house.
73 snatch: wow, way out in front, no way to salvage that thing. Move up, gotta hit a mid-70s to stay in medal contention. 75: fast, explosive, no solid lock out.
Quick tactical change: channel Mattias Steiner for the CJ.
Opening CJ: missed! Second CJ: 2 reds! What the heck? Keith is hot off the platform and the chalk container and doors are begging for mercy. He must make the lift to total at the meet. No messing around: he locks out the lift for a fourth place finish. Note the perspective reference above: 4th place in nationals ain't bad!

Jake, in his second nationals appearance, is in fine shape and ready to go. Tough to control the energy of a raging bull, but his snatch warm ups go great. Then, coaching panic sets in: 107, the last warm up, looks like a dynamic upright row. No turning back as the platform had 112 and he opens at 115. Practice lifts had this as a solid opener and he has nailed it at nationals before.

Opener: miss. Second lift: much better than the first, but still not to be. Third lift that he must hit to stay in the meet. Coaching advice: "I don't care how you hit this one, just hit it." Didn't work, arms bend immediately and there is no salvaging the lift. No snatches are good. Not a chance to post a total.

CJ needed an opening adjustment and that lift is hit solidly. Whew. 150 did prove to be elusive as neither one was made.

The head demons won this meet, but they will be crushed in the next go around as each lifter takes away an awesome learning experience. Did I mention perspective? This was not a local meet, a national meet where you shake the hand of former national champions, Olympic team members, and gold medal winners.

Not a bad weekend at all.

No comments:

Post a Comment