Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Getting Ready for Vancouver!


Hey Everyone,

My name is James Snyder and I am the Strength and Conditioning Intern at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. As you can imagine, with the Winter Olympics just a few weeks away things are heating up in frigid northern New York. Located about one hour from the Canadian border, Lake Placid is a quaint little ski town nestled in the midst of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. Lake Placid hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games and a number of the venues used for the games are still in use today (including the Arena from the 1980 USA Hockey “Miracle” on Ice).


In my three weeks here I have been exposed to the daily training of a very unique group of athletes that I normally only see compete every 4 years during the Winter Olympics. The resident athletes here in LP compete in a variety of Winter Sports that all require distinctly different types of athleticism. The “sliding sports” consist of skeleton (head-first), luge (on your back), and bobsled (I’m sure you’ve seen Cool Runnings!). This cliffnotes description of each sport doesn’t tell the whole story obviously, but check out these competitions in Vancouver to see them in action! These athletes need the strength and power of a football player to accelerate the sleds across the ice at the start, but also require the fine motor control of a race car driver in order to steer the sled to the bottom without crashing! Definitely very exciting to watch…check out THIS youtube video taken in Lake Placid...The athletes here practice their “sliding” a few times a week and as an intern we’re allowed to go watch practices and participate as well. I’m really looking forward to taking a trip down the track in a bobsled sometime in the near future!

A number of skiers also call the LP OTC their home. This past weekend I had the chance to watch them compete in a World Cup event hosted in Lake Placid. The World Cup is the premier competition circuit for a number of the Winter Sports. I was most impressed by the Freestyle (Aerials) Competition. This event is held on a steep hillside and consists of a skier coming down the slope and jumping off a ramp into the air while flipping and spinning and finally landing on two feet (hopefully!). These daredevils were incredible to watch and I was particularly blown away by how hard the landing looked. Watching some of these athletes limping around the next day with ice on their knees confirmed my notion that this sport must hurt! A popular skiing destination in the Northeast, Whiteface Mountain is only a few minutes away from the LP OTC, and a few of my fellow interns have spent time during the weekend out on the slopes (just downhill skiing though, no flips for us!).



During my time working I have helped Jason Hartman (Strength and Conditioning Coordinator here in LP) with the design and implementation of resistance training programs for our resident athletes. This past week we also put together an article for NBC about developing training programs for young children. Having the chance to talk with Jason on a regular basis about training theory and learning a bit more about his philosophy as a strength coach has been without a doubt the most beneficial aspect of this internship so far. As an aspiring coach, learning things from a textbook means very little if you cannot apply it to real-world situations. Basing one’s practice on solid evidence is what separates true professionals from hacks (there are already PLENTY of them in the Fitness World…) I’m really looking forward to working with Jason throughout this internship and learning more about the role of strength training in developing Olympic athletes.

One of the unique and refreshing aspects of being up here in Lake Placid is the close-knit group of people I’ve been privileged to work with. All of the administrative folks, maintenance workers, housekeeping staff, and interns are on a first name basis with one another. This family-like feel has made adjusting to living in a new place quite easy. My co-workers are very approachable and quick to offer advice and suggestions about where to eat downtown or what sites we should try to see on weekends. I’ve really enjoyed my first few weeks in Lake Placid and am looking forward to the rest of the semester!

James Snyder
Strength and Conditioning Intern
Lake Placid OTC