A Week in the Bag

I must start this post by saying thank you.  This thanks goes out to Mr. No for letting me help with the program and basically take over when he was gone.  Thank you to Sumlat for translating and listening to a guy who was never a national champion.  (I am pretty sure I have been mispelling his name since I got here but for continuety sake I am gonna keep at it.)  Thanks, Chanta for not mocking me mercilessly for having Lao lessons go in one ear and out the other.  Thank you to the athletes who show up everyday at 5pm to have some goofy Falang wearing glasses and a stop watch yell at them in pseudo Lao when they are trying to get through a workout and drills.  Seeing them show up everyday to work toward a goal of being a better athlete is something that many athletes in the states take for granted.

As with starting anything new especially in a foreign language there is some trepidation about the undertaking.  Depending on the situation you may either sink or swim.  If I was basing this last week on my Lao comprehension and communication then I sunk like the titanic except with more mockery.  There is no way of quantifying how I did as a coach after one week because in running these things take time.  I would like to say that in the coaching arena my boat is still afloat and setting course for the high school games although a potential storm is always looming...I honestly hope that isn't foreshadowing.  The team is responsive and does the drills and workouts mostly without question.  This has lead me to feel more confident in my coaching ability partially because they have made it so easy.  Sure there are some who will fight me about how many repeats but most are just happy to do what I say.  They joke with me about my Lao and probably at me. Sometimes I would prefer things done differently but such is the case with anything. 

One week, 6 practices, 5 of my written workouts, 16 athletes, a few discussions, one recruiting trip, many miles ran (in my case watched), repeats run (I timed), drills done(I critiqued), laughs had(at my expense), sadly a few injuries(I don't think I caused),  and many memories.

In writing this post I was hoping to convey that many of my fears were not unfounded but the people surrounding the program have allowed for success.  I may continue to have some doubts but those are mostly personal and hopefully resolved with a post a about a high school champion (PLEASE be Foreshadowing).