Change can be good, right?
So when I was first planning this blog post my big piece of news was that I got hurt. Nothing significant but it was my first trip to the trainers EVER, and my first time missing a practice due to injury since freshman year of high school. I subluxed my shoulder. Which basically means I dislocated it, but it’s not as bad as a dislocation because it pops out and right back in on its own. And of course I did it doing a drill that I have done 3 million times with no issues, a straight armed back extension roll (a backward roll to handstand for you non-gymnasts). So I was out for two weeks back in November.
That brings us up to our first meet. Which I felt no where near ready for. But really, nobody ever feels ready for their first meet. I jumped 11’6″. I was not at all happy with it, but I was definitely behind schedule as far as training goes because of my shoulder. I jumped 12′ at our second meet, which I still wasn’t particularly happy with but it was progress.
And that brings us to winter break. Which didn’t really exist for me. Since I was on co-op I had work every weekday up until December 30th. So I was only able to go home on the weekends; I had long weekends for Thanksgiving and Christmas at least. Since I was in Boston the whole time, I trained through the two weeks that the majority of the team was home for. So it was nice to get some extra practice in. The rest of the team got back January 2nd for practice. That week I only had practice to worry about since I was done with work and classes hadn’t started yet.
And now for the big news. Brenner is no longer our coach; he is now coaching at Harvard. We found out that he was leaving on January 2nd and that was his last week with us. It was certainly an emotional week of practice ending with an emotional meet. I only jumped 12′ again, but I’m trying not to worry about heights so early in the season. I don’t blame Brenner at all for leaving. It was a great opportunity for him and he had already turned down several great offers over the years. And I know he felt bad leaving us too. It’s still really tough to deal with though. Brenner got me a huge PR last year and I can’t help but think that I won’t be able to progress as well without him. And on top of that Brenner was not only a great coach, but a great person in general and he will be missed a TON! But everyone has to move on at some point. Our weight coach made a good point: All great coaches are replaceable because they actually taught you something. So our new pv coach is our very own Brian Daly; he has retired as an athlete and is now an assistant coach. I have a lot of confidence in Brian as a coach, it’s just really different and is going to take some getting used to. Being coached by someone that you’ve been a teammate with for so long is just so weird. Anyway, I’m trying to stay positive about all these changes, but it is a lot to deal with.
Welp, it’s only the 2nd day of classes and I already have a ton of work to do. I have 2 clinicals this semester so I’m going to be super busy. So I best get going on the loads of reading I already have. Hope everyone else is having a good indoor season so far!
