Wuxi, China - Day 4

Tuesday was another great day here in China. Today was a productive day and was spent working, or at least on work related things. I'm finally getting into the rhythm of life over here and was my most relaxed and comfortable, despite the stress of having to have a formal lecture in front of their coaches. After a quick breakfast Coach Xu, Holly and I were off to the school for my lecture, which was to start at 9AM.

They had everything set up (of course), and the lecture started on time. Holly, by far, was more nervous then I, because it was her that had to translate my thoughts to the audience. After 4 days, she got to understand my mannerisms and certainly my "verbose" speaking style. She was petrified about toning that down into an easily digestible way for the attendees. I'm sure we can all empathize with her and that one.

My speech was a very simple one really. I barely had to prepare for it. It's all information that is ingrained in my brain, so it was really easy to talk about. I had prepared a 23 slide presentation as sort of a script for Holly, which made it even easier to follow. I spoke for 2 hours (no problem for me) with a 10 minute break in the middle. The first part was a very basic overview of the system of development for swimmers here in the USA. All stuff the average person can grab off the USA Swimming website, but for them it was really interesting to hear the differences between our two systems. Obviously, being involved at USA Swimming at the Niagara LSC level, I was able to probably deliver the information easier then the average person could have.

The next hour was really just a talk about my personal feelings and thoughts on how we "develop" swimmers aged 6 through high school. As you all know, I'm a big proponent on self-motivation and what we coaches do at RH is really set the conditions for kids to succeed, and then they will ultimately "self-dedicate" to a level that will make them successful as swimmers. It's never about the coach and always about the swimmer because they have the ultimate ownership of their success or failure. That simple concept that we live every day kinda blew them away. It's something that is very different to them. Soon enough, the 2 hours was up and we were done.

Overall, I think it went well. I didn't reveal and trade secrets or anything, and they certainly could have brought in a more "qualified" coach to talk to them about these very simple concepts, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to have spoke with them. The speech seemed very well received and they could not have showed more appreciation. Holly must have done a great job based on how they received my talk. I joked with a few people before I left that I hoped to get a great translator that made me look much better then really am. Little did I know how important that really became. Holly has been amazing and she made me look better then I am for sure.

Some Crab Lunch

After a great lunch with some of the school's officials, we had a quick change of plans. They had found out that my trip here coincided with my mothers birthday and I had let it be know that I needed to do a little shopping here is China to get some gift for them. They were reluctant to let me spend money here, but I explained our customs a home and despite their incredible generosity, I would insist that I had to pay my own gifts for my family. They relented, but ended having the last laugh later anyway. They arranged this trip special to make sure that I got quality Chinese products and did not get duped by the typical knock-off product you might find on the street. I was very happy with my selection of gifts, and that pleased them greatly. They guided me about with items were most meaningful in Chinese society and I choose my gifts that way.

Outside the Market in Wuxi

After shopping, I toured the grand facility and most of the school students were practicing. It was amazing. I was able to see all the sports here (mostly Olympic sports) and it seemed that at the time I was here, it was mostly the younger kids that were practicing (aged 4-11 or so). It was very cool. I think we (older Americans like myself) have this misconception of how the typical Chinese athlete trains is from the outdated "communist-non-communist" model. It's not like that at all. What I saw was a group a kids PASSIONATELY learning their craft with the same enthusiasm as our kids do at home. Whether it was TaeKwonDo or Badminton, the kids were just out there completing and being happy. It was really eye-opening.

After that, we had another extravagant dinner and many toasts with my new friends and I really think today went a long way in opening doors to potentially partnering and sharing with the Chinese (at least at this school) in ways that can be mutually beneficial to both of us. It was another great day and each day has built upon the day before. This day represented the end of my time here in Wuxi and tomorrow (today actually), we are off to Hangzhou to visit a college level swim program.

A pretty canal in Wuxi.