We received many responses to last week’s survey, much more then we expected so thanks to all of you that participated!

For those of you who missed the survey question, here it is again:
If you had to choose one of the following to improve your athlete's speed, what would it be? What do you think the most important activity is for developing speed is:

A) Running Mechanics
B) Plyometrics
C) Olympic lifts
D) Hill Training
E) Conditioning
F) Strength Training
G) Resistance Work (Sleds, Bands, etc)
H) Overspeed Training
I) None of the above, you guys are crazy and I can't pick just one!

Here are the results:

1). Strength Training 26%
2). Running Mechanics 23%
3). I can’t pick just one 14%
4). Conditioning 11%
5). Overspeed Training 9%
6). Plyometrics 6%
6). Hill Training 6%
8). Olympic Lifts 3%
9). Resistance Work 2%

Now let’s go into each category. (I used some of the responses from members that I received from the survey but am not going to use their names since I did not have enough time to get their permission before the newsletter went out.)

Resistance work

I honestly thought this category would have received more votes. If you think about it, using sleds, bands etc. is a form of strength training. Not only is it a form of strength training but it is used in a running specific manner. You are teaching the athletes to apply force into the ground while running. If they don’t apply the force correctly, they won’t be able to move the sled.

Resistance training, I feel, is underused. Creating running specific strength is something you should look into if you do not have it in your program. Mike Boyle has a great sled training video that you should pick up.

Olympic Lifts

I love the Olympic Lifts and they are a great way to develop power. You want your athletes to be more explosive then you need to add the Olympic Lifts to your program. That being said, the Olympic Lifts are a great supplement to your speed training program. Just please teach them properly!

Hill Training

“As far as your survey goes my answer would be Hill training, with
overspeed training and running technique a close second and third. Of course we would explain and demonstrate running technique before doing the hill or overspeed training.”
-Member response

Hill running is great when used correctly. I use this mostly in the early stages of training to either work on acceleration development (short hills) or lactic tolerance (long hills). You can not run hills too often as it does change your natural running gait and you don’t want to create bad running habits.

Also, down hill running for over speed work can go in this category but I will wait to talk about it in the Overspeed Training category.

Plyometrics

“I think that its to hard to focus on one but if I really had to I would
choose plyometrics, the key link between strength and speed.”
- Member response

Plyometrics is another activity that must be in your speed training program. Remember Carl Lewis? Well, back in his prime he did not weight train at all. He ran workouts and did tons of plyos. (He later said that if he knew about the great benefits of weight training that he would definitely have added it to his program).

Overspeed Training

“Overspeed training - to run faster I believe you have to practice at running faster.”
-Member response

I personally don’t use overspeed training often. Overspeed training used too much or improperly can cause poor running mechanics. If you use too steep of a decline for hill running or too much pulling resistance when towing then you are putting your athletes at more of a risk for hamstring trauma (micro tears, pulls).

If you do use Overspeed training, because some coaches have had great success with it, be careful. Use a slight decline 1-2 degrees for running, or even use the wind against your back to provide a little overspeed work.

Conditioning

“I believe, although hard to pick just one, I start at the base and would say conditioning is the first key to making one faster. If one is not able to work without getting to a point of exhaustion in basic drills then the rest of the list is pointless. Start at the ground and work up.”
- Member response

“ My answer would be E) Conditioning - Specific to the individual so they can go on to effectively learn
A) Running Mechanics.

Although in order to maximize speed even the best conditioned athlete must learn the mechanics for the movements specific to their sport and in that sense you could argue mechanics is the most important in the long term but all too often I see individuals training for their chosen sport and trying to improve their sport skills but are limited by the integration of each biomotor ability with the mechanics of movement eg. poor Olympic lifting form comes from poor posture and body awareness which in turn affects skill acquisition and those that are skilled in their sport but through poor posture seldom perform the various gym/conditioning training exercises with the same skill they apply to the sporting movements and with these individuals the subtleties of running mechanics will not bring about optimal results.”
- Member response

You all know how important conditioning for an athlete is. It provides a larger work capacity so your athletes are able physically to perform more speed work during training. Also, conditioning work can be used to help promote recovery. And of course, if you have an athlete that is really fast but can’t produce the same intensity or level of speed at the end of the game, their speed is almost worthless then.

I can’t pick just one

Many people choose this one. At first I thought of this one as a copout, because it makes the most sense and is easy to pick. You all know that I believe in the importance of covering every biomotor ability while training my athletes. Just look at my Complete Speed Training program and you will understand how important putting together a system that covers every aspect of speed training.

It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have added this one but that answer was always on every multiple choice test that I took. I should have left it out or said that if you had a gun to your head which ONE training category would you choose. Again, my bad.

Running Mechanics

“To answer your survey, if I had to choose 1 I would choose running
mechanics because I think that if you are running with proper form you will run more efficiently and thus you would be running faster.”
- Member response

“I will have to go with I) I can't pick just one. There are too many
factors that go into the training to say that any of those are the best way. If I had to choose one I would say A) Running mechanics, since 8 out of 10 times athletes that come to me for training have some form of inefficiency in their form. This number is even more evident in younger ages. All in all it depends on their training level.”
- Member response

I love running mechanics. Little tweaks here and there can make some big improvements in sprint time. If you are not working on correcting form problems, well you wouldn’t be on this newsletter. But, seriously, if you either do not work on running mechanics or are not comfortable teaching them, stop reading this right now and buy Complete Speed Training, you will thank me later!

Strength Training

“In my opinion, strength training is the most important as it is foundational to a lot of the other traits/skills necessary to run faster. Though mechanics is very important you may see someone who is fast with poor mechanics but it is doubtful you will see someone who is fast who isn't strong. If that strong person with poor mechanics improves their mechanics they will get faster. A weak person with great mechanics will never be fast because they can't create the forces into the ground to move fast. And actually it's highly unlikely that you could have great mechanics without strength because you wouldn't have the strength to execute the mechanics or to put yourself in the positions necessary to run fast. The other drills/ methods mentioned are important but underlying it all is strength. As I see it the other methods supplement, augment, improve upon a foundation of strength.”
- Member response

“All of the choices you give are important. You need them all to reach your full potential. It's like a puzzle, you need all the pieces to reach your maximum ability. However, I think that strength training is the most important (especially lower body strength). I think that that is a corner piece of the puzzle.”
- Member response

The members had great responses for the importance of strength training and there is much to add to that.

Notice how I didn’t put in the answers stride length or stride frequency? All you need to do is improve your strength levels and stride length and frequency will take care of themselves.

Here is another great response to the survey from one of our members that introduces some key points that weren’t included in the answers I gave but I feel are important and should be stated:

“I should make three points:
1. Each athlete is an individual with his/her own strengths and
weaknesses. It is the role of the coach to identify these and to develop an appropriate training program to capitalize on the strengths whilst improving the weaknesses.
2. Speed is achieved by a balance of training activities. The
individual activities must contribute to the whole.
3. The relative importance of each activity depends upon the training cycle phase that the athlete is in.”
- Member response

Ok, if I had to choose just one aspect of training to get my athletes faster what would I choose?

If I had to get an athlete faster immediately, I would work on mechanics. I have made dramatic improvements to athletes 40 yard dash times, 100 meter times, etc. with just correcting some form problems.

BUT, if I had to choose one aspect of speed training to improve an athletes’ speed and I had over a couple of weeks, Strength Training is the way to go. Choosing this answer is cheating though. I don’t view strength training as just weight training.

I use strength training for conditioning work, with general strength circuits. I can use sleds, bands and even hill work to improve strength. Olympic lifting and other forms of weight training are tools to improve strength, as you know.

How about plyometrics? Of course. Elastic strength is improved and supporting muscles that help with body control are more efficient and stronger.

Running mechanics are extremely important and must be worked on if you want your athletes to reach their full speed potential. But, you can have the most technically sound and efficient runner in the world and if they can’t produce enough force they will still look pretty but they will be slow. I hope you understand the importance of strength training.

This was a fun survey to read all of the responses but I still want to drive home the importance of a balanced program that will cover every aspect of training speed. In order to get the most out of your athletes, you need to make sure all the bases are covered. For more information on training speed: http://www.completespeedtraining.com

Each day we receive questions about training speed. So we've taken those questions that we hear the most and answered them in a slightly different format.

1. Static stretching prepares you to compete/practice

Static stretching actually reduces power output. Athletes should
prepare for practice by doing a dynamic warm up that moves
from basic, low intensity movements to faster, more explosive
movements as the muscles loosen up. You want to simulate
movements that athletes will go through in practice or
a game. What happens when you try and stretch a cold rubber
band? In a way, you can think about your muscles the same
way.

2. Strength training makes females too bulky

This is a popular mindset with many female athletes that we
have worked with. Simply look at some elite female athletes
like Mia Hamm, Lisa Leslie, etc. These athletes certainly
train with weights and no one would accuse them of having
manly physiques. Strength training will improve performance
and reduce injury if done correctly.

3. You can’t train speed

For some reason it is a popular belief that you are born with
a certain amount of ‘speed’ and you can’t
improve it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most
young athletes are so physically weak and mechanically
out of tune that significant improvements in speed can
be made often just by working on technique and form. Athletes
at any age and any level can improve speed when implementing
a complete speed training program designed to improve and
develop the entire athlete.

4. Training slow makes you fast

I don’t think coaches directly think this way, but
their training implies otherwise. This is especially true
in sports that involve a higher aerobic element such as
soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, etc. I see kids out running
mileage and doing long slow intervals of several minutes
of continuous running. And this will get them in shape.
But in games I see kids jogging, jogging and then sprinting
at full speed for 20-30 yards, run, jog, sprint for 20-30
yards. If you want kids to improve their acceleration and
top speed so they can get to the ball faster or get back
on defense, then you have to train by running at full speed
in practice.

5. You can train hard every day

The workout itself is only a piece of the training puzzle.
It is the time between intense workouts, the recovery,
where athletes make their improvements. And generally it
takes 36-48 hours to recover from high intensity training.
If athletes are doing too much, too often they become over
trained. Coaches can expect to see an increase in injuries,
kids complaining that they are sore more often, decreased
performance, higher levels of fatigue earlier in games.
It’s always better to under train an athlete than
over train. Err on the side of caution to get maximal results.

6. Strength training will stunt a young athlete’s growth

This is another myth held over from a different time. On a daily
basis, kids as young as 7 years old are playing organized sports
year round, tackling, getting tackled, sliding, falling etc..
These loads on the body can have a much greater physical impact
than a well designed strength training program. Though we don’t
usually begin training with weights with pre pubescent athletes,
they can benefit from body weight exercises such as push ups,
lunges, sit ups, etc. This will increase muscular efficiency,
speed up recovery, improve coordination and overall speed.

7. The harder the workout, the better the result

Some athletes (and coaches) have this mentality that if a workout
doesn’t reduce them to complete exhaustion and/or make
them vomit, that it wasn’t an effective workout. I can
tell you that those who have this mentality probably see a
lot of injuries and frustrating performances. The purpose of
a workout is to stimulate an adaptation by the body. If the
body is forced to do too much work in a given time period,
it will break down. The skill in coaching is to stimulate the
adaptation in the body, without reaching a point of diminishing
returns.

8. Interval training is the same as speed training

Running repeat 100s, 200s, etc will not improve top speeds. Even running
repeat 40s with short recovery will not improve acceleration
and top speeds. Speed work is defined at 2-8 seconds of maximal
intensity running with full recovery. That means at least 2
minutes of light dynamic movement between each effort. This
goes against the experience of some coaches, but simply put,
is the only way to improve speed. An athlete must be able to
focus on proper form and maintain intensity in order to get
faster. If they do not recover properly from each interval,
they will not be able to replicate proper mechanics with consistency
and they can not improve.

9. Flexibility won’t help you get faster

Both coaches and athletes spend so much time on the skills of their
sport, speed training and conditioning that they often forget
a fundamental component of success: flexibility. After practice
or a game, the muscles are warm and loose. Now is the time
to work on increasing flexibility. So many athletes suffer
injuries or compete below their capacity because poor flexibility
inhibits their range of motion and speed. We see this often
in the hips and hip flexors where athletes’ stride length
appears conspicuously short. Most often we see this in male
athletes who will lift weights, train hard and then skip out
on their cool down and flexibility work.

10. Lift your knees

I hear so many parents and coaches yelling to their kids when
they want them to run faster or when they are beginning to
fatigue, “Lift your knees, Get your knees up”.
This is one of the most backwards cues we can give to athletes.
The way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so the more
force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will give
back. So when we cue athletes to lift their knees we’re
doing two things incorrectly. One, we’re telling them
to use their hip flexors to lift instead of their glutes and
hamstrings to drive down. Just think about the size of your
hip flexor versus the size of the glutes and hamstrings. Now
which muscles do you think can create more force and therefore
more speed? Second, we’re cueing them to do learn a movement
that is in opposition to what generates speed. If an athlete
learns at age 7, to lift their knees when they need a burst
of speed, that improper cue will be hardwired into their brain.
To unlearn that as a teen and try to do the opposite and drive
down, that athlete will have a difficult time coordinating
an entirely new way of running and will potentially have to
take a step or two backwards. That’s why it is critical
to learn proper form early and get an advantage over those
who still aren’t getting the best instruction. So cue
athletes to step over the opposite knee and drive the foot
down into the ground, with the foot landing underneath the
hip.

Speed is a product of stride length (the distance your hips
travel in a stride) and stride frequency (the number of steps
you take in a given time period). However, you will not reach
top speed by focusing on increasingly larger steps to increase
stride length or taking short, quick steps to increase stride
frequency. Instead, top speeds are created by applying 'optimal'
force to the ground. Both length and frequency are improved by
strength so better strength application results in faster speeds.
Really, acceleration training is a form of strength training.

Ground contact times (the amount of time each foot spends on
the ground) are another important factor to consider during acceleration.
During the earliest parts of acceleration, especially the first
two steps, you are trying to overcome (inertia) the weight of
your body by moving it forward as quickly as possible. This takes
a great deal of strength and power. The stronger and more efficient
you are, the more you can extend your acceleration phase.

Since high intensity sprint work involves recruiting specific
groups of muscle fibers improves the efficiency of neuromuscular
firing patterns, sprinting is taxing to the central nervous
system. Once the CNS becomes fatigued, workouts quickly lose
their effectiveness. Any type of speed work must be done with
full recovery. Generally speaking, that means approximately
one minute of rest for every 10 yards that you run. Sprinting
is a highly technical activity. Without full recovery, both
your muscles and your central nervous system will begin to
fatigue quickly, reducing the short and long term effectiveness
of your training. For this reason, acceleration should not
be trained with fatigue present. To optimize your success,
full recovery must be adhered to both in your individual workouts
as well as your weekly plan. It takes roughly 36-48 hours to
fully recover from a speed workout.

Acceleration Cues

• 
  
  Drive
  the lead arm (same as front leg) up as you begin to sprint.
  
  


• 
  
  Drive
  out so the body is at a 45 degree angle to the ground.
  
  


• 
  
  Keep
  the heel recovery low during the first 6-8 strides.
  
  


• 
  
  Drive
  the elbows down and back. Keep the hands loose, but not
  open. Arms should remain at approximately 90
  degrees from the elbow.
  
  


• 
  
  Step
  over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground
  to create maximal force.
  
  

Get Vertical!

At the beginning of your training season acceleration work is
used. You can't be efficient running longer distances without
getting the proper strength levels and neuromuscular efficiency
of the shorter intervals. As your athletes get stronger, you
can extend out the acceleration distances. You want your athletes
to be driving out as far as possible. The stronger the athlete
is the further the acceleration phase will be and will set-up
the athletes' top speed better later on.

During acceleration, the foot should strike directly below or
slightly behind the hips. You must be able to drive out so
your body is at a 45 degree angle to the ground and step over
the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground to
create maximal force.

Horizontal to Vertical

Some athletes aren’t
strong enough to hold and maintain that ideal drive phase.
So, you must trick the athlete's body
and make it so that they have to get into the right position.

Start your acceleration work on the ground and work your way
up. In order to put the athletes in the best mechanical position,
even without great strength levels, athletes will start with
short intervals, in a horizontal position. As the athletes get
stronger, the acceleration intervals are lengthened and/or the
starting positions are more vertical.

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Without trying, I could hear some of their conversations. I didn't mean to but I heard a gentleman talk about golfing. He said that he doesn't
keep score at all, doesn't know or care to know what his handicap is.
When he plays with others he doesn't compete with them, he just has 'fun'.
Then his wife (it seemed like his wife as far as I know) said that she
loves that her children's soccer games, that they don't keep score and
she feels that it is the best thing for them.

I'm not sure where you stand on this subject but it made me loose my appetite. Alright, I didn't loose my appetite but it did bother me.

What are we teaching the youth of today with that attitude? Does that man really not care how he plays?

First, those soccer kids where the referees aren't keeping score, the kids aren’t dumb, they know what the score is. But, why can't there
be a winner and loser? I love sports because they teach life skills.
Dedication, discipline, hard work, effort, team work, camaraderie, passion,
working under pressure, trying to out think your opponent, etc, all great
skills that carry over to life outside of sports.

Is it ok to teach our kids today that it doesn't matter if you win or lose?

Winning and losing happens everyday, at court, the stock market, job search, job advancement/displacement, etc., so why not start teaching
this at a younger age?

We all want our athletes to win and through practice, we prepare them to win. If you win, you take pride in the fact that you (your athletes)
were prepared and their hard work paid off.

But, more important then winning, we need to teach our athletes how to lose. Because no matter how great of a coach you are or how outstanding your athletes are, they will at some point lose.

As a parent, I’m sure there are those who want to shelter their kids from experiencing losing. Losing hurts, a lot, and it is a tough
emotion to deal with. As much as it hurts, you learn the same (I would
argue more) then you do by winning.

How do your athletes/kids take losing? Are they going to complain about it, cry that it wasn’t fair, get upset, congratulate the other
team because they were better on that day, use it as a tool to prepare
harder for next time? You will learn a lot about your athletes on how
they take a loss and then how they recover from it. And as a coach you
need to ‘help’ them learn from each loss.

Now what do kids get out of a game where there is no winner or loser? Exactly, nothing at all.

Would people watch the Super bowl if no one was keeping
score? (Would there be professional athletes if there were never winners
and losers?)

Would workers at a company work harder then the next person if they would get paid the same no matter what they did?

Would you study as hard for a class where the professor didn’t keep grades?

What if there were no valedictorians or solitarians and everyone just graduated and there were no class rank, everyone in the class no matter
what they did or how hard they worked (or didn’t work) graduated
at the same level because we didn’t want to hurt people’s
feelings by ranking them?

You are telling the kids that it doesn’t matter how hard they worked that everyone is on the same level so you don’t really need
to try or put in effort.

I don’t want my athletes to take for granted what they have and I always want them to strive to be better. I don’t care what their
skill level is, I want them to work hard to try and reach their full
potential. I also want them to know that they need to work to be the
best, it won’t be given to them.

If you win, no matter what it is, it proves something
to yourself and is a validation. If you lose, it also proves something
to yourself and it is a great lesson to take with you for next time.

OK, back to the husband who doesn’t keep score, this might not
seem that bad, but I have a problem with this mentality. How can you
do anything at all, and not ‘keep score’. Everything you
do is really a competition, maybe not against another person but with
yourself.

The people who say that they don’t keep score when they golf, they don’t time their morning run, that don’t care how they
did on a test, aren’t worry about how much effort they put into
their job, etc (I’m sure you can add many more examples here),
they all scare me.

I believe these people are afraid of failure. If they keep score in golf and realize how bad they are, they will think poorly of themselves
and no body wants to do that. People would rather not know or not acknowledge
how bad they are at something. It’s easier to say you only put
enough effort in your job to get by, because if you get fired, you can
say that you didn’t try. But, if you admit that you actually care
and worked hard and got fired, then you failed and what does that make
you now?

Here’s the problem that I see. If they say they don’t care
how bad they are, they are immediately admitting defeat and give up.
If you don’t notice or acknowledge your weakness how can you improve?
I am using golf as an example but people with the mentality of ‘not
keeping score’ relate that thought process to other areas in their
lives. I can imagine that most people with that mentality are not people
who goal set, set deadlines for accomplishments or make contracts with
themselves to succeed.

Success starts form the inside out, so you need to identify certain issues to overcome them and become a stronger person. How can you feel
good about yourself if every time you are not good at something you just
shut it out or give up?

How many successful leaders do you know that aren’t competitive and don’t want to be the best at everything they do? I can’t
name one. Success is a certain attitude that you must have.

I just started playing golf last year and I admit that I am horrible. But I am not going to say that I am out there for the atmosphere and
I don’t care how I play. I love being outside and playing with
a group of friends, but with every shot I take I try hit the perfect
ball. It hasn’t happened often, but I am going to take lessons,
train and work hard so I can improve. I may never make it to the pro
tour but each time I am out there golfing, I am competing against myself
striving to be the best golfer I can be. Again it’s a mentality
that you should have and it should be apart of everything you do. I am
not afraid of failing because I have failed many times in my life and
will fail many more, but my intention is to always find a way to improve
no matter how long it takes or how hard it is.

I think we should all celebrate our accomplishments
and give ourselves credit for every goal we reach or stride we take to
make ourselves better.
We must first identify our problem areas (which can be tough to admit) & goals, and start on our path to success. We have to start somewhere.

I could go on but I will end it here with a quote from
Don Shula: 'Failure is successfully finding out what doesn't work'.

Sorry for the rant.

Being able to make the most of any turnover on the court is
the key to success at basketball. You need to be able to work
quickly and efficiently across the court to make a basket on
your opponent. If your team members are quick on their feet,
you'll see your team sinking more and more shots. Speed can do
much more than power up your offense. When your opponent has
a fast break opportunity, you need quick movement and coordination
to prevent an easy lay-up or a dunk. When your team plays with
increased speed, you'll see sharper, more effective defense and
a lot more stops.

Speedwork is essential to basketball because if your players
can clear the ball and make it down the court before your opponents
do, you get a clear and easy shot at the basket. Speed training
teaches your athletes how to move quickly, and how to put on
bursts of speed without getting winded. That translates to more
baskets--because you can get down the court and sink an easy
basket without catching your breath.

You don't need to be a science expert to train your team into a pack of speed machines, so go now to www.BasketballSpeedTraining.com for more information.

Patrick: Alwyn, you are known around the fitness industry as the person who doesn't hold anything back and always 'tells it like it is'. In your opinion what is the state of the strength & conditioning industry?

Alwyn: Sadly lacking Patrick. But to be fair - it's improving. The problem is a lack of professionalism in the industry - not necessarily a lack of knowledge.

Patrick: I know you could go on forever with this one, but what are a few common myths that coaches still believe in regarding athletic training?

Alwyn: Aerobic base, weight training will make you slower and a whole
slew of biomechanics stuff related to knees in squatting.

Patrick: Do you see a common trait that today's athletes
are lacking?

Alwyn: Strength is lacking across the board, but we are also seeing an interesting trend that most athletes are arriving with serious structural imbalances.

Patrick: When you meet with a new athlete, how do you normally start out and structure their training? Is there something you want the beginner athlete to be able to do or a typical progression?

Alwyn: I do a functional movement screen to see what the athlete is capable of doing, or not capable of doing. From there we usuually design a corrective exercise phase consisting primarily of bodyweight exercises.

Patrick: Conditioning for speed athletes is often a confusing topic for
many new coaches. What is your approach to improving conditioning
levels for athletes?

Alwyn: Conditioning for speed athletes is essentially speed endurance
work. So make sure you have speed built up before you build upon the
capacity to maintain that speed. Most coaches are making their
athletes slower with their conditioning programs.

So it starts with structure - it doesn't matter how big the engine is,

if the front end is out of alignment you won't see the benefit. So
it's flexibility and stability in the beginning.

Then it's strength - then it's power - then it's endurance work.

Patrick: In general, how many days per week should athletes train speed?

Alwyn: Twice a week for non track athletes. Four times per week for track athletes, although every workout for a track athlete is about training speed - it just doesn't mean that they are necessarily doing direct speed training.

Patrick: There are many different opinions on weight training for speed and power athletes. Where do you stand on the topic?

Alwyn: Who is the fastest- Men or Women?

Men right? Why?

Because they are stronger. If strength wasn't an issue
then males wouldn't have faster times than females.

The key is to design a sports strength training program,
not a bodybuilding program to reach your goals.

Patrick: I know I get questions all the time from parents that want to start their kids on a structured program, what do you think the best age to begin formal athletic training?

Alwyn: I think kids can start with agility work and
play type activities pretty young. I wouldn't start any real structured
training until at
least ten years old though.

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"If you have been following the Olympics at all I'm sure you heard the story about the (in)famous speed skater Shani Davis. If you haven't heard, here is a brief recap:

Shani Davis was competing in the 1000 meters and declined to be apart of a relay team, claiming he needed more time to prepare for the 1000. Another US speed skater Chad Hedrick, who was also in the 1000 meter race, wanted to be on the relay to help the US because, as he said he's 'a team player'.

In the gym, at the supermarket, even walking down to the beach I have heard people call Shani 'selfish', 'only in it for himself', and even 'un-American (whatever that means)'. On the news, some Europeans stated that Shani was ‘exactly what was wrong with America’.

I think this is an interesting topic especially for those who coach youth sports. Many people believe that if you are on a team, no matter how individual the sport may be, that the team comes first period. Think about the team first and yourself (records, personal goals, medals) second.

To add more to this story, Shani Davis became the first African-American man to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history when he won the 1000m speed skating race. Chad Hedrick did not medal in that race.

I know where I stand on this subject but I wanted to get your feedback. Where do you stand on this topic?

Was Shani just being 'selfish'??

Was Shani a trailblazer and winning the gold medal is more of a historical significance then trying to help a relay team?

Is speed skating a team sport?

Does it have a negative effect on youth athletes and/or American sports?

If you were training all your life to win a gold medal in your sport would you help your fellow Americans out on a relay team if you know that it could affect your performance for your upcoming race?

Would you have done the same thing that Shani did if you were in his place?"



I would like to thank everyone for their amazing responses. Since I have received so many emails about Shani from all over the world, I was only able to post these few. Sorry if I didn't get a chance to post your response, but feel free to post any comments down below! (I did not edit any of the emails, I only removed the last name incase someone is shy and so that my lawyer won't have any extra work)



"Hello Patrick,

Individual speed skating is a specialty quite different from relay or even collective speed skating (two skaters against 2, etc.) and it takes a lot of experience and nerves to race in a crazy, exausting melee, pushed around or cut off by "dirty" skaters, risking to be injured at any turn and time.

I do not think that Shani Davis was selfish and he made a good decision, like it or not. I would have done exactly the same thing and I would have asked my coach to call a meeting to clear the air and shut the big mouth of Chad Hedrick. Being part of the US olympic contingent is already a commitment to excellence and towards Team USA, as an individual athlete or as a relay or group or team skater, runner or player. Shani Davis did his part to have USA shine, not Chad Hedrick.

Speed skating as two components : individual speed skating and team skating, each requiring a different approach to competition and team make-up. I would therefore say that the US Olympic Skating Committee did not do its job the right way in this case: The USA is a huge reservoir of athletes with tremendous facilities and terrific coaching staff and it should have a relay team properly trained and prepared to compete anywhere, with the right number of backup racers in case of injuries, illnesses, etc. I really think that countries like Germany, Norway or the USA should not make last minute decisions based on panick like Canadians do sometime when it comes to team make-up. It is OK to change the order, the strategy, etc., but only amongst the dedicated team involved in a competition. Good coaches anticipate problems and make way ahead of time contingency plans to contain disrupting players or athletes - bad apples - and change things if necessary.

Athletes competing in individual sports are necessarily selfish and I do not blame them. They work and train a lot, make sacrifices, and it is their genetics that Nations exploits to promote their culture, trade and other things. Athletes owe a lot to their individual trainers, coaches, sponsors, family and universities, and very little to the national committees which select them, and often treat them like dirt. Further, selfishness in sports (when it is well managed with panache, composure, pugnacity and "played with" by coaches) is a tremendous motivating factor. You have also selfish strikers in soccer or selfish fullbacks in rugby who want want to do everything themselves and who en up being very useful and efficient in high level games.

Shani Davis decision should not have any impact on youth athletes, except amongts the few ones who have a gregarious instinct or behaviour. Mixing the USA collective spirit with olympic performance is wrong, especially in a society where all centers on the individual.

Voila. My congratulations to Shani Davis and my boos to Hedrick."
- Alain



"Chad Hedrick is clearly the ugly American, not even a good enough sport to congratulate the winner of the 1500, the Italian, never mind nodding to Shani! The media worships big, nasty mouths like Chad Hedrick's. It has only ever been about making Shani wrong. He went to Italy with the clear intention in his mind that he would win the gold medal in his event, period. For him to even be there is an incredible testament to him and his mother, who is devoted without being hysterical. With sophomoric assholes like Hedrick on the team, where is the opportunity for Davis to "feel the love" of the team?"- Ann



"Patrick,
In my opinion Shani Davis did nothing wrong. As I understand it he did not indicate any desire at any time to participate in the pursuit races. He prepared for many years to compete in certain events when the pursuit event did not even exist. I might feel differently if he had
committed to this race and backed out at the last minute, but as I understand the facts, this was not the case. If we look back, I think the original spirit of the Olympics was to compete as an individual against the very best in the world. I think Chad Hedrick is probably the selfish one here. He publicly denounced his "teammate" because his reluctance to participate interfered with a personal goal that Chad had set for himself."
- J.W.



"I have been following this subject over the past few days, and it is my understanding that Shani never did commit to being apart of the relay team. It is not as if Shani backed out of a deal, it was a coach that added him to that team after he had already declined. Also, I believed that this was someone's attempt at drawing interest to the Winter Olympics, but it misfired."
- Etind



"Hi Patrick, as your probably aware I live on a little island called England, not so long ago there was a politician [who's name slips my mind]
She decided that the problem with kids now a days, was that they were to competitive, so she went about making her feelings known [without trying to sound sexist] most women and power just don't go, [look at Maggie Thatcher for one] any way she basically banned as many competitive sports as she could, telling kids, parents and teachers that it was the
taking part that counts [for what exactly] so in light of all that I say now as I always have
"SECOND PLACE IS KNOW WHERE" And if I were in Shani's skates I would go gold every time, im not saying it's not good to be a team player, but you can not rely on other people to always give there best, just because you have got your training just right,or had a great night sleep or even just eaten well, doesn't mean all your team mates have."
- Steve




"Hello Patrick,

My opinion is: I think the public should leave Shani Davis alone, and show repect for what he has accomplished. My god, the man has accomplished something unheard of! What's wrong if he felt he needed more time to prepare for the 1000m.? Whatever his reasons were, so f------g what! It really doesn't matter. There are always going to be what if's. It's possible that the U.S. probably wouldn't have won gold; and then what? Would he have been criticized for that also? Let him enjoy his special moment in history, he's earned it. I dont know him personally, but he seems like a good kid, I like how he conducts himself, he's very well grounded. He has represented the U.S. very well and I don't think his actions negatively effect american sports or youth athletics. In fact; I think he's a credit to sport, and to all African Americans.

I think people, or I should say the (world) should stop being so judgemental. Stop hating so much; live and let live!"
- John



"Patrick,

There are more aspects to consider before concluding:
1. Shani has never trained with the American team.
This is an absolute neccessity. They didn't need him or didn't want him.

2. It is Chad Hedrick's problem. He wanted to win 5 gold medals and didn't succeed and to win the second gold medal he wanted Shani in the team, referring to team spirit, the american dream, etc. He even did not ask him. He needed him to fulfil his olympic dream.

3. The relay is enery consuming and it looks like negatively influencing Shani's gold medal chances.In the next Olympics the relay will be on the end of the games.

Skating is an individual sport with team aspects. You train together and live more or less together.You train many many years to fulfil your dreams and by taking part in the relay Shasni could easily have ended up as nr 2 on the 1000m.That's what I call broken dreams.Considering these 3 items I think Shani has taken the right decision.

PS: The Dutch people, who more or less invented ice skating, love Shani Davis and in their opinion Chad Hedrick is no more than a big mouth.

Negative effect on youth?
In my mind it hasn't an negative influence on youth. Don't underestimate youth.
They understand the problem. In my group of hurdlers and sprinters (12 up to 22 years) they unanimously favoured Shani. As a trainer I would have supported and defended Shani's decision."- Henk



"Hi Patrick

In my opinion sport is meant to bring togeather "teams" of people from differents cultures and ethnic backgrounds to break social barriers in the community. Team play in sport i think is very important and so i agree with the americans that he has gone over with the team spelling it wrong and including an I.

However; i also understand that personal goals are a big motivator in sport, and are very important to individuals. it could be a once in a lifetime experience for him, and so he wants to be remembered and for america to be proud of him. i also believe that him winning that medal will have contributed some what to americas team chances of high overall positions,
and the country wont be moaning when they have got 1 more medal to show off than a perhaps "better" country.

But like i said to start, sport is a team event and brings people togeather who wouldnt normally come togeather, and sports people should do everything they can to promote this to fans, viewers, amateur sports people, and the world."
- Andy



"Patrick

In my (fairly long) experience, athletes (by which I mean track and field athletes) are among the friendliest, nicest people I know. If you are to reach your potential as an athlete, however, you do need to do whatever it takes (absent any form of cheating, which is abhorrent) to become as good as you can. Inherent in this is an element of selfishness, since it means,
at the very least, spending less time with friends or family because you are devoting more time to training.

I know little about speed skating, although I enjoy watching it, but there do seem, in this context, to be strong parallels with running. The issue here seems to me to arise principally because of the order of the events. In a summer Olympics, for example, the 4x100m and 4x400m relays are the last events, after the athletes have taken part in their individual events. Whilst the relays are undoubtedly important and legitimate races, my view is that they come second to the individual events. As a spectator, I want to know who the best in the world is, and want to see that athlete at his or her very best. If the relays were run first, and those atheletes took part in them, there must surely be a risk that they leave a little bit of
themselves behind in those relay runs, with the result that the individual performances are less than they might have been. This seems a little unfair to the spectator, and hugely unfair to the competitor, who sacrifices so much time and effort to his or her sport.

So, if I'd been Shani, and the relays took place before the individual event, I would have done the same as him. If they took place afterwards, I would have taken part in them (and would have devoted the necessary time to training as a relay squad).

Does that make me selfish?"
- Nick




"Morning Patrick,

This is a well debated fact, that there are so many team sport events that i feel sport (individual) must not be judged.

If and when and individual feel that he / she is a team player there are so many sporting events to take part and become a team member. When an athlete is focused on his / her individual event, must be given the opportunity to perform to his / her fullest potential. After all, not everyone can and will win Gold.

Every sporting event has a certain amount of individualism attached. My personal opinion, he was 100% correct in his decision to first of all try and do his best for what he trained. What is the need of GOAL SETTING if you are not able to reach that goal, and rather share a might win with 3 other role players.

It is so easy to blame your fellow team mates if the team does not succeed. But when you have a goal in an individual event, you and you alone are to blame if not succeeded. That after all is why one choose an individual event To me a relay event is secondary, yet, important enough to endeavour to have the best options available.

The time spent on training for a relay event is so insignificant in comparison to the individual training schedule. Thus "selfish" is not even a word in my vocabulary when it come to individual events.

My experience with youth athletes is the team practice together with each one to his / her SPECIFIC training schedule and program. I also experience with the 32 athletes in my training camp that they not only perform individually, but when called upon perform also in team sport. They also become better leaders in their age groups and are more focused on the future 99.9% know what they want out of life, who they are and where they going to
Unfortunatley i am not able to say the same of the youth that is focused only on team sporting event.

They do not have the same dedication (as we say in Afrikaans VASBYT) as the youth in the individual events. The team player tend to back off when pressure (performance) is required relying on some one else to pull the wagon through the mud. Purely because he / she has the opportunity to blame the team mate for failure. (that happens throughout his / her life) Team
players also tend to be more aggressive when confronted with failure, and does not have the ability to seek the mistakes within.

Were by the athlete who partake in individual sport, also get aggressive, but know how to handle mistakes and tend to listen and try improve on his / her failures. Their leadership ability grow and develop much faster than that of team players.

Now you know were i stand on Shani`s decision"
- Dirk




"I think that the ratings for the Winter Olympics are tanking and NBC needs a sexy story to try to get more viewers. Sorry if that's simplifying things."
- Brian





"Team vs individual. This only conjurs up more questions in my mind. What is the legacy you wish to leave as an athlete? Do you have a chance at setting a world record mark or a gold medal by focusing on one event and eliminating the relay? Team sports will often focus on individual accomplishments, even changing gameplans to accomodate such achievments as an extra "at bat" or another carry of the ball when the game is in hand, or pass to a particular
player to score milestone points. These circumstances bother me far more than wanting to be the best you can be at one event, and knowing your body well enough to figure out what it will take for you to succeed."
- Mandy



"The individual goals must definitely come first, it is a pity they can't stage the relays a few days after the individual events are completed.

If athletes want to be part of a team sport then they should choose football or such.

Sports like Athletics, gymnastics etc.. are to test you as an individual against the rest, and in this case, the rest of the world.

I support Shani Davis, there is very little chance of winning a gold if you over compete and don't have sufficient recovery time. America should be proud of him and see him as the role model he is."
- Craig



"I think I would have done the same, its seems Shani Davis was given pretty minmal warning that he was needed for the team event, and I imagine when you've trained and made it to the olympics, you wouldn't want to diminish your chances by entering into a race that you wont be 100% prepared for, I mean if you think about, why is he there in the first place? To win a gold I would assume and if racing in the team race was seriously going to jeopardise that, then I think it's reasonable to say no to that offer. I think maybe chad Hendrik is there more selfish of the two, he seemed to be pretty set on breaking the record for number of gold won, and I think he clearly stated that the USA team would have had a much greater chance at that gold if Shani Davis had been in the team. Either way, Im sure it was a huge decision to make."
- Nicola



"My grandmother had an old saying "to yourself, be true", and it is an ethic I teach my children. Athletics, essentially, is an individual sport and the individuals involved work very hard to achieve their personal goals. If a "team" goal is not part of that athlete's personal
goal, then they should not be required to compete as part of the team. A team is made up of people who want to be involved. I think that those people who think that Shani was selfish, should actually be grateful that, by Shani not being in the team, he allowed someone else an
opportunity that they may not otherwise had had."
- Kerensa


"No speed skating isn't especially a team sport, and the athlete may do alot of solitary training and be unfamiliar with comeraderie and team concepts. Nevertheless I think Shani's actions were still selfish and I personally would have participated in the relay regardess of the consequences. Of course I'm probably egotistical enough to think it wouldn't have affected my individual efforts. Plus, he is also a member of the US Team. I don't think he was a trailblazer. Who cares what color the athlete is? Even mentioning that is a form of racism. However I don't think it has enough impact to negatively affect youth or American sports."
- Ed


"Shani made the right decision. If he didn't have a realistic chance to place it would be a different story. The fact is that he wanted to concentrate on winning the gold, and that's exactly what he did. Fuck everyone else."
- Kevin



"If Shani was excepted in the sport and treated as a team mate early on, he may have reacted differently. i don't know the whole story but if you ask me "what goes round comes round"."
- Frank




"Onto your subject!!! SHANI did what he had to do to win his event. PERIOD. CONGRATS to Shani and his achievement. Black, White, Pink or Green....... he did what he had to!!!

HATS OFF............"
- Demetra



"Not sure if this issue has an impact on youth sports but it certainly seems to be a reflection of sports/society in 2006. The concept of team/us in some sports is being sacrificed for the individual. From the outside looking in at the Davis issue he seems to be more concerned for himself and he wasn't overall concerned with his Olympic team. He practiced in Canada, He missed the opening ceramonies and he certainly was more concerned with his individual success vs the team. He worked hard to earn his medals and he should be proud of himself for wht he was able to accomplish.

As a youth coach of K to 8th graders in CYO I always emphasize team. I have my fastest runners particpate in relays to allow my slower runners a chance to medal and at the same time give my speedsters a chance to perform in dashes/runs to allow them to perform as individuals. We base our success as a team and that team is made up a number of individuals of varying degrees of abilities. If someone asks me what I would have done if I was Davis it would have been team first. But I am not Davis and he made decisions that he will have to live with."
- Susan



"Has a former world class sprinter know being 60 years old.All I can say is nonsense .You are there has an individual it is your race to enter or drop out off .These are individual sports apart from the relays .Most individuals never race well in a team event they never practice together never race together till the day of the event.Its about time we understood that these people have a path to take which is winning there individual race and that has to come first that is where their training lies.Maybe the USA team was a little short on talent this time around there should have been some back up for just this sort of situation .we never went into any event without a back up that could get the job done."- Chris



"If you have been following the Olympics at all I'm sure you heard the story about the (in)famous speed skater Shani Davis. If you haven't heard, here is a brief recap:
Shani Davis was competing in the 1000 meters and declined to be apart of a relay team, claiming he needed more time to prepare for the 1000. Another US speed skater Chad Hedrick, who was also in the 1000 meter race, wanted to be on the relay to help the US because, as he said he's 'a team player'.

In the gym, at the supermarket, even walking down to the beach I have heard people call Shani 'selfish', 'only in it for himself', and even 'un-American (whatever that means)'. On the news, some Europeans stated that Shani was ‘exactly what was wrong with America’.

I think this is an interesting topic especially for those who coach youth sports. Many people believe that if you are on a team, no matter how individual the sport may be, that the team comes first period. Think about the team first and yourself (records, personal goals, medals) second.

To add more to this story, Shani Davis became the first African-American man to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history when he won the 1000m speed skating race. Chad Hedrick did not medal in that race.

I know where I stand on this subject but I wanted to get your feedback. Where do you stand on this topic?

Was Shani just being 'selfish'?? Not sure, don't know the guy or his "story"

Was Shani a trailblazer and winning the gold medal is more of a historical significance then trying to help a relay team? Not sure, seems he may have been thinking about "his" goal only?

Is speed skating a team sport? Obviously there are some events where "team" is important

Does it have a negative effect on youth athletes and/or American sports? There are "way" too many negative effects on youth athlete's in America today, unfortunately most of it starts or ends with Coaches

If you were training all your life to win a gold medal in your sport would you help your fellow Americans out on a relay team if you know that it could affect your performance for your upcoming race? Absolutely, that's what you call "unselfish"

Would you have done the same thing that Shani did if you were in his place? Again not sure of all the details, but I'd say NO WAY, Country comes before self!! Team comes before self!!"
- Joel


"Patrick, I personally think that this matter should have been resolved by the coaches and athletes well before the olympics even started. You should not wait just before gametime and decide who is going to play."
- Bobby



"Reflecting on the issue of the olympics I believe you definently have to question the character of shani davis. He seemed more focused on acheiving his own personal goal than helping out his fellow teammates.Although becoming the first African American to compete and win in speed skating, people will always remember his so called selfious ambition to make a name for himself in history.Then again i don't remember speed skating being a team sport so it seemed as if he made the right decision for himself."
- Myron



"Patrick,

In regards to the Shani Davis situation, here are my thoughts...

Shani Davis is an athlete preparing years for a single series of events to race in, one of them being his shining point, the 1000m race. While he may be on 'Team USA' (Which every Winter Olympic athlete is, by the way, they are all part of a collective team representing the country), he didn't practice or prepare for such a relay event. I have seen relay teams work on finding the right mix of 'legs' in the relay race throughout a track season, and their intent is to find the right mix for success for the track team.

As far as I know from speedskating, the relay is a new event this year, and there is no collective points system for a winning overall team in speedskating, like there is in track & field.

So, with all of this bearing weight in the situation, I am for Shani Davis sitting out of the relays. He did not prepare to win a relay, he prepared for individual competition. His overall finishes in races did not contribute to a collective points system to determine an entire winning nation in speedskating. Thus, there is no 'team' at all for speedskating. I find it funny at this high international level of competition that the country's coach just collects a random bunch of guys who have never prepared as a team, to represent the team for this relay race.

To me, that's not good coaching. Its like going to a track meet, without a single practice with a collection of 4 sprinters for a 4x100m relay event. Then, all of a sudden, the coach picks 2, 100m and 2, 200m sprinters and says "you guys are in the 4x100, get ready." Do you really expect that team of conglomerates, who have had no practice at all in the event, to all of a sudden get it together in a miracle race and come up with a top finish? I don't see what the big issue is then, since the same scenario I just gave for track is the same that is done for the new speedskating relay race. To me, its a BS competition that proves nothing, because you
have no teamwork at all in the development of such a team to win."
- Rick




"The US Olympic Team is still spelled TEAM"
- Louis



"Live with intention. Practice wellness. Appreciate what you have, especially your friends.

Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Do what you love."
- Lou



"I think the entire Olympics are a team sport. You are supposed to be there representing your country first and individually second. Who paid Shani's way to Italy? I am sure it was thru the United States Olympic Committee, not the Shani Gold Medal Committee. I think he is extremely selfish, and if I had been captain of the US Speed Skating team, after he failed to show his team integrity, would have withdrawn him from all his races. This selfish individuality is what is corrupting sports in the US. Don't misunderstand me, individuality is great, but not at the cost of the team. There has to be a responsibility or obligation to something greater than personal ego. I think we can make a list of outstanding athletes who's team came first."
- Kurt



"Patrick,
There are too many questions to be answered before I could make a judgment about what Shani did or didn't do.
1. Is speed skating really a team sport (I am not familiar enough with the insides of the sport)?
2. What role does the team captain (Chad) play in this sport?
3. What role is expected of "the team?" Are they obligated to inform the captain or coach ahead of time of their intent? Are the racers names set for the relay before they set off for the Olympics?
4. Was Chad Hendrick upset about his own medal count or the USA medal count? Is he thinking of seeing his picture on the front of Wheaties?
5. Was it truly Shani's desire to be a trailblazer for minorities? If so, is that a higher calling than padding the USA medal count?

The drive for fame and fortune can do some strange things. But no man knows the heart, even our own can be deceptive. Only God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart."
- JG



"Hey Pat,

If I'm mistaken about this let me know, but, I heard on the news that Chad Hendrick made his comment because one of his really good friends, who happens to be a speed skater on the team also, was going for 5 gold medals. They knew that if Shani Davis skated in the 1000 team event, the friend would accomplish this task. Because Shani did not skate, he was "not a team player".

How sad is that.

Shani Davis accomplished a feat in which African-Americans to be extremely proud.

If he had sacrificed his individual gold for the team, does anyone out there really believe that the African-American skater who UNSELFISHLY helped the Caucasian skater win 5 golds would have gotten even a mention in the news. Would the Caucasian skater have made mention of this UNSELFISH act in his apparences on the TODAY show, REGIS & KELLY and the rest of his post olympic engagements?

I THINK NOT!!!

African-Americans have gone through this time and time again. We were good enough to fight for this country as a TEAM, meanwhile, we could not sit down in the same reatrurants, drink at the same water coolers as the rest of the TEAM!!

Shani's accomplishment was for the greater good of this country! He is a Hero!"
- Paul



"Since I am not an elite athlete, I feel like my opinion only goes so far, but here it is...

While I do believe in team spirit and supporting your country, I believe that you need to take care of yourself first and foremost. I am quite sure that Shani's decision to drop out of the team event wasn't easy for him to make, but ultimately he knew what his priorities were and choose to honor that. My only wish is that he would have informed his team mates earlier. (of course with all this fall out- perhaps that's why he didn't let anyone know until the last minute) It is unfortunate that this is happening, but with having your whole life (which seems to be what it takes to be an Olympic athlete) be about winning a gold medal in one particular event, I
have a really hard time criticizing Shani for doing what he felt he had to do."
- Angela



"I just wanted to chime in on the Shani Davis story.

Personally, I believe Shani did the right thing "for him." He has always dreamed of winning a gold medal and he achieved that goal. Even if it meant not competing in the team relay.

After hearing many stories about this incident, I believe I am beginning to see things a little more clearly. From my understanding Shani was not on the relay to begin with, and it wasn't until Chad Hedrick realized he had an opportunity to get five (5) golds that they asked Shani to be a part of the relay team.

I personally believe Chad is angry with Shani not because of the "teams" pursuit of gold, but because of "Chads" pursuit of gold.

Shani Davis is an American who achieved his goal of winning a Gold medal and a silver I might add, for himself and his country the United States of America. Now if that makes him selfish so be it. But he achieved what he set out to do. Chad on the other hand??? and it's not Shani's fault he did not achieve his goal."
- Scoob



"Patrick: Well being Canadian , I feel that I should keep my opinons about Americians to myself.
BUT, If he is sponsored by the TEAM then he should be helping the TEAM. Being in such great shape should HAVE lots left over for his own gold attempt in the 1000."
- Dan



"Mr. Davis did the right thing. Win the Gold then talk later."
- Rich




"Patrick,

I understand Shani Davis pulled out of the team relay competition just a few days before. He has his right to pull out, but I'm not buying it. If your going to commit yourself to an event than just do it. I think he sold out his teammates and america in that respect.

I also feel guys like Roger clemens and Brett Favre should step up and say Either I'm retiring or I'm playing, instead of continuing to hold off on their decisions...."
- Jay


"Dear patrickbeith.
Greetings to you again. About the olympics l see it that was very nics. About Shani Davis he try his best to win the olympics winter. That is nics, But l ask what make him go out from teams."
- Bembe



"I can understand how both Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick feel about this situation. What I don't understand is how the US Speed skating coaches and officials let this situation fester until the last minute. Shouldn't they already have a roster set for the pursuit relay team? This should never be an issue that is solved at the last minute. They have had months to resolve this. Even if they don't know what skater is going to be in the position for a medal, they should have alternate plans for the any of the scenarios.

I blame the shortsightedness of the coaches and officials. Because of the coach's and official's lack of planning these fine athletes are taking the brunt of the negative criticism when they should be honored and held in high esteem for their hard work and dedication."
- George




"This is a very difficult question. My answer is it depends. It depends on if Shani knew before the Olympics that he was going to skate in relay. If so, then Shani is wrong. If he didn't know, or wasn't asked to participate until he arrived at the Olympics, then what Shan did is OK with me. Because to me going for the gold is what the Olympics is all about."
- Paul




"I would have elected not to participate in the relay. You make the team on individual merit. It is a team in name only. A team is a number of persons associated together in work or activity. Speed skating is an individual sport. The relay is secondary.

To be the first black American to win the gold was very important."
- Craig




"Hi Patrick,
Sure helping out the speed skating team is important...but by winning the gold medal he was helping out the US team. The US team is an even bigger team than the relay team. I do not think Shani Davis was being selfish in choosing not to compete in the relay. You cant have too much on your plate at one time and if he tried to do both he might have hurt himself and then where would we be, we wouldn't have a person for the relay or for the 1000 meter race. Shani Davis did what he felt was best for him. As for what I would have done I cannot say because I am not in that position."
- Danielle




"No i don,t think he's selfish, he trained hard for the events that he skated. fathermore if a team mate and not the coach critisize, it holds no weight. skate you game not your team mates. for example. if carl lewis was ask to run a leg on the mile relay, i think he would decline, because he had not trained to run the race."
- David



"I do not think that Shani Davis committed a sin against his team for what he did. The way he did it may have been the real issue. Had he discussed this with Chad or his coach more prior more completely, maybe much of the problem would have been prevented as far as the bad feelings. He has every right to control his involvement in this competition. To each his own. This is not a basketball game where the only score that matters is the team score. The individual performance comes first, then the team in this situation in my opinion. That's why they give individual medals." - Mark



"Yes, I have been following the Speed Skating Drama as the media like to refer to it. It certainly give the media something to talk about because so few of them have any real knowledge on sports and the training required they are for the most part not capable of putting together any meaningful commentary.

Certainly there are two side to the story. There was no prior planning for the Team Pursuit and it is possible that Shani Davis had put together a training plan which the additional competition would have significantly disrupted. Having said that I think we would have all preferred for him to have competed but it was his chose. By the way where were the coaches in all of this and what was their role in putting the Team Pursuit team together.

Remember, medal count is not a part of the Olympics it is done by the media to make a story."
- Troy



"being a new zealander living in ireland and lived in australia i have seen a bit and being a rugby player have thrived in the team environment, your results will definitely increase as your teams results do, there is a time when some athletes are being held back by the team through individualism and creativity being held in check by the disciplined and structured
environment. there does come a time when the team should come after yourself, one such occassion when this happens and there is no complaint from team is when you have an injury. i woukld support shani and hope the rest of the team would as he won gold, god help him if he had of lost though and the relay team gold, lucky him. most of the athletes saying he was
selfish have and maybe neve will be in the position to a ribbon let alone an olympic gold medal, well done shani"
- Robert




"I feel that he after training 17 years and coming from relatively poor situation and sacrificing so much And being black he should not have been criticized for going for himself. If he sacrificed his chance at a gold medal and lost the 1000, people would have dismissed him for folding under pressure and kicked him to the curb. No one would have come to his rescue if he lost the 1000. He did the right thing by not skating on the relay -- they might have lost anyway. The relay team never got past the quarter finals.?? Then he would have nothing to show for 17 years of sacrifice. No one remembers a loser. Of course, he expected the public to endorse his decision. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Bill Cosby said "The quickest way to failure is to try to please everyone." Dammit --he won and made history. He irritated a few spoil sports but so what?"
- Ed


"I think Shani is totally right on. I live in a little town in Oregon, no black people, but I think Shani as an athlete was exactly right when he said, "Would Hedrick have done the relay if his 5k race was the next day?" I don't think so. We have, what, 2 more also on that relay? I think Shani straight forward attitude is a great example to kids. Only the rednecks will have trouble with the patriotic bullshit."- Tom




"Was Shani just being 'selfish'??

Was Shani a trailblazer and winning the gold medal is more of a historical significance then trying to help a relay team?

Is speed skating a team sport?

Does it have a negative effect on youth athletes and/or American sports?

If you were training all your life to win a gold medal in your sport would you help your fellow Americans out on a relay team if you know that it could affect your performance for your upcoming race?

Would you have done the same thing that Shani did if you were in his place?

My understanding is that Davis was asked at the last minute. This is key to my thoughts. Probably the best thing would have been if he could have joined his teammates on the relay AND won his gold in the 1000. That would have been more realistic if the invitation had been
extended prior to the Games. But it really seems that Hedrick used the late invite and Davis' decision not to compete as an opportunity to grandstand against Davis. It makes me wonder if there were other issues below the surface.

I would not use the word selfish to describe Davis. He is most definitely a trailblazer but I would never assume that that's why he opted out of the relay. I think he just wanted to win his primary event. Even if he hadn't been a "trailblazer."

It sounds as though he is quite solitary, but I don't think that is a statement on his personality or worth. Some people just aren't loudmouths.

If you're mostly a time-trialer as you are in the 1000, I think you're an individual athlete first and part of a team second. Davis brought glory to his team and the U.S. by perfecting his individual performance.

I am not really sure what I would have done in Davis' place.

One thing Davis had that Hedrick did not was sportsmanship after the fact. In the footage I viewed, Davis was gracious even in the face of insults. Hedrick, IMO, was a little bitch. HIs comments were not what I would extend, especially to the media, about my teammate. They make me question his teamsmanship. Yet there are people who say the opposite."
- Karen




"I think it is very important for professionals to clearly know what they are there to represent; their goals and the goals of the sponsors and team need to be clearly defined from the get go. Another words communication!!!! If you compare to the team spirit of the tour de France; the team members are there strictly for Lance Armstrong; that is their sole purpose and what they were being paid for. I don't know how it actually works with the Olympics but surely everyone knows up front who is doing what and for whom????"
- Kathy




"If I were Shani I most probably would have done the same thing speed skating is an individual event such as summer games sprints, the relay is the best of the individual sprinters put together to give those that wish the opportunity to compete again as most races do not last for very long. As to Shani being un-american i would say that he is very american."
- Maria



"just so you know i am not racially bias, i am an irish-american not african-american. that being said I think Shani Davis absolutely did the right thing. At the point in the olympics when shani declined to race in the relay chad already had his first olympic gold medal , shani had not yet competed in the 1000 meters and since speed skating is primarily an individual sport first and a team sport second he should not have risked his chance for himself, and the U.S.A. to get an olympic gold medal. in my opinion Chad was the one being more selfish because he would deprive Shani a chance to pursue a gold medal so he could have a shot at equaling Eric Heidens olympic record of 5 golds in a single olympic winter game. why this viewpoint is not discussed in the media is beyond me unless I am the only one who feels that way, curious to know how many others share my opinion."
- Randy




"I had never heard of Shani Davis until the Olympics. I support what he did. As a competitive athlete I have done my best when I have done things for myself and I have often sold out to try to please others or follow the crowd - ususally with lousy results. Its his life; where were the people criticizing him when he was at the Olympics? I am Canadian - and someone is always criticizing our athletes when they don't come through in the clutch - as Shani did."
-Tyler



"Shani Davis should be awfully proud of what he achieved and every supporter should be too. He worked extremely hard for his chance to win a gold medal and become an Olympic champion.He had not worked for hours and hours to become a medalist in the relay but the hours where spent on his individual pursuit.Although now an important event, i always saw the relay event as a final bit of fun. Yeh a team event i agree but each individual member trained for their own gain and not for the relay.Shani achieved his ultimate goal and well done.What was Michael Johnson's goal ? To be the greatest ever 200m/400m sprinter or to be a relay team member. Need i ask?"
-RW



"I'm a runner, have been for 25 years.
Relay medals are icing on the cake, they don't have the emotional significance of an individual medal, even the GB sprint team in Athens who ran a fantastic team race would all trade in their gold for an individual bronze. If the speed skating relay was before the individual race then they should do a bit of re-scheduling."
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Sample Workouts:

1. Fly 20s, 30s and 40s:
Place a cone at the starting line, at 15y, at 35y and at 55y. Accelerate hard to the first cone (15y). Maintain the speed you have generated by running relaxed and following the maximum velocity cues from 15 – 35y. Once you hit 35y, slowly decelerate for the next 20y coming to a full stop at the last cone. This is a fly 20. Once you are comfortable holding that speed for 20y, you can move the second cone to 45y (fly 30s) and 55y (fly 40s). Total volume for these workouts should be between 250 – 350 yards.

2. Sprint/Float/Sprint
Place a cone at the starting line, 15y, 25y, 35y, 45y and at 65y. Accelerate hard to the first cone (15y). Maintain a hard sprint for 10y, focusing on maintaining the speed and intensity created during acceleration. Once you hit the next cone (25y) go into a float by easing back in intensity (don’t try to continue to get faster) without losing any speed. At the next cone (35y) go back to a hard sprint, running at full intensity and trying to increase your speed. At the next cone (45y), shut down by slowly coming to a stop. You should not be at a complete stop before the final cone at 65y, giving you a full 25 yards to slow down.