Ellis Edge: for Maximum Power and Speed on the Ice.
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  • Skating Tips
    • ⛸ TECHNICAL >
      • ⛸ CORNERS >
        • The Corner Lay In
        • Corners – Working the Right Hip on the Lay In
        • Bringing Right Hip Forward in Corner
        • Chest In to Corner
        • Moving Hips in the Corner
        • Moving Hips In to Push
        • Off Ice Training with Straps – Part 1 of a 2 Part Series
        • On Ice Training with Straps – Part 2 of a 2 Part Series
        • Bucket Drills
        • Partner Pull / Chair Push
        • The Corner Arm Swing
      • ⛸ POSITION >
        • Starting the Season Off Right
        • Taking Care of the Small Things
        • The 3 Keys Checklist – Find the Key in the Basics First!
        • Skating with Your Core
        • The Basic Position – The Arch
        • A Time to Get High, A Time to Get Low
        • Upper Body / Chest Position
        • Check Your Butt!
        • Butt Power
        • The Butt Tuck
        • Hip Dip
        • Bend the Ankle
      • ⛸ STARTS >
        • The Tip Over Toe Start
        • Start Technique
        • Start Position
      • ⛸ STRAIGHTAWAYS >
        • Press In to Push
        • Presscoopinchpushpinish
        • Gather the Power
        • Transferring Power from Ball of Foot to Ice – The Ankle Snap​
        • Transferring Power from Hip to Ball of Foot
        • Transferring Power Hip to Hip
        • Accelerating Your Weight In to Your Push
        • Japanese Four Eyes Technique
        • Delaying the Push – Straightaways
        • The Straightaway Shuffle
      • ⛸ TRACKS >
        • Tracks
        • Entry and Exit Width
        • Entry and Exit Trajectory
        • The Extra Crossover
        • Punching Through Centrifugal Force – Position and Alignments
        • Converting from 4 to 2 Strides on Straight
      • ⛸ ASSORTED TECHNICAL >
        • Relay Racing – Part 1 – Skater Roles and Laps
        • Relay Racing – Part 2 – The Exchange, Training Ideas
        • Skating with Your Core
        • Why Are The Koreans So Good?
        • Technical Opinions Can Be Confusing
        • The Outside Edge – Is It Overrated?
        • Diagonal Hill Steps
    • 🏃 TRAINING >
      • 🏃 PLANNING >
        • Off Season Rest and Recovery
        • Building Endurance
        • Summer Training
        • Train Fast to Skate Fast
        • Tapering
        • Time Trialing
      • 🏃 SPECIFIC >
        • Specificity in Training
        • Specific Skating Training – Is Your Plan Specific Enough?
        • Warm Ups and Warm Downs
        • Off Ice Balance, Agility, and Co-ordination Training
        • Dynamic Flexibility Training
        • Flexibility Training a Must for Speed Skaters
        • Maximize Your Results with TECHNI-CORDS
        • Improving Your Power with Jumps
        • ​Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 1 – Straightaway
        • Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 2 – Straightaway Jumps
        • Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 3 – Corners
        • Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 4 – Starts
        • Training for Starts
        • Relay Racing – Part 1 – Skater Roles and Laps
        • Relay Racing – Part 2 – The Exchange, Training Ideas
        • Bucket Drills
        • Partner Pull / Chair Push
        • Core Strength for Speed Skating
        • General Core Strength, by Brandon Aldan
      • 🏃 YOUTH >
        • Training Young Athletes 16 and Up
        • Training Young Athletes 12-15 Year Olds
        • Training Young Athletes Under 12
        • Youth Strength Training
    • 🏆 STRATEGY AND TACTICS >
      • Strategy and Tactics – Part 1 – Overview
      • Strategy and Tactics – Part 2 – Controlling the Pace and Track
      • Strategy and Tactics – Part 3 – The Moves and Counter Moves
      • Start Strategy
      • Time Trialing
      • The Slingshot Pass
      • The Outside Pass
      • The Inside Pass
      • Punching Through Centrifugal Force – Position and Alignments
      • Using Strategy and Tactics Under the New Rules
    • 🧠 PSYCHOLOGY >
      • How 5'5" Brandon Todd Learned to Dunk a Basketball
      • Strategy for Success
      • John Wooden on Success
      • What Do You Have to Brag About?
      • FOCUS!
      • IT – The Success Factor
      • To Try Is to Fail
      • It's All About Winning
      • How to Parent an Athlete: Lessons from a Swim Meet
      • Children in Athletics
      • Early Star vs Late Bloomer
      • Time Trialing
      • The Competition Plan
      • Start Technique
      • Post Season Evaluation
    • 🚑 SAFETY >
      • Concussions in Speed Skating
      • Safety! Is Your Child Truly Protected? – Part 1
      • Safety! Is Your Child Truly Protected? – Part 2
      • Dyneema Undersuits
    • 🚦 RULES >
      • Important Short Track Rule Changes for 2014-2015
      • Important Short Track Rule Changes for 2012
      • Using Strategy and Tactics under the New Rules
      • Important Short Track Rule Changes for 2010
    • 🧰 OTHER >
      • Ankle Pronation: Effects in Skating
      • Fair Play in Sports
      • Celebrating 100 Skating Tips of the Month!!
      • Sharpening Tips and Tricks
      • Cashing in on Olympimania to Promote Your Club
      • 75 Great Reasons to Train
      • Summer Games
      • Games
      • Masters Skating
      • Setting Up Blade Offset
  • Sue Ellis Bio
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Camps

It’s All About Winning

By Susan Ellis, March 2005

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Ever since I can remember I loved to compete in sports. Didn’t much matter which ones, pick-up baseball and street hockey, softball, track and field, field hockey, speed skating, whatever. If there was a high energy sport going on around me I was in there like a dirty shirt. And I hated to lose, or at least I thought so. Losing made me downright angry. Not a pretty picture at times. (And yes, I am blushing with embarrassment over my childhood antics.) I don’t remember anyone taking me aside and adjusting my attitude, although maybe they did and I was just too stubborn to listen.

I think my changing perspective of sport was a veeeerrry slow evolution. I remember the day my high school field hockey team was beaten out for the provincial championship by another highly skilled team. We played our hearts out, played very well, and lost on penalty shots. So why didn’t I feel so bad about losing that match? I really felt like a winner that day. Strange!

I remember the day I came second in a race at a North American Championships – a race I fully expected to win. I got off to an unusually slow start. All I can remember about the race is passing like crazy, just going for it. It still wasn’t enough to win, though. But the awesome feeling of those crazy passes is one I’ll never forget. And again I felt like a winner.

As for races that I won, I can honestly say I only remember one. And I think I only remember it because my coach told me my time could have been so much better if I’d focused on my technique rather than just going out and hacking it. That ticked me off because it was a North American record! What the heck was he yammering about. As I thought about it later that night, I started laughing at myself. Yep, I probably looked like a chicken trying to cross an icy road, and by golly he was right! Yes, I got a record, but did I really win? Not all the way, although I can still allow a pat on the back for the fast time. (Thanks, Yvon).

I don’t quite know when it happened but there came a day when I finally realized that although I loved to win, or hated to lose, whatever way you want to term it, I loved just putting out very best effort and performance more.

What a weight off my shoulders! I found a new way to win! And the more I did it, the better I felt! Even in training, I often found myself picking days where I decided I was going to be champion of the world (training wise that is). And guess what – pretty soon I was champion of the world more days than not. What an awesome feeling! Although I never got to skate in a world championship, I am proud of the effort I put into trying to get there.

After coaching for so many years I see myself in many of the young kids coming up. Of course they want to win. Our jobs as coaches and parents is to teach them that there are many ways to win. When we react in a negative manner when a kid doesn’t win or are happy and provide positive feedback only when they do win we send a clear message that the outcome is the only thing that matters.

At a recent competition a parent was quite irate because he thought his son had not tried his best and was heading to chew him out. I stopped him and asked to talk to the boy first. When I asked the boy how he felt about his race he told me he felt he skated a very good technical race. Score! He said he may have been able to go faster but he kept his main focus. Score again! And now for the third home run – he set a 2 second personal best! I forget where he actually finished in that race, but that kid really won, didn’t he?
Down, dad, down! (By the way, dad, if you know who you are, thanks for listening first. You are going to make a great skating dad!)

Another young fellow had already won one medal in the competition. In the next race he did not advance to the final. He was behind right from the start of the race and kind of gave up. He came off the ice angry and crying because he could not win the competition now. We discussed behaviour expectations, true champions, champions in life show sportsmanship in winning and also when they don’t win. But more importantly we discussed what winning meant in the wide scope of things. Would his Mom, Dad, coaches love him if he won. Of course we would. Would we love him if he didn’t. Of course we would. Would we love him if he won with grace – yes. Would we love him if he threw a tantrum if he lost – yes, of course, but we would be very disappointed in his behaviour as it is not what we expect of a true champion. We told him that above all else we wanted him to build character, being a good sport while putting everything he had into trying to win, and accepting when he didn’t win. Well, the next race he didn’t win either, but I can tell you that boy is proud of the effort he put into trying. So he did win after all. (C – I’m proud of the champion you are becoming.)

So, parents and coaches, if we ask the kids to put winning and competition in perspective, then we have to do the same. Ya, ya, ya, I know, we’re all just trying to do our best for our kids. But ask yourself if your actions really reflect what is best for your CHILD. Are your actions/words helping or hurting? If you are angry and bickering with other parents, trust me, YOUR KID WILL KNOW about it and this takes away from the joy of sport. Are you instilling that winning is the only acceptable thing or are you teaching them other ways to win? If you want your child to be a true champion, then your actions and words must reflect it.

Out of all the hundreds of you that will read this perhaps only one or two or none of your kids will go on to Olympic Games. If they do, that’s great, and I sincerely hope they are truly great champions in all ways. For the rest of the kids, they will outgrow that Category 1 skin suit they earned or it will become tattered, torn and forgotten in some corner of their closet. Eventually it will be thrown in the garbage. When they grow up and leave the nest their medals and trophies will be left behind for you to dust (sorry Mom).

What they will have to take with them is memories. And it’s up to all of us, athletes, parents, and coaches to make sure they are good ones. So let them play, and laugh, and make friends, and help them to put in best efforts always, and help them to win races with grace and lose with grace, and teach them there are many ways to win and be a champion.

Have Fun and Happy Skating!
  • Home
  • Skating Tips
    • ⛸ TECHNICAL >
      • ⛸ CORNERS >
        • The Corner Lay In
        • Corners – Working the Right Hip on the Lay In
        • Bringing Right Hip Forward in Corner
        • Chest In to Corner
        • Moving Hips in the Corner
        • Moving Hips In to Push
        • Off Ice Training with Straps – Part 1 of a 2 Part Series
        • On Ice Training with Straps – Part 2 of a 2 Part Series
        • Bucket Drills
        • Partner Pull / Chair Push
        • The Corner Arm Swing
      • ⛸ POSITION >
        • Starting the Season Off Right
        • Taking Care of the Small Things
        • The 3 Keys Checklist – Find the Key in the Basics First!
        • Skating with Your Core
        • The Basic Position – The Arch
        • A Time to Get High, A Time to Get Low
        • Upper Body / Chest Position
        • Check Your Butt!
        • Butt Power
        • The Butt Tuck
        • Hip Dip
        • Bend the Ankle
      • ⛸ STARTS >
        • The Tip Over Toe Start
        • Start Technique
        • Start Position
      • ⛸ STRAIGHTAWAYS >
        • Press In to Push
        • Presscoopinchpushpinish
        • Gather the Power
        • Transferring Power from Ball of Foot to Ice – The Ankle Snap​
        • Transferring Power from Hip to Ball of Foot
        • Transferring Power Hip to Hip
        • Accelerating Your Weight In to Your Push
        • Japanese Four Eyes Technique
        • Delaying the Push – Straightaways
        • The Straightaway Shuffle
      • ⛸ TRACKS >
        • Tracks
        • Entry and Exit Width
        • Entry and Exit Trajectory
        • The Extra Crossover
        • Punching Through Centrifugal Force – Position and Alignments
        • Converting from 4 to 2 Strides on Straight
      • ⛸ ASSORTED TECHNICAL >
        • Relay Racing – Part 1 – Skater Roles and Laps
        • Relay Racing – Part 2 – The Exchange, Training Ideas
        • Skating with Your Core
        • Why Are The Koreans So Good?
        • Technical Opinions Can Be Confusing
        • The Outside Edge – Is It Overrated?
        • Diagonal Hill Steps
    • 🏃 TRAINING >
      • 🏃 PLANNING >
        • Off Season Rest and Recovery
        • Building Endurance
        • Summer Training
        • Train Fast to Skate Fast
        • Tapering
        • Time Trialing
      • 🏃 SPECIFIC >
        • Specificity in Training
        • Specific Skating Training – Is Your Plan Specific Enough?
        • Warm Ups and Warm Downs
        • Off Ice Balance, Agility, and Co-ordination Training
        • Dynamic Flexibility Training
        • Flexibility Training a Must for Speed Skaters
        • Maximize Your Results with TECHNI-CORDS
        • Improving Your Power with Jumps
        • ​Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 1 – Straightaway
        • Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 2 – Straightaway Jumps
        • Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 3 – Corners
        • Specific Strength, Power, Endurance – Part 4 – Starts
        • Training for Starts
        • Relay Racing – Part 1 – Skater Roles and Laps
        • Relay Racing – Part 2 – The Exchange, Training Ideas
        • Bucket Drills
        • Partner Pull / Chair Push
        • Core Strength for Speed Skating
        • General Core Strength, by Brandon Aldan
      • 🏃 YOUTH >
        • Training Young Athletes 16 and Up
        • Training Young Athletes 12-15 Year Olds
        • Training Young Athletes Under 12
        • Youth Strength Training
    • 🏆 STRATEGY AND TACTICS >
      • Strategy and Tactics – Part 1 – Overview
      • Strategy and Tactics – Part 2 – Controlling the Pace and Track
      • Strategy and Tactics – Part 3 – The Moves and Counter Moves
      • Start Strategy
      • Time Trialing
      • The Slingshot Pass
      • The Outside Pass
      • The Inside Pass
      • Punching Through Centrifugal Force – Position and Alignments
      • Using Strategy and Tactics Under the New Rules
    • 🧠 PSYCHOLOGY >
      • How 5'5" Brandon Todd Learned to Dunk a Basketball
      • Strategy for Success
      • John Wooden on Success
      • What Do You Have to Brag About?
      • FOCUS!
      • IT – The Success Factor
      • To Try Is to Fail
      • It's All About Winning
      • How to Parent an Athlete: Lessons from a Swim Meet
      • Children in Athletics
      • Early Star vs Late Bloomer
      • Time Trialing
      • The Competition Plan
      • Start Technique
      • Post Season Evaluation
    • 🚑 SAFETY >
      • Concussions in Speed Skating
      • Safety! Is Your Child Truly Protected? – Part 1
      • Safety! Is Your Child Truly Protected? – Part 2
      • Dyneema Undersuits
    • 🚦 RULES >
      • Important Short Track Rule Changes for 2014-2015
      • Important Short Track Rule Changes for 2012
      • Using Strategy and Tactics under the New Rules
      • Important Short Track Rule Changes for 2010
    • 🧰 OTHER >
      • Ankle Pronation: Effects in Skating
      • Fair Play in Sports
      • Celebrating 100 Skating Tips of the Month!!
      • Sharpening Tips and Tricks
      • Cashing in on Olympimania to Promote Your Club
      • 75 Great Reasons to Train
      • Summer Games
      • Games
      • Masters Skating
      • Setting Up Blade Offset
  • Sue Ellis Bio
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Camps
Copyright © 2002 – Ellis Edge
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