The guys in the down jackets are going to have to back down on this
one. The hue and cry from the skiing community has been overwhelming.
It has even been mentioned in parliament. I think it points out to
systemic problems with the way CCC operates (basically as a silo cut
off from the grassroots ski community).
There was a good article here that summarizes many of the issues:
http://www.corussports.com/divers/pi...5-1545811.html
As Donald Farley, Salt Lake Olympian puts it at the end of the
article, the organization is supposed to work for the athletes, not
the other way around.
Alex's father makes some points a good father would make. I think I
can summarize a few of them although my french is still at the early
learners phase:

- They the athlete out of a milieu that works for him, making him
quit school at age 18 and go and live thousands of km away.
- When the athlete is finished his career without education and job
prospects, they drop him on the street.
- They want to force him to do a long dryland training camp in
California in October of the Olympic year. Every year the CNEPH guys
to to Ramsau to do on ski training and test skis. Pierre doesn't
think another long dryland camp with lots of running makes sense for
Alex at that time of year. Why change the routine that works months
before the Olympics?
- Last year CCC hired a foreign coach for a huge sum of money and then
parted company 6 months later during the lead up to the Olympics. (Yet
they want to deny Alex the $15K extra he would have got if he agreed
to all the training camps?)
- Then skiers from the CNEPH group that Alex trains with had the best-
ever performance by a North American team at the world U23/Juniors
last winter, so they must be doing the right things. Why mess with
that?
- It is better for Alex to recover and regain his motivation where he
is comfortable, otherwise he may arrive at the Olympics tired,
unmotivated...I can't translate "faire patate aux olympiques"
directly, but it translates to "bomb".
His phrase was "Il va arriver en février l'année prochaine,
complètement écoeuré et démotivé et il risque de faire patate aux
olympiques s'il n'a pas de plaisir".
- His comment on the high-performance director:
« C'est certain que Holland est quelqu'un de très entêté. Il fait un
programme et croit que tout le monde doit se mettre à genoux devant
lui. Si tu as Wayne Gretzky et Guy Lafleur dans une même équipe, tu
sais qu'ils auront des demandes différentes »
He's saying is a bit stubborn in the head. He has his programme and
expect everybody to drop to their knees before him. If you had Wayne
Gretzky and Guy Lafleur (hockey players, for those in Europe) on the
same team, you would treat them differently

Basically, with all the arbitrary-seeming personnel changes and
generally bad decision-making going on, why would he trust them with
his son's future? I wouldn't.


Chris
Chris




The main issue seems to be with the high performance director, who