Ronald on the role

And Ronald is back from 3 weeks in Stellenbosch.
Offcourse I tried to keep up with whats was going on. On the other hand.... I knew he was in very good hands so for me it was a kind of a holiday from paralympic-issues.

Until..... Ferenc told me he was frustrated about Ronalds backache.
DAMN.... NOT AGAIN!
He's didn't had a backache since we train with Ferenc.
He trained hard on his new back-excercises and technique... SO... ????
Not that I could change anything about this but Africa felt further away then I hoped.

The day after this frustrating message Ronald let me know he didn't train because the training-building was closed on a sunday ....and his javelins were in the building.

DAMN..... What's happening ? where is the focus ??????

You don't want to know what I thought. I don't want to recap.

Than the next day. SUPRISE ME ! preferable with good news.
It was the day he threw full force but technically as focusses as possible.
59,20 !!!  in training.... in januari.....in an olympic year.

as I said: he was in very good hands!
I will hear about it next wednesday....can't wait


It all started in juli 2011, budapest. Here just 3 minutes before our first meeting with Ferenc Paragi.

Just some facts to put the above in perspective:
Ronalds personal best and European record: 56,76 mtr

A once in a lifetime experience

Oke, we've had New Year's Eve and so every top-athlete has twittered that 2012 started.  Surprise....
"The most important year of my life."   "The year dreams will come true" etc etc
Hashtags like: #focusLondon  #onto2012 #DPTontherole etc etc

And Ronald.... a master in excuses why he's unable to keep fans, familie and sponsors up-to-date. Busy busy busy.
Just hope he's busy going for gold. To all fans of him: I know he is.
Last january 10th he flew with the Dutch Paratletics Team to South Africa. No difference in time (no jetlag) and a lot of sun!

photographer: Teammate Stefan Rusch / januari 2012 Stellenbosch RSA

But...the perfect place to train should bring more than just a lot of sun.

As you know by now we search for the perfect coach to help him.

Our plan to take the perfect route to gold, by working with Ferenc Paragi, continues.

Ferenc is coaching him in the next 3 weeks. A once in a lifetime experience!!

it can't get any COOLER in the sun!

Good luck to them both! After what I've seen in the last 2 month in Rotterdam I expect it to be thrilling.


London and beyond part II

Six weeks ago we were in Budapest to get a kick-start from Ferenc. As for all other Paralympians a tough few weeks followed, if I should believe their moaning tweets....Since than Ronald grew in every way you can think of. Technically, phycically, focus, determination, stamina etc. etc.

It took me back to were he was 6 years ago.Not to difficult, since I'm traning Robin now. As mentioned before; Robin is were Ronald was 6 years ago.He benifits from our experience and is eager to follow in Ronalds footsteps.

So... here's some footage from training the both of them.
Good for a laugh now... but Robin will be laughing in Rio2016

***

time to relax

Time for hard training and time to have fun.

Sure we could get back to Rotterdam in a hurry. I've got a job waiting and one look at my iphone is enough to see that I should get back. But after eight days of hard training (for Ronald) and me observing, filming and learning too offcourse, we added one more day to our stay in Budapest.

No javelin throwing, no ball throwing, no throwing weight around.... just have fun with

the World Championship: Mobile phone throwing!

Yesterday my video-camera went into a coma. But today he sometimes woke up from it:

Tweet  from @ronaldhertog: BAM! And suddenly I'm a worldrecordholder in mobielphonethrowing for amputees #expectedmore #57,42m #trickierthanyoumightthink

Our plane to Holland will leave tomorrow afternoon. So just enough time for one last training on monday-morning! Needles to say it was GREAT!

a paralympic-mode

Besides Ronald I also give training to another amputee. He's now where Ronald was 6 years ago. Just starting. Since I'm here it's all athletics (on my mind) so surely I think about his road to Rio2016. By mail we discussed how many times he's planning to train and we both spilled our wishes in terms of training.

So all I said was:

- Your training for Rio starts this winter

- There will be no excuses to skip a training.

- If you got some small wounds on your stump... we find alternative excercises

- If you lose focus on the training...be sure I will lose focus on you

He asked me: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but...is it something I said  or did?"

Oeps... no son, don't worry... just get used to it.

Ronald and Robin



Maybe not the way to go with every youngster in my group (he wouldn't be the first to flee). But I guess I just expect a bit more from a potential Paralympian. A bit harsh...but Ronald set the standard for me.

Others benefit from what Ronald and I had to find out for ourselves and from our experience in the last few years. You can't blame me for expecting something back.

This morning no training for Ronald. So we sat down at  Budapest Starbucks and together we wrote a nice schedule for Robin.  Being in a Paralympic-mode we realize he's going to need the support from both of us :-)

over before you now it

And yes... summer in Budapest is gone. Not to worry, they have a great indoor facility with 6 lanes of 60 mtr and enough room for gymnastics, throwing in nets, highjump, shotput and discus. An old facility but complete. As I said yesterday trainingschedule for throwing and weightlifting were made by Ferenc. I incorporated it in Ronalds week.

Quite a puzzle considering:

- he needs and wants to train certain hour with the paralympic team (to keep up the spirit, get inspired by others and sometimes inspire other worldclass Dutch athletes)

- I can only be available one evening and in weekends (being a clubcoach a.k.a. volunteer with a mission)

- it would be nice if he can join the long jump training once a week (since he want to jump in Londen2012 as well)

- We don't want him to train alone

But while Ronald was throwing some shots around I work my way through all mentioned above. Having a indoorhall as an office for one morning. I think we did it. I don't expect Ronald to be thrilled about it. The only thing he gets thrilled about by now is the promise we don't train tomorrowmorning. :-)

Six week will be tough but after that it's get more specific and exciting. That with planning a good rhythm in new get togethers with Ferenc, the winter will be exciting and over before he knows it.

Two champs collaborating

No time to write today. After diner at 'Champs'... the perfect place for Ronald to let his mind wander off to big things next year.... I found a new schedule from Ferenc in my inbox for the upcoming six weeks. So today I leave you with a nice view.