EJ photos and Judges USA Team Training in Augsburg

August 21, 2008

The air has been thick with European rivalry with North America being the target. It is something we aren’t used to when we are paddling in the USA. When Peter Czonka won the semi-finals in Prague, people from just about every European country was all fired up that a European beat the Americans and were calling him their hero. Many of us were quite taken back at first, but it is not an unhealthy rivalry, just one that we now know we are a part of like it or not. Many people turned out for this mornings first USA Training Slot in Germany. We have had open training so far, but today each country gets a short training slot for training together. I paddled early this morning before the official training times started so I could coach and take photos of the USA Team in Training. I figure that I might as well show what the USA Team looks like on the water. One thing is for sure, we bring a whole new meaning to “Big Air”. The Huge bonus is available to anyone who earns it, but the USA Team knows how to earn it consistently. The best boats for the job as well as the best technique for going big really are apparent when you watch. Stephen Wright and Jonathan Shales, and Jason Craig were captured on film this morning as I took a few photos of their first rides.

I spent the entire session judging each ride and timing them. We split the USA Team into two groups, each with 30 minutes of training time. During the second group, Jonathan Shales timed for us too. Good Job Jonathan.

Devon, Adrienne, Jessie Stone, Nicole, and Emily all paddled and all but Jessie and Devon are sick and not at full capacity. Jessie and Devon are working on their entry moves and getting good loops as well as cartwheels and splits and sometimes cleans. Nichole has a good loop, and Adrienne seemed tired this morning from being sick. Emily has her loop dialed in as well as cartwheel moves and a righty McNasty that will go.

In the Junior Class, Dane, Jason, Jonathan, and LP all paddled like Rock Stars. Huge Air and tons of great moves. Dane is doing the spinning moves, while Jonathan is doing the big aerial ones. LP is doing both as is Jason.

In the Senior Men’s K1 Class Stephen has the highest average score in the 700’s and has three in the 800’s. He consistently earns the Huge bonus on his loops and airwheels getting 400 points in three moves. He also has a snappy phonics monkey right and a blunt/mcnasty right. It is good to watch his rides which are quite different from mine, but the scoring of them is quite similar. Jed Selby is doing good cartwheel move and righty phonics and McNasty as well as air loops. Clay is also getting some of the huge bonuses on his loops and has a strong lefty mcnasty which is unusual for this hole. He is also nailing his back loops which look great. Dustin is also very consistent with phonics, mcnasty, loops, space Godzillas, etc.. Great scores by Dustin this morning.

I will be judging and scoring Nick and Ruth who are the sole Team Canada Representatives (and great ones!).

We’ll watch the Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders (assuming they don’t get in trouble for running a dam that they are doing right now), all paddle during the day. I’ll go and judge and score the French and Peter Czonka, as well as some of the British to see how they are stacking up on the day before prelims.

Personally I am finally feeling like I usually do and don’t feel like a fish out of water anymore. Prague was tough for me for some reason. So many things are different than normal. Kristine isn’t here, which is really weird. She is where I get my “feel good talks” to keep my confidence up when things are not ideal. She is also in the hospital and struggling with her pregnancy which makes it hard to live in the here and now. Many important things are happening at Jackson Kayak that other people are dealing with primarily as well, but I am trying to keep my eye on the ball there too. What is the most difficult for me to deal with is two sick kids that are close to needing to go home. Emily is so messed up that she has breathing issues, can’t sleep and can’t eat. We discussed her going home but she really is hopeful that she’ll improve and be fine. She has done only about 12 rides in the past week and most of them being the competition at Prague. She did three rides this morning and got out. I took her to the hospital but I am not sure how helpful that was. Dane is a fish out of water going from the most energetic of anyone I know to a zombie that sleeps and doesn’t eat much. I think he is coming out of it though. I have not ever been the good caretaker of sick kids as I want them to just suck it up and get better. I have been filling the role the best I can, however.

I am finally feeling the power of both confidence and a desire to win kicking in. This may be a week later than ideal, but still in time to win the over all World Cup if I paddle like I think I am going to. I am putting a wide range of moves together this time. Last week I tried to do a Phonics Monkey/MCnasty show like everyone else but it isn’t my style. This Week I will combine huge air with combos like the Air Loop/Lunar Orbit/Back Loop combo and linking split wheels and tricky woos. I’ll throw a McNasty in the mix as it is a move that was developed by me at Rock Island and is a favorite of mine. The Phonics Monkey is in the end, just because I wanted to do rides that are quite different from most that I am seeing. Peter Czonka uses his 185 pound all muscle body to throw his Project 52 around and looks a lot like Jay Kincaid did in his Crazy 88 back in the day. Peter has a lot in common with Jay in the way he throws the spinny moves and nails Tricky Woos and Phonics Monkeys like they were cartwheels. Of course Jay graduated to the Super Star and started throwing huge air too, as he would put it, “making a fat boy fly”. Jay was anything but fat of course, but was certainly not lightweight.

Back to the moment: It is sunny right now and the rain is due to move in sometime today or tomorrow. We are enjoying the sun while we can. The New Zealand juniors just returned from running the dam. While nobody got in trouble, one of them put a HUGE hole in the bottom of his Bliss Stick Rad. He isn’t happy about that as the competition starts tomorrow and he won’t be finding a white, Team NZ Bliss Stick Rad here in Germany. He’ll have to make due or borrow a boat.

Time for lunch and then watching some more!