Friday, January 9, 2009

Auzzie, Auzzie, Auzzie - Oy, oy, oy!


L to R:Jeremy Holm, Jason Oliveri, Jeremy Rolleston, Matt Storms, and Don Osmond)

This past week and a half has been a lot of fun for us as a team. As we've tried to cram in as many training sessions as possible to make up for the holiday break, we've found ourselves up at the track as much as four days a week.

One of the best part about bobsledding is all the friends that you make through the sport. Not that they're all bobsledders themselves, you get to meet athletes from all sports, summer and winter.

These past few training sessions we've had the great honor of training alongside some athletes from the Australian bobsled team. Jeremy Rolleston and Jason Oliveri. Despite requiring a few minutes of straight conversation to get used to their accents, we quickly became mates with these guys and had a lot of fun together (especially when they were so thoughtful and tried to buy us beer as a thank-you for all the help we gave them even though none of us, including the Aussies, drink)! I was able to sit and talk with Jeremy and go over drive-lines in the track and to help him in some spots he was trying nail down. Some of the Team Holm pushers were able to go over technique with Jason as well.

And then, the best of all, we were able to get Jeremy into our 4man bobsled for some runs just before they had to leave to head back to Australia. Two Team Holm athletes, Don Osmond and Matt Storms, even volunteered to ride with Jeremy on his runs down the track that night. I decided that Jeremy needed the runs and my athletes more than I did, so I helped coach at the top of the track that night. And he did great! Jeremy's first runs down in a 4man were very nicely done, so good on ya mate!

Afterwards we all went down to Main Street Park City for a farewell dinner. Although it ended up a late night by the time we all got to our homes, it was well worth it.

Jeremy and Jason, you'll always have mates in Team Holm Bobsled and we'll see you on the ice!

1 comment:

Don said...

Great times with the Aussies!