Back in Vancouver

We're back in Vancouver and it feels like home. It feels normal to be at the hotel here in the city center and to walk around the streets as if they were the ones I take everyday.

The city is pretty much the same but the energy at the rink has increased immensely. The setup and volunteer presence is very close to what it will be like at Games time. Access to certain areas is more restricted. We have tighter security checks all over the building and we have to have our ID cards around our neck everywhere we go. We're using this event as an Olympic Games test event, so it has to mimic what will happen in February 2010 as best as possible.

We had our first on-ice practice today since arriving from Salt Lake City. The team was still recovering from the first world cup and the long day of travel but the practice went well.

The morning started early for Jessica Hewitt and Michael Gilday however as they had interviews with the local media. For Hewitt, it was a live television interview on Global, one of Vancouver's most popular morning shows. It was her first live show and likely not to be her last. She handled herself incredibly well. Gilday was also on a live morning show, except his interview was with the comedic hosts of Jack FM radio. It was a fun interview to listen to as the hosts were trying to convince Michael to crack a walnut with his massive thighs! It didn't happen though. I'm guessing no walnuts were available. Kudos to you Michael for getting the studio to demonstrate the "slow clap" cheer on live radio!

The media blitz continued as our skaters had a taste of how the media can be a demanding force. Some local media and some media from Quebec were present to interview the skaters after our ice session. Although it was supposed to be short things sort of got carried away. More and more athletes were being asked for interviews and more time was being taken out of their day. Although we appreciate and need the media attention to promote our sport, our athletes and the event, we have to keep an eye on managing how this happens. It was a rather small inconvenience this time, but I noticed on the ride home that Michael went into a low energy phase. He kept himself activated and energetic for television interviews following the training session and it was clear that this took a toll on him. The lesson I learned today was that it's important to know when to say no.

The entire team had an autograph session at The Bay downtown. Tomorrow there is a media event following our on-ice training which all of the media agencies are invited to. (Jessica Hewitt will be at the head table). Then in 2 days there will also be some one-on-one interviews at the hotel for some key athletes. Then the competition starts and the skaters will have post-race commentary and post event interviews. It's easy to see how this can get overwhelming and over-stimulating. We've done some training to help improve their skills during interviews and I think after watching Jessica Hewitt and listening to Michael Gilday this morning, it's paying off. Now we'll see how they handle the shear volume of media attention that they are exposed to during this test event. It will be a learning experience for all of us and the right time for the Canadian team to use their acquired knowledge and experiences from Olympics gone by.

All of this activity is really building up the excitement for the weekend of racing. If the crowd is behind us the way we anticipate, it's going to be an energy packed 3 days!

JC