Episode from the experience of gold medal acquisition by athletes supported over the past 25 years: The case of a player requested as a "project to win a gold medal in 2 years".
Starting Line:① Both the individual and parents had zero recognition of the importance of conditioning. They took pride in enduring pain during practice or matches (I wondered why they couldn't adjust their condition for matches).② Still in the growth stage, the body lacked sufficient strength (due to limited experience competing internationally, the required physical and mental strength was not understood).③ An old-fashioned Canadian coach was eager to conduct rigorous training without understanding the player's strength.
Wednesday Complete Rest:The first step I took was to schedule a meeting with the coach and obtain approval for "Wednesday complete rest." Negotiating with the eager coach in his room was naturally difficult, but,Aoshima: "Alright! Can you guarantee that we'll win a gold medal if we go through intense training as you suggest?"Coach: "Well... I can't guarantee that..." he answered softly,Aoshima: "Then, just listen to me quietly! I'm willing to apologize on TV if we don't win a gold medal!"I rashly retorted.The reason for doing this was that, based on our team's reading of various circumstances at the time, we judged that the player possessed the necessary skills to win a gold medal two years later. Frankly, we never expected the coach to level up, but rather, the biggest challenge entrusted to me was how not to break this fragile player over the course of two years.
I can talk about this now, but as mentioned earlier, due to the "player's low consciousness," we initially deemed this project impossible and declined to support the player. Immediately afterward, we received direct contact from a famous doctor in Japan, who said, "I'll take full responsibility under my name, so please provide actual support," resembling a project like Doctor X, so I myself, without overconfidence in my techniques, believed it was essential to eliminate each anxiety factor to "not fail."
Misjudging this could result in injuring a famous athlete during the support period and disappointing fans. To elaborate, in this player's case, we recognized a pattern: resting on weekends, practicing vigorously on Mondays, getting tired on Tuesdays, and a high risk of injury on Wednesdays, so we eliminated the greatest risk factor (which I believe is evident from the fact that even as a gold medalist, the player still adheres to this routine).
As a byproduct of this incident, it was beneficial to my strategy to know from the beginning of the project that even world-renowned coaches lacked knowledge and responsibility regarding conditioning.
The true intention behind my introduction of "Wednesday complete rest" lies in: ① Preventing injuries to avoid unnecessary breaks in training. ② By placing complete rest in the middle of the week, not tiring the body and enabling focused training every day. ③ Being seen as "disliking training" by the surroundings may make the surrounding elite athletes let their guard down??