All in Attitude!
Professor Svilen Neykov: It is not important what the training is, rather the activity during the performance.
The ideal option for athletes, young athletes and their mentors to draw from the source of successful practice and knowledge is the shared experience of a tandem that has reached the Olympic and world summit. This is what one of the symbols of the national academic rowing Rumyana Neykova and her husband Svilen Neykov do in the sixth edition of the educational studio "We will meet at the top". It is an initiative of NSK Olimp as the hosts and questionnaires are the coaches of the club.
What is the most important factor determining the success of an athlete? What is the role of the parent? Why do some contestants achieve their dreams and others more talented than them fail? What is the importance of food and rest aspects for the athletes? These are just some of the topics that are explained in detail in the over an hour and a half long studio with Rumyana Neykova, who is the last Olympic Champion of Bulgaria - in Beijing 2008. There are two more medals from the forum under the logo of the five intertwined circles. Her awards from planetary championships are 6, two of them gold. Her world record remains unimproved.
Every word spoken by Prof. Svilen Neykov deserves to be heard carefully and repeated again. It’s fascinating, with examples from areas outside of sports and its element – the water (in addition to being a rower, she is also a former swimmer), the proven specialist emphasizes all components of the coaching profession. It shows the importance of basic subjects for the coach such as physiology, biochemistry, pedagogy, psychology, sports medicine.
"When a coach puts money first, he usually loses. The sports result should be in the first place for him, to be patient for ten years, to have the support of the parents. The money for his work will follow. The other option for the coach is to have 200 children, collect fees and not expect high results," explains Svilen Neykov.
Rumyana Neykova emphasizes the role of the athlete's parents as an extremely important one.
"Every child has a talent in some direction, and the parents must develop this talent, and to be engaged, but not to leave the child at home, not paying attention to him because they have commitments. To be relaxed that when the child is at home, it is the best. But in fact, only the parents feel the best. The parents must give the child the opportunity to play sports, to draw, to attend to various activities of interest," says the winner of three Olympic medals, six world medals, two of them gold.
Svilen adds: "Parents should support the children, not to regret the time spent, or the missed hours waiting for training. They need to be patient.”
Rumyana continues: “I was taller and depressed and my mother was looking for an environment and thought that the sports school would give me the confidence I needed. Parental support is very important. Parents should get used to not having so much free time. There were camps, but it was required that school material would not be skipped. Let's be in the rhythm. As parents, it's harder for us because we're more ambitious."
"It is clear that we can select the physics of the athlete, the training program, the competition process, but we cannot choose the parents, to say how high, how heavy the skeletal apparatus is, says Neykov. - When you see a child's smile at a competition, that's all you need. You are energized to do it.
The coach's way is to make compromises at all levels - with parents. He complies with the relations between colleagues, with the conditions of the material base.
The training process is a rhythm that affects. We can influence the training and competition processes. Qualities, skills, habits - that's what a coach can teach. We will deal with the material base, if one thing fails, we will try with another. We will make a combination with the means of preparation to achieve our goal.
That's what a coach is - to have flair, not just written in black and white, but flair also comes with experience."
"The motivation of a competitor is important. How will he walk the path of the athlete? In childhood, things are even, everyone goes to school, they have commitments, we can't expect that he is completely devoted to sports. When he leaves the field of education and becomes a professional athlete.
A specialized training activity has a regime, a rhythm of work and with it comes the results. And the mistake comes if the coach has not chosen the sports talent. He did not discover it in childhood. However, it turns out that not only sports talent is important, but also hard work. I have had a competitor who was not so talented in terms of qualities, but with motivation to work and give, she managed to become a world champion. I'm talking about Victoria Dimitrova," explains Neykov.
"It is not important what the training is, but the activity of the child during the performance. To want it will also help him in life. First of all, you present yourself, the coach, the club, federation, country.
"In childhood, many coaches get ahead of things. They emphasize on qualities, not technique. In sports in general, they separate the children from the school. They try to separate them from the learning process. They push more as intensity-wise, as it allows them to be competitive.
When everyone goes pro it's too late for technique. The process is forced. There is nothing to add, since the athletes are exhausted in terms of intensity, in terms of speed. Because we want to prove ourselves quickly so that you can prove yourself as a coach. We start directly skipping intervals, the heart and the organs are not ready yet. We force! - the Professor lights up. Since you've only been working intensity, you can't add volume. First you need the volume with the technique and gradually add the motor skills. That's the principle. We are putting the cart before the horse. The coach must look for those sciences that give him the foundation in sports and help him - physiology, biochemistry, sports medicine."
Some children develop early, others late. It is certain that if the puberty period for developing endurance and aerobic capabilities has been exhausted, then there is no point in waiting for anything. It’s very difficult without aerobic capabilities to make it a big engine. High volumes, low intensity. Strength work individual, in tennis there are constant injuries, due to large excessive loads that the athlete received in childhood. We rely on physiology, where the stages in the child's development are very precisely described.
"You stand at the start and they ask you if you're ready, not if you've been sick, have you had any problems with your workout. The goal is important. Because of it, you cope with all the difficulties", Rumyana Neikova is categorical.
"The trust between coach and competitor is extremely important and difficult to achieve. You explain to him how good he is, and he can't believe it. When he begins to receive the results of your work, suddenly at some point he tells the coach what to do. We switch roles. This is the difficult moment - yes, we can eat cake together in the pastry shop after training, but in the pool you have to know who is the manager and who is the managed," Neykov shares his experience.
"There is no compromise with training. The coach starts thinking even when the previous one was over. Did the dose come in well? Did you take more? Could you have done more? Based on the information from the stopwatch, lactate and heart rate, the trainer updates the next workout. And this is a law, continues Neykov. - The big competitor is difficult the last 10 days because he expects to blow the gun. The coach has to give way a lot. He has milked the cow and is careful not to kick the jug. The coach watches quietly, meekly, just to place the athlete in the final and from there to chase the medals.
The star disease lands after a world title and shoots for a new Rumyana Neykova - one of the symbols of Bulgarian academic rowing.
The curious situation occurred after Rumyana Neykova's world title in Seville in 2002, when she won gold with a world record that has not been broken up to this date. Overwhelmed by the triumph and the media attention, the rowing torpedo does not train concentrated and at full speed for months. Next year, however, the Olympics qualifications are being taken place.
Svilen Neykov has prepared a strong program - with participation in regattas and World Cups. Tickets are bought, transfers on the trips are clear, so is the boat transfer. Perfect.
"At the first regatta in May, Rumi almost fainted, she turned blue on the last 100 meters. She stopped and was being passed by some "lemonades", as we call them in rowing. I told her, “We are canceling all the journeys. Boats back to Bulgaria!" We returned the plane tickets. Three months of work, and she became world champion again (Milan 2003). The boat finishes by momentum, then came time for oxygen breathing on apparatus," Neykov recalls.
Before the award ceremony, our rowing star fainted. They carried her in a sheet.
The last 10 minutes of the studio are extremely interesting for the swimmers, rhythm and energy expenditure
The educational show "We'll meet at the top" is being broadcasted twice a month (one week apart) on Wednesday evening at 20:00, live on our Facebook and YouTube channels.
All shows in the series ‘We will meet at the top’ (see here)
