ZHurnal-Dinamo.----1-7

Come on, Glen!
I
love and hate Glen Hanlon at the same time. I like him for his heart of gold
and his persistence demonstrated four months ago when he walked around
the track and field arena during two hours with a hip injury, just to support
the young Ukrainian gymnast fighting with cancer. He was much different from
the local couches, which made just two or three circles. The Canadian strolled
through the track with pain in his eyes and it seemed like he believed that pain
would help the Marina’s heart to stand everything else.
But I don’t like him for that he’s hiding that pain from simple people. He does
everything for official use only, as he ruthlessly refused to let a good photo of
himself be published. He doesn’t want to look tired because he must enter the
national team Belarus’ locker room with an air of a man who knows how to
make it to the play-off.
He is always expected to create a miracle, just like at the World Championship
2006 in Riga where the Belarusians displaced USA from the Top six.
It is not necessary to be a psychologist in order to understand that he does
not enjoy those expectations. The fact is that our national team is hardly like it
was then. Maybe that is the reason why he does not want to show off and even
smile displaying self-reliance and confidence of success.
– Mr. Hanlon, there is a great film called
Miracle on Ice about a group of
American students that managed to becoеme the
Olympic champions in 1980 beating the team USSR.
— I have watched it many times and even met the
actor who played the main role of the coach Herb
Brooks. Furthermore, I have played under Brooks
in New York Rangers in the 80s. He is a really great
coach that has turned up the mind of his colleagues.
At that time in the North America, as probably
everywhere in the world including USSR, there was
no fitness coach in any sport team. Only Brooks
had one, and I worked with him as a player and
keep on working now. So I can figure out the ins
and outs of that famous Olympic team. They
worked very hard during the whole year, but they
had no choice, otherwise the amateur students
would never beat such a great team.
— Maybe that coach would help you to prepare
the team Belarus for the World Championship?
— That would be another miracle, but you should
understand that the basic is founded during the
the season. Now it is possible only to improve the
acquired skills. That is why I need his advice.
— Are you going to show the film to your
players for educational purposes?
— To motivate people, you must clearly understand
what do you want to get. The team USA is hardly
interesting to the Belarusian players. I can’t see the
story that could impress my players there.
— But the story of the Yankees of 1980 is still
very similar to the Belarusian one in 2014.
Both teams play at home, and almost nobody
believes in them.
— Let it be my motivation. I read many things
about the Brooks’ team and I like what they
have done. I agree that the team Belarus is also
expected to create a miracle, but this analogy is
just like comparing an old phone with a modern
cell phone. Both are products of their time, but
their importance does not increase or fall.
I don’t want to tell my players that people don’t
believe in them. Quite the contrary, we have
Grabovski, the Kostitsyn brothers, Kalyuzhny.
There are not so many forwards of such level of
skill in the other countries.
There are two strategies of communication with
players. The first one is yours. Hey fellows, look,
everybody takes you as losers. Maybe those guys
are right, but I think we should kill their joy.
The second one is very simple. Who, if not us?
I will make the choice when the team gathers
together, and then I will enter the locker room
and look in their eyes. I don’t say that would be
the moment to say something special. We will
just start working and then will define what we
are ready for.
But we must have a very clear objective and won’t
cry for everybody to hear that we are going to fight
for the champion’s title.
— Is there a player in your team that could
take a lead in every situation?
— I would prefer not to mark anyone out. There
are no problems with devotion, but there are
some troubles with confidence.
— It doesn’t surprise me, that is the Belarusian
nature.
— I don’t want to criticize you, but that is true.
Once I observed a practice at a children’s sport
school, and a big coach cried at a little boy there.
Such things are killing confidence in the very
childhood.
We always must motivate people. And I am going
to do the same in the national team Belarus.
— You are an expert there. I heard a story
that when Alexey Ugarov returned to Minsk
by train, he was deeply moved by the meeting
at the station with the head coach, which had
been in a hurry to come there by plane.
— It is important to not just do the job, but also do
it with those people that can appreciate it. I was
lucky that in the team Belarus I worked only with
good guys that understood me right. A bad person
always thinks what he can take from the situation
for himself. But as far as I could see, there were no
such people in our team.
As to that case with Lesha, there was nothing
special. Although he looked surprised and said
that he was never met by the coach that only
wanted to know how did he feel.
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