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According to Dave: An Interview with David RossBy David SykesDavid Ross is the Head Coach of Skyriders Trampoline. He has been tothe Olympic games twice: Sydney 2000, and Athens 2004. His athletesinclude, Matt Turgeon (bronze Sydney 2000), and Karen Cockburn(bronze Sydney 2000, and silver Athens 2004).I recently interviewed Mr. Ross about his experienceat the 2004 Summer Olympics and his take on how tokeep Canada competitive against the increasinglytough international field. The following is what Ilearned:About the 2004 Athens Olympics:The competition was tough, and, asalways, it was important to go fullyprepared.That being said, there were somechallenging organisational issues ofnote. The Trampoline event at theOlympics was “poorly organised.”The format of the event negativelyimpacted on the performance of theathletes. Granted, some of the athleteslikely would have performed poorlyregardless -which can be seen as anormal failure rate due to the pressurebutthe number of failed routines wasabnormally high. In the Women’sPreliminary competition, 12 out of the16 routines had major mistakes. Theformat was such that the trampolinistswere not allowed a specific warm up,and podium training was only allowedon the day of the competition. Prior tothe competition, the athletes wererequired to warm up in a different Hallwith different trampolines. They thenproceeded to the Competition Hallwhere there were not allowed to warmup on the trampolines. During thecompetition itself, there was a lengthythirty-two minute break between thefirst and the second routine. All ofthose circumstances lead to suboptimalperformances from most ofthe athletes at the Olympics.How did you overcome those challenges?Canadian athletes went to theOlympics very well prepared. They domore routines than the generaltrampoline world. “I require myathletes to do full routines all yearround.” Regardless of the time of theyear, Mr. Ross requires his athletes toperform minimum of two full routines.“Athletes love to do half routines;many won’t do full routines unless youmake them.” As an example, fifteenminutes during off-season practises aredevoted to routines- that still leaves anhour and a half for normal off-seasonactivities such as learning new skillsand combinations.Gym Coach Quarterly Page 16 November 2004