Hello again.
So after weeks of Kim badgering me to do another blog due to
my first guest blog’s unprecedented popularity (it was definitely the other way
round and without said popularity) I decided to do a piece on something in
Skeleton that might actually be slightly informative. Being part of a lesser
well known sport as well as working in a restaurant (The Tuckers Arms, Dalwood,
01404 881342, bookings preferred but not essential) means that I often talk
about Skeleton to people who have very little prior knowledge of the sport if
any at all. Often, what I find is that there are certain ideas that they have
heard about skeleton that are in fact untrue – you could call some of these
things… myths.
So, MYTHBUSTERS BLOG!!!
All of these ‘myths’ are various things that people have
asked me about or questioned me about at some point or other, some fairly
frequently. Regular readers of Kim’s blog might actually find that they know a
lot of these things as by reading her blog she’s made you all armchair experts
on sliding down an icy chute. But, hopefully there will be some things you
didn’t know and I’ll make you all a little bit smarter and you’ll be vaguely
interested in what I have to say! So in no particular order, here goes…
Myth –
We compete in the Bobsleigh – Nope, although there are eight of us we are a
squad of individual athletes training together. A lot of people know bobsleigh
more than skeleton so when you say you do skeleton bobsleigh they actually
think of bobsleigh. The difference is that bobsleigh is two or four people in a
cylindrical shaped vehicle, whereas we are one person lying on their belly on a
sled.
Myth –
We have a ‘pit-crew’ – Nope, our sleds are extremely complicated precise bits
of technologically advanced equipment that takes hours and hours to prepare and
maintain but we do all this ourselves. In actual fact, the time spent working
on sleds vastly outnumbers the actual time spent sliding.
Myth –
We compete in the summer Olympics – Nope, seems simple but some people think we
do as they may only really know the summer Olympics. Winter sport so winter
Olympics.
Myth –
You just get on the sled and ride down – Nope, whilst this would be one way to
possibly get down the track, it would be a route that would frequent you with
the sides of the walls somewhat, and it certainly wouldn’t be the quickest and
may result with the sled being on top of you at some point! I must admit before
I started skeleton I had thoughts similar to this and have since realised it
comes down to the old saying ‘the best in the world make it look easy’, which
in skeleton means they make it look like they’re doing nothing. It is actually
rare you find a corner where you do nothing with some corners in tracks have as
many as five steers for the best in the world.
Myth –
You can slide all year round – Nope, as nearly all the tracks are in the
northern hemisphere it gets too hot to keep the ice cold enough through spring
and summer so no sliding.
Myth –
From above: Oh, do you get summers off then? – Noooope, The track closures over
summer results in two very different seasons from summer and winter. The summer
season is spent predominantly with lots of strength and conditioning work in
the gym etc.
Myth –
Olympics are the only competition – Nope, there are actually four different
yearly competitions; The Europa Cup, The Intercontinental Cup, The Americas Cup
and The World Cup. Many sliders start on the Europa Cup with the aim of working
their way up the levels to compete in the World Cup competition. All these
competitions are held over many weekends with the overall winner of each
respective competition being the person with the highest points total at the
end. Theoretically the best most consistent slider in the world should be the
winner of the overall World Cup.
Myth –
Your head is only pushed into the ice – Nope, although this is a big part of
sliding with high pressure corners pushing your helmet into ice and creating
the ‘chatter’ sound of the helmet scraping along the ice. What you also find is
as you exit a high pressure corner, the pressure releases and your neck tends
to bounce up due to the strain of trying to hold it up in the corner.
Myth –
It’s an individual sport – Nope, well… technically it is an individual sport in
that you compete on your own but that is the very few ways in which it is. I
could easily name 20+ people who I use regularly to aid my progress in the
sport from the others in the talent squad to all the different coaches, support
staff and many others who have helped along the way. I know none of us would be
here if it wasn’t for them and we all owe them a lot!
Thanks for reading, I hope I have been able to bust a few of
the myths you may have had about skeleton bobsleigh. If not then I assume Kim
had taught you well and you knew it all already!
Come find me on Twitter @MarcusWyatt14
Until next time (hopefully), bye.
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