People in your corner supporting you, key to success

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The last paragraph of my masters thesis went like this:

"To succeed, practice To practice, be committed To commit, be confident, conscientious and
controlled emotionally To develop this way, select the right people"

Here's a story about a coach and athlete -- mentor and apprentice -- who have have remained
committed to each other on the road towards success. Just recently, Canadian figure skater Emanuel
Sandhu won the ISU Grand Prix beating world champion Evgeni Plushenko. That was a turning point. For
years, the skater struggled with inconsistent performances. There, always on his journey: coach
Joanne McCleod. Together for 15 years they practiced, succeeded, failed, but continued to be
committed in refining the skills on ice.

A mentor or coach can make a world of a difference in people's lives. Even former Prime Minister
Jean Chretien had a coach. For 40 years, Mitchell Sharpe guided a rookie Member of Parliament into a
respected world leader. People who support you can offer valuable experience, guidance and counsel.
The relationship can be as long as required. Partnerships like the ones described above are rare.
Often, we go from mentor to mentor when the previous has given us all there is to give. The key is
to surround yourself with the right support.

Now, enjoy the following feature.

MSTA

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long program of support

Emanuel Sandhu's coach has helped him off the ice, too

NORMAN SPECTOR National Post Friday, January 09, 2004

When he was eight years old and could only dream of skating circles around anyone in an actual
competition, Emanuel Sandhu was practising on his coach, Joanne McLeod.

"I used to call him a little fish, because he used to circle me. He was trying to impress me, and of
course I would pretend to ignore him. So he would try harder," said McLeod. "We thought he was quite
the show off, actually."

That was 15 years ago for the enigmatic Sandhu, a lifetime for anyone charged with the task of
trying to coach him.

"It takes a toll on my stomach, that's for sure," said McLeod.

Trying to coax consistent performances out of the most inconsistent senior performer on the Canadian
figure skating landscape has been McLeod's lot ever since she first spotted a little waif of east
Indian heritage at a CanSkate program in Richmond Hill, Ont.

"What I saw was very intriguing," she recalls. "He had dance ability, and he spun like a dancer. He
was about eight, and he would spend hours watching the older skaters. Most children were like, 'Mom,
I want some fries and a pop,' but Emanuel would be right by the boards, watching."

What she didn't know at the time was that skating, like the ballet classes before, was in fact an
escape for Sandhu from a tumultuous home life.

"My family life at the time was like being at the Gaza Strip, or the war in Iraq," said Sandhu. He
is 23 years old now, and well aware of how his life may have turned out had he not had a challenge
to pursue, and someone like McLeod to lead him along.

"My parents were always fighting. I was always in turmoil. There was never a moment of peace at
home," he said. "Ballet school, that was sort of a sanctuary. But more than that was the skating
rink. I would always come there and just feel like I could be at peace. Joanne would be there, and
she would make me laugh and be very supportive. That is why I fell in love with skating so much.

"I don't think I would have made it as a person as well as a skater if I didn't have her in my life.
A lot of the time, [her support] was more emotional than anything. She's a mentor."

The coach in McLeod saw a student with a ton of promise. But she also knew she was taking in a bit
of a street puppy, and there isn't a coaches guide book that's ever been written without a warning
section about kids like Sandhu.

"It's not your professional place as a coach to interfere with [his relationships] with parents,"
she said. "So I chose to be a stable arm, a pillar of strength, with the sport. I mean, there were
many times when he didn't even have a ride to the rink. So if you're not at training, and you're not
rehearsing the stuff, then how are you going to beat someone who is?"

Today, Sandhu gets himself to the rink on a regular basis. What he brings with him in the way of
performance is anybody's guess, however.

At the 2001 Canadian championships in Winnipeg, an awful short program left Sandhu in third
spot. The very next night he ripped off a quad and eight triples in a long program that not only
won him the gold medal, but was considered superior to anything laid down in the 2000 Worlds the
year before.

A year ago in Saskatoon, Sandhu again stumbled through his short program before recovering to win
his third national title. He has, in fact, finished either first or second in the last seven
national championships, and McLeod has watched from the boards as he delivers performances both
shoddy and then fabulous in the span of 24 hours.

"Any good coach has to know what buttons to push," she said. "He's difficult to figure that out
with, but I know them. I wouldn't say 100%, but I'm pretty close. There are lots of times I go to
the boards, and I know he's not going to give a good performance.

"It could be the training going in, his emotional state with his own personal life. And maybe he's
gone through more than some skaters -- like Elvis Stojko, Todd Eldredge -- with the personal life,
and the training."

With all that baggage, the one item Sandhu has not shed over the years is McLeod. In a sport where
seemingly every recent great Canadian skater has dumped a coach or two along the way -- Kurt
Browning, Elvis Stojko, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz all
switched coaches -- McLeod and Sandhu have managed to survive each other for lo these many years.

"Even though the odds are that great that athletes will have two or three coaches, I never doubted
it. I never even thought about it," she said. "I always saw him as a project, to being an Olympic
and World champion. [But] there were times of maybe throwing in the towel, maybe at the Olympics in
Salt Lake City. I just felt that was maybe going to be it for me."

A knee injury that affected Sandhu for an inexplicably long time eventually led to his withdrawl
from his first and only Olympics in 2002. It also led to a heart-to-heart between coach and skater.

"After Salt Lake City, the answer is the coach can't want it more than the athlete. The parent can't
want it more than the athlete," she said. "It was personal for both of us. He said some things to me
at that moment that I'll always carry with me in my heart. And that was the choice, I guess.

"We decided to stick with it."

For 15 years running.

Really, she's been the only consistent element in Sandhu's career.

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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-
Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000"
bgcolor="#ffffff"> <h3 style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><big><big>People in your corner supporting
you, key to success</big></big></h3> The last paragraph of my masters thesis went like this: 
 "To succeed, practice To practice, be committed To commit, be confident,
conscientious and controlled emotionally To develop this way, select the right people" 
 Here's a story about a coach and athlete -- mentor and apprentice -- who have have remained
committed to each other on the road towards success. Just recently, Canadian figure skater Emanuel
Sandhu won the ISU Grand Prix beating world champion Evgeni Plushenko. That was a turning
point. For years, the skater struggled with inconsistent performances. There, always on
his journey: coach Joanne McCleod. Together for 15 years they practiced, succeeded, failed, but
continued to be committed in refining the skills on ice. A mentor or coach can make a world
of a difference in people's lives. Even former Prime Minister Jean Chretien had a coach.
For 40 years, Mitchell Sharpe guided a rookie Member of Parliament into a respected world leader.
People who support you can offer valuable experience, guidance and counsel. The relationship
can be as long as required. Partnerships like the ones described above are rare. Often, we go
from mentor to mentor when the previous has given us all there is to give. The key is to surround
yourself with the right support. Now, enjoy the following feature. MSTA 
 <hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;">
<h3>Long program of support</h3>
<h4>Emanuel Sandhu's coach has helped him off the ice, too
 </h3> NORMAN SPECTOR National Post Friday, January
09, 2004 
 When he was eight years old and could only dream of
skating circles around anyone in an actual competition, Emanuel Sandhu was practising on his
coach, Joanne McLeod. "I used to call
him a little fish, because he used to circle me. He was trying to impress me, and of course I
would pretend to ignore him. So he would try harder," said McLeod. "We thought he was quite the
show off, actually." That was 15 years ago for
the enigmatic Sandhu, a lifetime for anyone charged with the task of trying to coach
him. "It takes a toll on my stomach, that's for
sure," said McLeod. Trying to coax consistent
performances out of the most inconsistent senior performer on the Canadian figure skating
landscape has been McLeod's lot ever since she first spotted a little waif of east Indian
heritage at a CanSkate program in Richmond Hill, Ont. "What I saw was very intriguing," she recalls. "He had dance ability, and he spun
like a dancer. He was about eight, and he would spend hours watching the older skaters. Most
children were like, 'Mom, I want some fries and a pop,' but Emanuel would be right by the boards,
watching." What she didn't know at the time was
that skating, like the ballet classes before, was in fact an escape for Sandhu from a tumultuous
home life. "My family life at the time was like
being at the Gaza Strip, or the war in Iraq," said Sandhu. He is 23 years old now, and well aware
of how his life may have turned out had he not had a challenge to pursue, and someone like McLeod
to lead him along. "My parents were always
fighting. I was always in turmoil. There was never a moment of peace at home," he said. "Ballet
school, that was sort of a sanctuary. But more than that was the skating rink. I would always
come there and just feel like I could be at peace. Joanne would be there, and she would make me
laugh and be very supportive. That is why I fell in love with skating so much. "I don't think I would have made it as a person as well as a skater if I
didn't have her in my life. A lot of the time, [her support] was more emotional than anything.
She's a mentor." The coach in McLeod saw a
student with a ton of promise. But she also knew she was taking in a bit of a street puppy, and
there isn't a coaches guide book that's ever been written without a warning section about kids
like Sandhu. "It's not your professional place
as a coach to interfere with [his relationships] with parents," she said. "So I chose to be a
stable arm, a pillar of strength, with the sport. I mean, there were many times when he didn't
even have a ride to the rink. So if you're not at training, and you're not rehearsing the stuff,
then how are you going to beat someone who is?" Today, Sandhu gets himself to the rink on a regular basis. What he brings with him
in the way of performance is anybody's guess, however. At the 2001 Canadian championships in Winnipeg, an awful short program left Sandhu
in third spot. The very next night he ripped off a quad and eight triples in a long program that
not only won him the gold medal, but was considered superior to anything laid down in the 2000
Worlds the year before. A year ago in
Saskatoon, Sandhu again stumbled through his short program before recovering to win his third
national title. He has, in fact, finished either first or second in the last seven national
championships, and McLeod has watched from the boards as he delivers performances both shoddy and
then fabulous in the span of 24 hours. "Any
good coach has to know what buttons to push," she said. "He's difficult to figure that out with,
but I know them. I wouldn't say 100%, but I'm pretty close. There are lots of times I go to the
boards, and I know he's not going to give a good performance. "It could be the training going in, his emotional state with his own personal
life. And maybe he's gone through more than some skaters -- like Elvis Stojko, Todd Eldredge --
with the personal life, and the training." With
all that baggage, the one item Sandhu has not shed over the years is McLeod. In a sport where
seemingly every recent great Canadian skater has dumped a coach or two along the way -- Kurt
Browning, Elvis Stojko, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz all
switched coaches -- McLeod and Sandhu have managed to survive each other for lo these many
years. "Even though the odds are that great
that athletes will have two or three coaches, I never doubted it. I never even thought about it,"
she said. "I always saw him as a project, to being an Olympic and World champion. [But] there
were times of maybe throwing in the towel, maybe at the Olympics in Salt Lake City. I just felt
that was maybe going to be it for me." A knee
injury that affected Sandhu for an inexplicably long time eventually led to his withdrawl from
his first and only Olympics in 2002. It also led to a heart-to-heart between coach and
skater. "After Salt Lake City, the answer is
the coach can't want it more than the athlete. The parent can't want it more than the athlete,"
she said. "It was personal for both of us. He said some things to me at that moment that I'll
always carry with me in my heart. And that was the choice, I guess. "We decided to stick with it." For 15 years running. Really,
she's been the only consistent element in Sandhu's career. <pre class="moz-signature"
cols="72"> </pre> </body> </html>

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