The Talandis Family in Japan

TFiJ42: Luke’s 1st official gold medal

Hey! Luke finally got one: his 1st official swimming gold medal! And he set a course record to boot! Awesome.

Luke is no stranger to gold medals (see previous post), but they have always been of the symbolic kind, a reward for participation or acknowledgement. He had yet to grab one all by himself in a sanctioned competition. Well, that wall came crashing down on the morning of July 23, 2011. Luke swam fastest in the 25m backstroke to claim his first shiny trinket. He also managed to grab on in the 25m breast stroke and changed his IM relay team’s medal from bronze to silver with an electrifying anchor leg. (By the way… It’s so cool to call my 10 year old “electrifying”!) The meet was a qualifier for a big B&G national race in Tokyo, to be held on August 14th. This was the race Luke competed in last year as a 3rd grader. This time he’ll be at the top of his age group, so he really has a chance for a medal. He made the final in the backstroke last year, but was only about 7 seconds off the winning time. He has improved a lot in this past year, and he is close to what it will take to win, both in the back and breast strokes. This is a big reason coach mama has been training him hard this summer and why I’m always going on about swimming. A medal in a national-level race would be a huge accomplishment, and it’s within the realm of possibility, hence the hard work! Despite Luke’s good results during the B&G meet, coach mama was not impressed. She can spot imperfections in his form with ruthless precision and made no bones about how unhappy she was at his performance. For her, a gold medal in a little local race doesn’t mean much- her eyes are on the Tokyo prize. So in this respect, mama and papa looked at Luke’s accomplishment with different eyes. I’m all “wow, my kid actually won something (that I never did)!” For Shinobu, who was a champion swimmer in her day and has a closet full of medals and trophies, it was like “why couldn’t you keep your hands together on your start? How many times have I told you to stop putting your hand into the water at the wrong angle? Why didn’t you count your strokes during the last five meters?” Seems harsh to me at times, but this is the way of sports. It’s all about striving to be your best, of working hard for a goal, of never being satisfied, always pushing for more. It’s quite intense, if you ask me, but the thing is I know my wife loves Luke SO MUCH, and I know he knows that, too. Their relationship is very deep and very interesting, so I’m confident that all this intense tough-love stuff Luke is experiencing these days is for the best. It’s like my wife is an artist, building some real skills into our son. Luke will have a real advanced skill going forward and understand very deeply about the value of hard work. I’m excited to see what sort of man he’ll grow into!

TFiJ39: Luke’s Super Chibiko Challenge

On the first day of Golden Week, Luke participated in the 23rd annual “Super Chibiko Challenge”, a sports event open to elementary school kids in Toyama Prefecture from grades 4-6. Each school is permitted to send up to six kids, a boy & girl from each grade. Luke’s school, Sugihara Elementary, sent only two: he and a 5th grade girl. So the pressure was on for Luke to perform! No, not really… It was just a fun opportunity for Luke to compete against some of the best athletes in this area. The competition was pentathalonic in nature- five events that challenged the kids to display their overall athletic ability: 100m Dash (speed, leg strength) Softball Long Throw (throwing, arm strength, form) Zig Zag Dribble (speed, control, dexterity) Long jump (jumping, speed, form) 50m Freestyle Swim (Swimming) Most kids, Luke included, are good at one or more of these events, but rarely all of them. This was the challenge- to show your stuff in sports that require a wide variety of skills. Luke’s strengths were speed and swimming. He has strong legs, is in top physical condition (due to regular swimming and soccer practice), and he likes to compete. However, he had virtually ZERO experience three of the events (softball, dribbling, and long jumping). Luke has never gotten into baseball and has never dribbled a basketball to my knowledge. He had also never done any proper long jumping. So we went into this competition with some big question marks- how would Luke do given his lack of experience?

Training for the event
In the two weekends before the event, we took Luke out to the Yatsuo Sports Arena (where Shinobu used to work) for some training. It felt like too little too late, as if we were cramming for a big test. There was simply too much too do and too little time. We focused primarily on the dribbling, since Luke had never done that before. Here you can see a photo of him practicing. Thankfully, he seemed to pick it up pretty quick, although his skill was shaky. To avoid mistakes, we emphasized proper technique and control. Also before bed Luke had to do the following routine: 100 dribbles with his left hand, then right hand, then 200 dribbles switching between left and right. As for the throwing, this was much more problematic. Luke has never really gotten into baseball despite this being a baseball-mad country. Usually kids enter one of two team sports- baseball or soccer, and obviously Luke chose the latter. In addition, I have not insisted we go out and play catch. This was my failure as a papa! Hard to believe given that “Field of Dreams” is one of my favorite movies! With two weeks to go, we finally started, but I could see that Luke just didn’t have the form or arm strength to heave a softball very far. Regarding the Long Jump, we did manage to make it out to the Toyama Sports Complex the weekend before to give it a go. But it was a cold day, Max was with us and feeling crabby, and Luke only got to jump a couple of times. At least he got to see where the competition would be held! So overall, there was not much more we could do- just rely on his basic athletic sense and hope for the best. Our game plan was for him to do his best in his weaker events and hope that his excellence in running and swimming could make up for his weaknesses. It was clear that winning the event was a pipe dream, but we were looking forward to see Luke have fun and learn a lot for next year. The big event April 28th, the first day of the “Golden Week” holiday period, was cool, windy, and partly sunny. The sky threatened rain, but it never really did (thank goodness!). We arrived at 8:30am and got Luke registered. Fortuitously, he was grouped with his two Yatsuo Swim Club mates, Akihiro and Kento, who belong to different elementary schools. Kento was #1, Aki #2, and Luke #3. This ensured they would go first in all the events and get to spend the day together. This ended up being one of the best things that happened to Luke on the day- he could relax and really enjoy hanging out with his buds. 100m Dash As expected, it was a close race between Luke and his two friends. They all ran well and finished 1-2-3, with Luke coming in 3rd by only 1/10 of a second. After the race, the boys were interviewed by a TV crew. This was fun to watch! Luke’s first media event. I hope the first of many… I was surprised that their times stood up; no other boy managed to run as fast. Cool! Zig Zag Dribble Luke did a great job in this event, posting a time of 18 seconds in each of his two runs. He kept in control and avoided any mistakes. He didn’t have the fastest time, but that was okay- the trick with this competition is to do above average in your weak events and then excel in your strong ones. So far so good! Softball Long Throw (Sigh) This is where the wheels came off for Luke. He could only manage a best throw of 16 meters, with was about half the average length. Of course he finished last, and this really hurt him points-wise. Looking at the video I took in slow motion, I could see that his form looked okay, but he just couldn’t throw it very far. For all the other kids it seemed that throwing a ball was as natural as walking, but not for Luke. Too bad! We’ll really have to work on this area for next year. Long Jump Luke did pretty well in this event. He managed a best jump of 3 meters, which was solidly above average. Given that he had virtually never done this before, I was really excited by this result. The winning jump was 3.7 meters, so with practice Luke only needs another 70 cm or so… With some practice, he has a chance to win this event next year. 50m Freestyle Swim We expected Luke to do real well in this event, and in the end, he did pretty good, finishing 3rd overall. We knew Kento would win it since this is his best stroke (Luke’s is the breast stroke). 36 seconds was not his best time, so that was a bit disappointing, but given that he was tired and had no chance to warm up, it was not bad. Looking at the video in slo-mo we could see some points he can improve on. I’m sure coach mama will make sure he does! Awards Ceremony During the awards ceremony, they gave out prizes in each individual event as well to those kids who finished in the top 10. Luke made the podium twice, getting 3rd in the 100m dash and swimming. He was very happy about this- perhaps too happy for “anything-less-than-#1-is-nothing” coach mama. Still, it was great to see him get recognized. On the other hand, Luke missed out on the top 10, due primarily to zero points in the softball throw. What’s more, his friend Aki finished 1st overall (go Aki!) and Kento finished 4th. He was quite bummed about this, to say the least! Still, there was enough here that he went home happy overall.

Reflections

This event was a real good experience for Luke. Going in with almost no background in a majority of the events, he could challenge himself and push beyond himself. I hope he could at least intuitively pick out the bigger message, that there are no limits to what he is capable of achieving if he sets his mind to it. This is a big reason why I’ve come to love sports and competition in general, especially as a parent. It’s a great tool for teaching valuable life lessons. Of course there are down sides, and we need to take care not to over do it. But watching Luke run, jump, and swim brings us great joy. He’s healthy and having fun, and you can’t beat that.

We’ve already begun preparing for next year’s event. Luke has joined the track and field club at his school, so from now on each Saturday morning will be dedicated to learning how to run fast and jump far. We’ll also be playing a lot more catch, to be sure! Now that we know what it will take to win, we have a clear path in front of us. The choice of pronouns here is intentional- Luke is doing all the competing, but he’s got his family fully behind him. We’ll do it together and see how far we can go. Here’s the video. It’s my first one in high-definition! I filmed the event using a new camera I borrowed from Chukyo University.

TFiJ27: Luke’s swim meet

Luke participated in the annual Toyama City Junior Swim Meet on February 11th, a national holiday in Japan*. This was his 2nd time of swiming in this meet. It’s a big race at the big Toyama Citizen’s Pool, with all of the local swim clubs sending their best swimmers.

Luke, as the youngest member of the Yatsuo SC, swam in three events: 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, and the 100m individual medly. He and his mama had been training for months for this race, but just two days before, Luke came down with a wicked temperature of 39.3 (that’s 103 for those of you in Fahrenheight countries). Ouch! We took him to the doctor, he got some good medicine, stayed home from school for a day, then felt much better.

On the morning of the race, he was super excited to go, and even though his temperature was still a bit above normal, he was genki and rarin’ to swim. Fortunately his three events weren’t until the afternoon, so he could sleep in and take it easy during the morning hours.

The following video chronicles Luke’s races. I hope you enjoy watching our boy fly! He didn’t set any best times, but as usual he was best in his age group and even managed to swim faster than kids a year or two older than him.

We’re really proud of Luke’s fighting spirit and energy. He didn’t wimp out even though he has ample excuse to. If he keeps up his training, his swimming future is very bright.

Shinobu is doing a fantastic job coaching him. He’s learning a lot a advanced techniques for someone so young. Basically, she focuses on building up his fundamentals and has put him on a fast track competition-wise in order to build up his confidence and experience. He is ALWAYS the youngest swimmer in the race, so he always finishes 1st. He has become used to standing on top of the award stand and expects it to happen everytime. This will help him a lot in the coming years!

We really hope Luke can enjoy this unique situation he’s in and strive to be his best. Watching his confidence grow from his efforts and accomplishments is a real joy to behold.

TFiJ20: Luke & papa do a triathlon

On a hot hot HOT day in July (Saturday the 13th, to be exact), Luke and papa participated in the annual Yatsuo Triathlon. This was my 2nd time, having previously done it in 1999. Of course it was Luke’s first time. I did the “athletes” course, which consisted of a 750 meter swim in the pool (where Shinobu works), followed by a 16km bike ride on a hilly course, and finishing with a 5km run. Luke did the kid’s course: 100m swim, 2km bike, 1km run.  Oh, did I mention it was a VERY HOT & HUMID DAY?  The week before I practiced each day with Luke. His difficult point was riding a bike, especially with going up hills. Since there were a couple of inclines on the kid’s bike course, Shinobu and I were rather concerned. Using his old kiddy bike, there was no way he could ride up even a slight hill, so a few days before the race we ended up buying him a new bike! “It’s an early birthday present”, we told ourselves. This new bike had 5 speeds, so he was able to go up hills better, but would it be enough? We were worried… Papa’s race started at 9 am. The swimming was very hectic. Since it was in a pool, each swimmer had to go down and back three times (150m), making sure to duck under the lane divider each length. The start was staggard, but since there was such a difference in ability, it wasn’t long before guys were passing and lapping each other. It was a nightmare ducking under the lane dividers, as there were often several swimmers pushing and shoving for position! I had to take care not to get kicked in the face.  After the swim, I ran outside and down to the bike changing area. I had my spot, and proceeded to change into bike mode. I wasn’t rushing, knowing it would take all I had and more just to survive the entire distance on the HOT HOT HOT day. Luke and Shinobu were cheering me on. When they saw I wasn’t rushing, they started teasing me: “Hurry up, Papa! You’re too slow!!!” they shouted. It was funny.  The bike course was a ride through the foothills of nearby Yamada village. The first part was this VERY LONG incline, and boy was it a killer. After that it got better, and the final bit was going down that long incline. That was fun!  The running course was thankfully flat and simple- just three laps from bridge to bridge on the Ida river, next to the pool. Still, it was HOT HOT HOT, so this part of the race was very difficult. Thankfully they had water stops, so I made sure to douse myself in ice cold water frequently. While cooling me off, this also made my socks and shoes very squishy and heavy! I shuffled along, leaving a trail of watery footsteps behind.  Finally I finished! I was very happy that I could make it. Immediately, however, I climbed up a hill to watch Luke come in on his bike. Shinobu and I cheered him on, as you can see in the video. We were really proud of him! He ended up with a gold medal for his trouble, a prize given to all the kids who finished. He’s only seven years old, and already he’s gaining a lot of great experience, not to mention health and fitness.  In the end we all had a good time despite the heat. We’re looking forward to doing the race again next year. Here’s the video. Please leave a comment and let us know what you think.

TFiJ19: Sports day 2008

Wow! It’s been over one month since my last blog post! Ouch! Same old story- busy busy busy. My excuse this time is a PhD proposal I’m trying to write over the summer break. Anyway, a lot has happened in the past weeks, so I’ll redouble my efforts at getting you all caught up. First, lets go back to early May- Luke has just started elementary school, and one of the first big events in the school calendar was soon upon him: Sports Day. What is Sports Day? Well, imagine the Olympics, only held within one school. The student body divides into 3 or 4 teams, each of a different color. They paint this elaborate mural of a team mascot, usually of some ferocious animal. Then, everyone practices practices practices for weeks leading up to the big day. There are “real” sports like relay sprints, and more game-like events such as chicken fights, an obstacle course, and tossing bean bags into a basket. It’s all rather surreal to my eyes. I managed to capture a bit of this experience and have edited together in a rather cheeky way. I hope you like it!

TFiJ03: Luke’s first swim race