Week 6

Today I watched a video that talked about one of the 3 Olympic training centers in the U.S. This video talks about the strength, power, and endurance they require the athletes to have. One of the factors that fall into Olympic training centers is that you can stay move in. Moving into a center with athletes from all over and living with them seems a bit hard. You have to be taken away from your family for years. This definitely would take the right mindset. They are put in small suites with another person, but usually spend most their time training. These centers even feed the athletes, and make sure they take in the right nutrients. It takes a lot to eat healthy while training because most of the time you have to meet the right nutritional standard for the sport your training for. Overall living in a training center would not be easy emotionally, mentally, and physically. Below is the link to the video I watched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2LEo3hxZPM

Week 5

Today I watched The Gabby Douglas Story. This movie shows her journey to the Olympics starting from when she was born to when she took home the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic games. The journey there could be described in many different ways. There was times when she was excited that she learned a routine, but there was times where she just wanted to give up and go home. Gabby faced many hardships throughout it all. Some of the least thought of problems occurred such as money for the training. The journey left a mental and emotional effect on Gabby which changed her as a person. What got Gabby so far was her passion for gymnastics and determination to win the Olympics. Most athletes can relate to Gabby. I recommend everyone to watch this movie because it really shows you what it takes to be the best of the best.

Week 4

After looking at the results to the survey most people can agree that Olympic training requires a lot of effort and they respect most people training. I decided to take one of my questions into a lot of consideration. The question was, "In your opinion, What kind of effects does training for the Olympics leave on a person?" I found the answers to this most useful. While reading the variety of answers most of them had the same conclusion. Throughout anxiety, pressure, responsibilities, a social life, and commitment it leaves an emotional and mental impact on the athlete training. This could be made into a struggle left on the athlete. Fortunately, it does make the athlete stronger as a person which could make them into a very good leader one day. As for the training days, it is quite a challenge. Most athletes receive many types of training that leaves an individual effect on each person. Thank you to everyone who took part in my survey. The results were very helpful.

Week 3

https://docs.google.com/a/middletownk12.org/forms/d/173gxELC_6uQSJFXHpjudB-NGZJEmtkOxsq1O_XVoNFg/viewform?usp=send_form

Above is the link to a survey I made for my Genius Hour project. It asks various questions about my topic. Please take time to take the survey and I will post the results in the later future.

Week 2

One of the conclusions we make when we think about Olympic training is time consumption. It is a true fact that training for the Olympics takes a lot of time and determination. Throughout gym workouts, practice, picking the right diet, and studying the sport it takes a lot of time out of your day. For most athletes, it is their whole day.
An article about Katie Uhlaender, a skeleton slider, explains her schedule. The article quotes, “During the summer, Uhlaender has a packed schedule. From about 9:30 until 12:30, she's at the track running sprints. Then she takes a break for lunch before hitting the weight room from 3 until 5:30. Afterward, she tends to her body by stretching and spending time in the cold tubs. By 7:00, she's eating dinner and by 8:00, she's studying the tracks and looking at past races.” By doing this Katie feels that she is most prepared for competitions and the Olympics. She says, "I'm completely focused on training and the sport, I did everything I could to know that when I walk into the Olympic stadium, I feel prepared." After reading the article I thought about how much effort it takes to have a life like that.
Where does your friends and family come in? Most of us can agree that they wouldn’t want to have a life where they spend most their time preparing. Many athletes are as determined in their sport as Katie. They want to be Olympic Gold-Medalist, they want to be champions. They want their life to be like that. To read more in this article and also read about another athlete's life visit- http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/real-plans/celebrity/what-it-takes-to-be-an-olympic-athlete/

Ice baths help sore athletes after their hard day of training 

Week 1

https://drive.google.com/a/middletownk12.org/file/d/0B8fml5JSj3pKZS1wY3FLNDJ6aGs/view?usp=sharing

Above is the link for the Pitch of my genius hour project. Genius hour is a project you do 20% of the time. We get our own choice on what to do for our project so we get to use our personal interests. We are then set off to explore our project on our own in the course of 6 months. While learning new things about our project, we get to share it to the class in creative ways. I am most excited about watching documentaries of young athletes and comparing their struggles. I feel that in this area of my project I will thrive the most. The biggest concern I have is the interview. Although it is possible for me to get one, it will be a struggle. I also have a few technical worries for my project, but I should be able to work those out. In my pitch I feel I did well on getting the main idea of my project out there. I gave the right amount of information. I would change the setting of my pitch because it was made in an unprofessional room (my room). By doing this it would give me a more professional look which would help with the impression of my project.