Where Have All the Physiologists Gone?


Now that the ice is on the oval and the anaerobic training phase of the season is set to begin, I'm almost finished ranting about US Speedskating (and by now you should know that by "US Speedskating" I am referring to the USS administration and its policies and decisions, and the culture and philosophy --or lack thereof-- behind these policies and decisions). However, I still have some notes on a few more good posts on related topics, and I'd like to get these out of the way.

We all know by now that I believe that USS discriminates against a variety of different people for a variety of different reasons, and I've given several examples of this. In my last post, I discussed an actual example of USS's discrimination against an athlete who cares about his education. Besides missing out on such a person's contribution as a speedskater, are there any other consequences for USS when they discriminate against such a person?

In reading the Program Director's report from the USS Spring Board Meeting, I saw that the Brain Trust was concerned about where they would find new coaching talent and sports science input. They sincerely hoped that they wouldn't be forced to bring in any foreigners to bring them up to speed. But, if not foreigners, where are they going to find people with expertise in these areas?

Of all the Americans out there who have been involved in the sport of speedskating at some time in their lives, how many are now sportsmedicine doctors, exercise physiologists, physiology researchers, power skating coaches, physical therapists, nutritionists, physical education teachers, etc. etc.? Where are all these people now?

These former speedskaters are all people who could have made a meaningful contribution to the sport. Why don't they? Of course, it is possible for most of them to make more money elsewhere. But, for too many, the disturbing truth is simply that their experience in speedskating was an episode in their lives that they want to forget, because it left such a bad taste in their mouth.

Take me, for instance. When I was a grad student at City of Hope, I was doing my thesis work on oxidative damage to retroviral nucleic acids. When I finish with my speedskating career, I could potentially channel my experience in this area towards studying oxidative damage to DNA caused by intense speedskating training. Do you think that US Speedskating has given me any sort of incentive to contribute the best use of my mind to their organization?

If I were to "give back" to US Speedskating according to what it has given to me as an athlete, it would not be an expression of loving gratitude. Rather, it would be more on the order of sabotage! The greatest favor I could do them would be to stay away. I doubt I could bring myself to do them any good.

I'll be an athlete at one level or another until the day when I can no longer move my body, but any scientific contributions I may eventually make will be in biomedical research, not in the area of speedskating physiology, and certainly not for the benefit of US Speedskating. I know of several people who posess knowledge that could have been valuable to USS who feel the same way. This is how they've treated their intellectual talent pool. So, now let them go search outside the country for coaching and sports science talent, or fall further behind the rest of the world.