2014 Goal Setting!

Post by Addicted to the GYM.

Need a Motivational Speaker?

I am super excited to announce that I will be apart of the an organization called Motivate Canada where I will be an Esteem Team Athlete Role Model!

Motivate Canada is proud to announce the addition of National Champion White Water Kayaker, Haley Daniels of... http://t.co/JQkzTsyDnW
— Motivate Canada (@MotivateCanada) December 13, 2013

The ESTEEM Team is a national, not-for-profit program of Motivate Canada that brings Olympic, Paralympic and National caliber athletes to schools in Canada to inspire and activate young people to set and achieve their goals.

Our athletes are not only accomplished in their sport, but they are professionally trained public speakers. Through their life stories, ESTEEM Team athletes effectively speak, entertain and engage students in grades 4-8 and 9-12, all with the objective to:

Inspire young people to pursue what they want in life

Educate them in the processes that lead to success

Highlight the importance of health, sport and physical activity and their role to overall wellness and success in life

Activate them for life!

If you interested is booking me as a speaker check out my bio:
http://www.motivatecanada.ca/en/esteemteam/athletes-113-haley-daniels

Epic Session

Our second session for the day was intended to be in the Inglewood pool paddling in our slalom boats, but the weather was so nice we decided to bring our training to the river. 

The adventure started with a text message from Mike (my coach) who said:

So instead of going home to do an aerobic workout I met my coach and team mate (Jessica) at the edge of the Bow River, which is our training site just off Glenmore trail right beside Deerfoot Meadows in Calgary. My attempt to get into the icy water was a little abrupt as I fell through the thin ice along the shore into fridgid water up to my knees, but the sudden chill helped me to transition from being dry and land locked to wet and water bound. I climbed into my boat, grabbed my paddle and had a wonderful technique session as the sun set with Canada Geese flying over head.

So many perks from today's session. I was able to get out and paddle, spend time with good friends, and paddle in pink water!!

The sunset went from beautiful to... Epic!

RIO Olympic programme proposal: A STEP BACK - Sportscene

[SPORTSCENE received the article below from an athlete who wishes to remain anonymous for reasons as explained in the below.]
I have chosen to write this article on an anonymous basis. Not because I don’t believe in what I’m writing and not because I’m afraid of standing by my point of view. I want people to step back, have a think and look at it in a different light. I feel the arguments that are being put forward on social media are getting too personal. The emotions are running high and I feel the sport as a whole seems to be missing the point.All I will say is that I am an Olympian, preparing another Olympic cycle and I compete in slalom. I do not train nor compete in any C boats.Canoeing is an Olympic sport. Canoe slalom and sprint are the Olympic disciplines of canoeing. What does it mean to be an Olympic sport? It means a lot of things. But from a practical point of view it means the sport signs the Olympic charter. By choosing to be Olympic, canoeing chooses to respect this charter. The international governing body, in this case the ICF, is there to make sure the governance and policies of the Olympic disciplines are in parallel with this charter. And this is where canoeing has a problem... Within the ICF’s current proposal of the Rio Olympic canoeing programme, our sport is in breach of principle 6 of the Olympic charter:
“Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement”How are we all in breach of this principle? Well, our international body believes it is ok to propose the same Olympic programme as in London, even though the landscape of our sport has immensely changed and continues to change for the better. Women’s canoeing has integrated our World Championships programmes and has been developed successfully internationally. Women’s canoeing now has a sufficient number of nations and level of development to integrate the Olympic programme with ease. In slalom this was clearly observed in the numbers at the start line of the World Championships in Prague this year, not to mention the junior and Under 23 world championships or at the canoe sprint worlds.
This fact is also strongly acknowledged by the President of the ICF, Jose Perurena, in the recent press release from Lima:
“Women’s C1 in both Sprint and Slalom has improved dramatically over the last couple of years and the proposal to include it in the Olympic programme will further support its future development.”Having read the whole press release and if I was to translate this statement and my understanding of the ICF’s message into more cynical words, I would read: Yes, C1 women you have improved, but we are going to continue to discriminate against you in absolute terms on the basis of gender for another 11 years until 2024 and remain in breach of the principle 6 of the Olympic charter in the proposed Olympic Rio programme. Mmmmm… Not a great message ICF and not one I am willing to accept.
If we choose to be Olympic, then we choose to take on the Olympic values. The choice taken by our international governing body to discriminate against women for another 7 to 11 years, does not reflect the Olympic values, or those of the ICF Statutes or the ICF charter for women in canoeing. 11 Olympic medal events for male athletes in canoeing against 5 for female athletes does not constitute gender equity by any stretch of the imagination, especially if the Olympic programme remains as imbalanced in Rio as it was in London and for all the Olympics before.
Sport is part of society and if anything Olympic sport is meant to show the way/set the example. How is the ICF doing this by choosing to propose to the IOC an Olympic programme based on gender discrimination? What message is the ICF sending to the world and not just the world of canoeing? Olympic sports have a responsibility that goes beyond that of their own sport. How is the ICF “inspiring a generation” (the motto from London) when they are clearly choosing not to give male and female athletes the same opportunities in their proposed 2016 programme? And how can they be so insulting as to suggest that female athletes would be happy with a proposal that reinforces the discrimination for a further 7 to 11 years.
Canoeing was ranked in the bottom 5 Olympic sports after London 2012. What does this mean? Our sport is in no way “safe” within the Olympic programme. One of the main reasons for that ranking was the gender imbalance within our Olympic programme, of course there are other reasons that must also be attended to. The winter Olympics will be starting in just under 3 months’ time and the IOC is going to come under huge pressure from the world media over the new “discrimination law” that the host nation has passed on homosexuals. The law is in breach of the same principle 6 of the Olympic charter that the proposed Rio canoeing Olympic programme is in breach of. The world media and many athletes are/will be putting pressure on the IOC to uphold this principle 6. The IOC can debate that Russia was awarded the Olympic hosting before this law was brought into place. What will become harder and harder to justify for the IOC is Olympic sports who don’t uphold the principle 6, or the Olympic charter in general within their Olympic programme, like canoeing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this may come as a shock but we are on the Olympic ejection seat and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying or dillusioned. The ICF are being foolish and if they continue to choose to ignore the facts that are put them. I can safely say that our sport will not have an Olympic future once the IOC does it’s post Games review of Rio 2016 if we are to follow through with what the ICF is currently proposing as a programme.
I spoke to a group of friends about the issue and we came to this conclusion:
“In some countries women aren’t allowed to drive. In canoeing, according to the ICF and it’s 24 male and 3 female board members, women aren’t allowed to have the same opportunities as men to compete at the Olympics. What’s the difference? None. There is just one big fat word for it: DISCRIMINATION.”
As a sport, as people, as societies, we can’t accept the ICF’s proposal. We can no longer justify an Olympic programme with such high gender imbalance and even the ICF recognize this. But by saying “not yet”, they are not only consciously choosing continued discrimination for another 7 to 13 years, they are also playing poker with the sport as a whole and it’s Olympic status. And I don’t believe they have a Royal Flush in their hands!
Gender equity is not a debate, it’s an obligation. Socially and morally we have to do what is right no matter how hard those decisions are for everyone involved. Legally, we don’t really have a choice. If the case was brought in front of courts of many of our countries that have laws protecting against gender discrimination, the ICF would more than struggle to justify it’s current proposal and the professional restriction it puts on female athletes. On an Olympic point of view, we have signed up to something and whether we like it or not, the Olympic charter is not a menu. If we want to move beyond our current “eject seat”, we have to start moving the sport forward now, today; not tomorrow and definitely not in 7 years’ time because by then it will be too late. This is our reality, and if we continue to bury our heads in the sand we have some very dark days ahead of us.

OLYMPIC ALERT: C1 Women’s Canoe Events Proposed for Tokyo Olympics.

OLYMPIC ALERT: C1 Women’s Canoe Events Proposed for Tokyo Olympics. 

November 15th, 2013NewsWomenCAN Intl 0 Comments

International Canoe Federation (ICF) announces they will propose C1 (singles canoe) Women’s Canoe Events for Tokyo 2020 Olympics – for the Sprint and Slalom disciplines.   #equalympics  #womenscanoe      Thank you to the 6,200+ people who have signed our petition and almost 1,200 who have left comments.

https://www.change.org/petitions/lift-the-ban-on-women-s-canoeing-at-the-olympics-for-rio-2016.

Current Olympic Program has:

Sprint: 5 Men’s Kayak, 4 Women’s Kayak, 3 Men’s Canoe, 0 Women’s Canoe

Slalom: 1 Men’s Kayak, 1 Women’s Kayak, 2 Men’s Canoe, 0 Women’s Canoe

15th November 2013 ICF Press Release:

At the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Board of Directors meeting in Lima, Peru, motions were carried to support the inclusion of C1 Women Canoe Slalom and C1 Women 200m Canoe Sprint at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and to guarantee complete gender equity across both Olympic disciplines (Sprint and Slalom) by the 2024 Olympic Games.

These decisions will now be proposed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Jose Perurena, ICF President and IOC Member, commented, “This is exceptionally positive for our sport and clarifies our position to ensure equity at every level of competition. 

“Women’s C1 in both Sprint and Slalom has improved dramatically over the last couple of years and the proposal to include it in the Olympic programme will further support its future development.”

The proposed inclusion of Women’s C1 Canoe Slalom reinforces the significant progress and increasing popularity of the discipline and will certainly please the recently crowned World Champion Jessica Fox (AUS), who has been a vocal advocate for its addition to the programme.

Likewise, the 21-year-old double C1 Women 200m Sprint World Champion, Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (CAN) will also be delighted by the prospect of Olympic competition.

Also discussed at the meeting was the increasing TV presence of the sport with over 50 hours live coverage in 2013 and a significant jump in audience figures.

Additions to the competitive calendar were also agreed with Pietermartzburg (RSA) winning the right to host the 2017 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships and Nantahala the 2015 ICF Junior Wildwater Canoeing World Championships.

Link to ICF press release  http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2cbee736331aa45e1311e6e8c&id=3b5d4275d1

Remembrance Day Skiing

I was able to get out for my first ski of the season with my mom and two good friends. Our day started out with a trip to Laggans Mountain Bakery because all great ski adventures start with some yummy baked goods!

We proceeded to drive up to Moraine lake and found almost 60 cars parked along the highway. We came to a consensus decision that we would drive up the road for an extra 5 minutes and check out if the Great Divide ski trail was busy. Lucky for us there were only 5 other cars in the parking lot! The road we were skiing on used to be the old high way that went through the mountains! 

It was amazing day, but I have a little bit of post cross country skiing leg pain :)

Mom (left), Felicitas Polsterer (middle), Me (right)

Felicitas Polsterer (left), Mike Mutrie (middle), Mom (right)

  

Although I love summer and paddling on the river I also enjoy cross training with some aerobic cross-country skiing! I am really looking forward to the 2013/2014 ski season! 

Beginnings - Grit Magazine

A good friend of mine and a retired Slalom White Water Kayaker has launched a new magazine called Grit Magazine. Grit is an online forum of anything related to sports.

One of their features is called Beginnings where Marissa has put together a string of photos of high performance athletes in their younger years of their involvement in sport.

Check out my story below! If you would like to see more you can visit their website at:
http://gritmag.com/beginnings-part-ii/

I GET to

I have returned from the World Championships in Prague this September and now my 2013 competition season has come to a close.  I have looked back to reflect on my experience throughout the whole year.   I found myself wondering, "What were my greatest accomplishments in 2013?"    When answering this question it was obvious, my paddling results were stronger in the competitions in North America where I found myself on the podium at every event.  Another highlight came when Canoe Kayak Canada announced I was the top ranked Canadian Slalom National team member according to the 2013 Canoe Slalom National Interclass Ranking.

One thing I have heard consistently from my coaches is the fact I am continually improving.  This year's World Cup circuit provided a progressive training ground for me.  Although I fell short of my goal to break into the top ten, I did advance to the semi finals at two competitions to place 13th in World Cup 1 in Cardiff, Wales and 13th in World Cup 2 in Le Seu, Spain. 

Earlier this summer our sport psychologist presented a perspective that helped me to position how I approach training and competing.  Instead of thinking "I HAVE to go to training" it was suggested to rephrase it as " I GET to go to training". Following that everything revved up to full speed and I had forgotten about this for most of my summer.  In the thick of competitions I found myself focusing on my race results instead of paying attention to the journey.  My coach reminded me before the World Championships in Prague, that "I GET to be at World Championships".   After my second race I was rather disappointed with my performance and did not advance to the semi finals.  With the pressure off I then had the opportunity to cheer on my team mates and decided to take in the full World Championships experience.  As a spectator I watched the semi finals and finals, finding myself sitting at the edge of my seat watching individuals from many nations fight their way down the difficult course.  It was truly amazing to be at this event and  I could feel the energy of the crowd as we cheered for each paddler that went down the course.  I observed facial expressions and body language seeing athletes show signs of triumph and defeat.

During race run #1

Moving forward I am now back home in Calgary and I GET to start school, work, and training again. It is a whole new year that will hopefully be full of improvement, determination, and fun!  Although I did not accomplish all of my goals, I achieved significant outcomes and I continue to learn what it takes to become one of the World's C1 paddlers. 

I want to thank everyone who has supported me this year as I could not have done it without YOU! 

Below I included the video summary of my race at the World Championships. My boat is pink and blue that is shown close to the beginning!

Get Ready...

I am presently in Prague, Czech Republic gearing up for the World Championships, which take place on September 12-15. All of us on the Canadian team have just finished a 3-day break from our intense training and now we are transitioning into a phase called "tapering" where we are preparing for the most important competition of the year. During this phase we will continue training to maintain our condition levels, however being careful not to tire out our bodies. The next 2 weeks will be filled with resting and preparing for the World Championships. I have been training extremely hard all year and I am confident I am ready to do my best!  

One exciting change for me this September is starting my first official semester as a business student.  I have full support from my Mount Royal University instructors who have helped me to work independently while I am competing at the World Championships. I find doing my course work provides a positive distraction that helps me relax and prevents me from worrying about the upcoming race. I am working on my first assignment and so far it is going very well.

So far my training and school fill my days, where I am achieving the proper balance, which is keeping me on track.

I welcome positive change as an opportunity to learn new things and to push new limits! It is going to be a very stimulating semester with many new challenges. I have learned when I really love something I will find ways to make it work. I am in the ZONE where I love canoeing and I love marketing!

Follow my blog, Facebook, and Twitter as I report on my results at the 2013 World Championships!

Home Town Throw Down

I had one of the best races I have had all summer! I threw down last weekend at Canadian National Championships on my home river the Kananaskis. I was U23 and Senior national champion! 

Applying my new technique of racing allowed me to focus on the details and execution of moves rather than focusing on the outcome of the race. Just before I began to sprint down the course I would tell myself to "just have a good run". Each time my mind would stray I would repeat those words to myself and it would push away any negative thoughts. 

Marissa (left) Alex (middle left) Me (middle) Hayden (middle right) Sam (right)

Having a competition at home was great. I was able to see my family and friends while I was raceing. My brother who used to compete came out and raced for fun and ended up being really close to making the U23 national team! 

I was also able to connect with my old team mate and good friend. Below are the photos that she took!

MarissaTiel Photo

MarissaTiel Photo

The great thing about Nationals is that young aspiring athletes can come and race with provincial and national team athletes. This is an exciting opportunity for new athletes to experience what is possible and for more seasoned athletes to see up and coming hopefuls. I was so happy to see many familiar faces at the river both paddling and volunteering. Over the past 2 years I have been lucky to teach and coach Waterwerks Kayak Club participants. So to see their performance at nationals gave me great pride and a sense of excitement for the possibilities ahead.  

It was a miracle to be able to host this race considering that 5 weeks previous, Alberta declared a state of emergency due to the massive flooding of many of the provinces rivers. Thanks to all the volunteers and the Alberta Whitewater Association for working endless hours to make this race possible. It was truly amazing to see our community pull together and recreate the Kananaskis river. Thank you to Alberta Slalom Canoe Kayak as well as Canoe Kayak Canada for putting on a great race! Also a big thank you to my Mom and Dad for helping to officiate the race.

U23 World Championships

In the words of Dr Seuss "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened".

I had some of my best paddling in an international competition however because of some major mistakes I did not have the results that I had hoped at the U23 World Championships in Liptovsky, Slovakia. I placed 24th overall with only 3 touches throughout the whole race!

The competition was very stiff and cracking into the top 10 was difficult as there were a lot of strong competitors. Racing is a journey with constant ups and downs. I needed to have bad races in order to understand how to race well.

I read a very inspirational blog post from Kyle Shewfelt that helped me to realize where I was making mental errors. In future racing situations I need to focus on the details and the execution of the moves and not so much on the outcome of the race.

Lucky #13

The image I had of La Seu d’Urgell was the most spectacular course that I could ever imagine with perfect white water and cafes and markets everywhere. My coach Mike and team mate Jessica would always go off in rants how amazing Seu was. This was the world cup I was looking forward to the most. 

The weather was a dramatic difference from Augsburg where it was 30 degrees each day with sun and minimal rain.  I had a very good race, but had a loop at gate 4 and too many touches where I placed lucky #13. Without my touches I would have made it to the final. I see myself as a confident and strong paddler, but touches are killing my racing. Although I did not have a clean run I executed the moves very well and I am content with my result.

 SO I have decided to make each touch have a consequence. Each time I touch a gate I add 25 cents to the jar and each time I miss a gate I have to add $5. Once I have had 10 sessions without touching or a clean race then I can take the money from the jar and reward myself. I believe that being more conscious of where I am touching in my training and racing will eventually make it a habit of be very careful and being clean.

I was able to connect with an old teammate and good friend while she was abroad on her journeys.

Also my mom and dad were in Seu to watch my racing and provide me with some additional support.

It was a little difficult to transition into the Spanish culture as to accommodate for the hot weather the Spanish wake up early while its cold and then everything closes down at around 1:00pm so that everyone can have a siesta. Then at around 8:00pm everything opens back up as the temperature cools down. This meant that dinner wasn't eaten until about 8:00pm. Luckily we were staying in an apartment where we had a kitchen and were able to cook our meals on our own time.

I am happy with my result and I am gradually getting better. I just need to clean up my touches and truly be confident in myself.

Well That's Racing

Mistakes are a way that each person learns and grows. Racing is such a difficult thing as it takes experience and time to understand your specific racing style and apply it over and over again.

It has been challenging to learn where to pace myself while being on the road. Competing on the World Cup circuit is complicated as you are only in each location for about a week with only 4-5 sessions on the white water before you race. Then you pick up and leave again. It is a draining process.

I found myself very tired for my race in Augsburg, Germany. The weather also didn't help… as it rained all week with very cold temperatures. I had two major mistakes in each of my qualification runs. The 1^st run I caught an edge close to the bottom of the course and flipped over. Once I had rolled back up it was too late and I had blown past gate 17. I was upset and frustrated after my first run, as I knew I could perform better. I was exited and anxious for my second run where I reviewed in the video tent and repeated visualizations of a perfect execution of the course in my head. I felt prepared and ready to race. I powered out of the start gate and was determined to throw down, but I missed the line through the first hole and missed the 2^nd gate and the line was so off I also blew past the 3^rd gate as well.

That's racing, sometimes you have good races and sometimes you have bad ones. That is what I love about it, but that is also what makes it so difficult as each athlete is striving for consistency. The mistakes I made in Augsburg were tough, nonetheless it has given me even more motivation to do well in La Seu d’Urgell and Liptovský Mikuláš.