The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 and the lockdown that came along have made the Red Torpedoes deal with new and exceptional situations.
The training process of every elite athlete has, as its working guideline, the achievement of some ambitious objectives which are set at the beginning of every season. Those we had established as primary for the season of 2020 were useful for Hermien, Lize, Artuur and Bram to face every training-session with the required motivation and physical demand. When the lockdown emerged, and competitions for the season of 2020 were either canceled or put on-hold, elements of surprise, distrust and uncertainty were introduced to the process. The following acceptance of this new –yet rare– situation and the updating of the competition calendar facilitated the progressive come-back to the training-sessions with a much needed motivation.
During the last seasons, we have spent a lot of time developing crucial values common to team sports in order to reinforce the engagement among the Red Torpedoes. This group dynamics have managed to strengthen even more the bonds between the crew members, so they can achieve ambitious projects both in team and individual boats. The confidence that is offered by a united team of athletes, coaches and experts supporting each other in interdisciplinary ways, allows us to face with courage every future major challenge.
In spite of the risk and the inconvenience we feel during the current situation the pandemic took us to, I believe that feeling of belonging to an incredible team –our society– has been reinforced. All the lockdown obligations, which were indeed necessary to avoid further spreading of the virus, have contributed to that same feeling. Those qualities, that have been improved on a personal level, will make it possible to meet with guarantee all our common targets within another incredible team: the Red Torpedoes.
Carlos M. Prendes García-Barrosa.
Genk, the 16th of June 2020.
Una pica en Flandes 