Athletic ability a state of mind

Being a high-performance athlete is as much about mental conditioning as it is physical conditioning - or even more so.

Georgette Reed, the University of Alberta's cross-country and track and field head coach and one of Canada's most decorated national champions, would know better than anyone the capabilities of the human body. But her true insights as a coach may actually lie within the realm of mental preparation.

This summer, Reed accompanied Kris Vriend, an Edmonton Paralympian, to the Para-Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as her shot put and discus coach.

The pair have known each other since Vriend started competing in throwing events back in 1994, a few years after a car accident left her with brain damage. Then, Reed was in the midst of a stellar track-and-field career that would culminate in 17 national titles -15 in shot put and two in discus - and a berth at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Upon joining the U of A as a coach, Reed announced her retirement from competition to focus entirely on the new phase of her life as a coach and mentor, a job description that knows no boundaries.

"I needed a coach and I knew (Reed) from around the Butterdome for years," said Vriend, who was in the process of preparing for the 2004 Paralympics in Athens a the time. "The Canadian Paralympic Committee asked me who my coach was and I didn't have a coach, so I said 'Georgette Reed' and that was it."

Reed agreed to the post and, while tending to her duties with the U of A varsity track team, began watching over Vriend's progress.

"When I first got into it, I didn't really know what I was getting into," said Reed.

But she quickly found out that athletes are athletes. "People are people. You have to treat each one as an individual. You can't just look at the disability and lump them all together. They are all going to respond to different stimuli; they are going to want to do things differently."

"For me, it's a challenge taking what I've learned from the able-bodied world and transferring it in a way that might work for a disabled athlete that will allow them to have success in the technique or event that they are trying to do."

It might have been too little, too late, however, as Vriend had a disappointing showing in 2004 at Athens, finishing eighth in shot put and fouling out of the discus. It was then that Reed decided to coach Vriend full time in preparation for the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing.

"Her injury is a brain injury, so sometimes there is a problem with emotional control and some different things, as well as balance, but we mostly worked on emotional control," said Reed.

This even-keel approach began to pay off as Vriend made steady improvements throughout 2005 before pulling off a fourth in 2006 at the Worlds in Assens, Netherlands. That performance would act as the springboard that would launch Vriend at the 2007 Para-Pan American Games.

"In Brazil, her competitiveness really came out," said Reed, who accompanied Vriend to South America for the games, volunteering to help out with the blind athletes in the running events as well. "Against some of the best athletes in the world, she won gold in the shot put, which was a great surprise, but she was really competitive that day, throwing her season's best. She came back two days later and won the discus with not her seasonal best but a good mark, close to her personal best."

Reed says the result classes Vriend amongst the best in the world, hitting qualification standards for Beijing. However, Reed would like her pupil to hit some performance standards along the way, upping her discus beyond the 22-metre mark and pushing her shot put consistently in competition like she does in practice.

"Georgette knows what she's talking about. She takes everything into account, your moods, how you're feeling," said Vriend, who has her eye locked on the podium in Beijing. "She coaches the way you are. She has to coach me a lot differently because I am a disabled athlete, and she has to adapt things and change some exercises for me. She does it all."

Whether or not Reed attends next year's Paralympic Games with Vriend is in neither coach nor athlete's hands - the decision will be made by the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Either way, Reed says Vriend will be ready.

"I would like to be there for the type of results I know she is capable of having, and be there for the shining moment, and be there for her," said Reed. "That's the moment we as coaches prepare the athletes for, so you hope to be there for the pinnacle moment when things really start to kick in. If not, I hope she knows I'll be there for her and behind her 100 per cent."