Jenn S. Pole Vault Coach????

What if they watch the video of the meet at home and Jenn comes out wearing high heels and fishnet stockings holding a whip?

Who's in charge now?

MaryOK wrote:There is a world of difference between complacency and acknowledgement. A champion does not have to be unhappy about a silver medal to acknowledge the difference between silver and gold. For that matter, they generally do not look upon their silver and bronze medals with shame.

Champions never stop striving for first, but acknowledge, with gratitude and respect, all of their accomplishments. Stuczynski's coach failed to respond appropriately to her accomplishment.

Four years after touching a pole for the first time, Stuczynski not only made it to the Olympics, but won a silver medal. Four years after touching that pole, the only person to outmatch Stuczynski is a world record holder, with many more years experience. And Stuczynski has no reason to be unhappy about that.

Well said!

No one is suggesting that coaches coddle athletes or tell them everything's terrific all the time. The best coaches know how to balance praise and criticism.

I've worked with coaches who are very positive and encouraging--but know too when to push and apply pressure. These abilities aren't mutually exclusive.

Based on reports of this coach's past behavior, he sounds like nothing more than an abusive control freak. There are ways to present a criticism and ways not to.

Suppose he had first congratulated her on the silver and on how far she'd come in such a short time--then explained calmly ways she could improve next time. As in, "You're capable of going even further if you work on ___."

He simply lacked class the way he talked to her. Many winning coaches have success without having to bully and humiliate their athletes.

Stuczynski has never competed in the Pan Am Games. Rick Suhr is a wrestler and trains her with a wrestlers mentality. If you follow Jenn\'s career, you will see she\'s a fierce competitor who hates to loose and gets upset with herself when she doesn\'t perform to the level she expects to. Just about every vaulter Suhr has trained has won national titles.

She\'s gone head to head with Isinbayeva at the World Indoor Finals in Spain, only loosing by a countback. In London she passed on a height that would have tied her with Isi and went directly to the world record.

I don\'t like what Suhr was saying either but he, more than any of us, knows what his vaulter needs to hear. Their season isn\'t over yet and there will be more competitions with Isinbayeva to come. Jenn\'s a professional and the fact that she was happy during her interview shows this. She\'s a winner and wants to win...all those girls are winners.

Oh no! We have to protect the poor little girl pole vaulter from the big bad Rick Suhr with the big biceps and mean look on his face! Someone tell her she's a unique snowflake and give her a hug even though she fell quite short of her goal. We love you Jenn!!!

Get a f***ing clue. What if this was Christian Cantwell's coach talking to him after getting silver? He's a big burly guy so he can take it?

here is the video... didnt look bad to me..

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0818_hd_atw_hl_l1722&channelcode=sportat

Everything about this is absolutely ridiculous. From someone who used to train with Rick and Jenn, this did not surprise me at all. Both of them had extremely high hopes for this olympics, and Jenn's cleared huge heights in practice but couldn't perform (as well as she wanted to) here. BOTH of them I'm sure are EXTREMELY disappointed. Like Rick said, she wasn't doing good in warmups so she had to take extra jumps in the competition, and then she had dead legs. I don't think it has anything to do with a silver medal. I think if she would have jumped a height she was expecting to jump and come in dead last there would be no disappointment. Rick said what she probably needed to hear.

As for the "trash talking" between the athletes, I find that even more ridiculous. Yelena did most of it, and Jenn DID actually "kick some Russian butt"...she beat Feofanova, a former world record holder and olympic silver medalist!

So...congrats Jenn and Rick. I know it wasn't what you were hoping for, but hey, its a silver medal. Only up from here.

Outside perceptions? He's wierd, controlling, svengali like with his girl athletes. Very cult like.

But he seems to know his stuff. If he can get someone to jump that high from Riga, NY - I guess enough said. She's a grown up and can make her own decisions.

Runningart2004 wrote:

If you are happy, and if your coach is happy, with anything other than first then you have no business in the Olympics....or really any sport for that matter.

Alan

So what the hell are you doing in this sport -- or any sport for that matter? Are you just going from one unhappy experience to another?

I just saw the video of the coach's statements. I was appalled.

Cantwell would have probably put his ass 70+ feet further up in the bleachers.

wtf guys wrote:

Oh no! We have to protect the poor little girl pole vaulter from the big bad Rick Suhr with the big biceps and mean look on his face! Someone tell her she's a unique snowflake and give her a hug even though she fell quite short of her goal. We love you Jenn!!!

Get a f***ing clue. What if this was Christian Cantwell's coach talking to him after getting silver? He's a big burly guy so he can take it?

Well, just for the record, I think people should in general treat one another with respect, regardless of gender. So I wouldn't be happy with Cantwell's coach if he acted the way Suhr did.

And this isn't about overprotecting anyone. Again, it's not an either/or situation: just why can't criticism be delivered constructively? Do you think a person needs to be screamed at just after s/he wins silver? Can the coach perhaps let her enjoy the moment, then later talk in private about ways she can do better the next time?

Does he get more "street cred" as a REAL coach if he screams at her in public? And is this the only legitimate way to criticize?

I didn't think Jenn was "fighting back tears." I thought she was stunned he could be so harsh when his comments were quite audible (he was miked, I assume?). How joyless can a guy be? Yeah, gold would have been nice, but Jenn was up against someone who had cleared SEVERAL heights higher than her. Cmon already.

One thing we have to remember is: did Rick really think this was public? I've had coaches I respect VERY MUCH who have said things to me that would definitely embarass them if it was unknowingly broadcast to millions of people. Let Rick Suhr do his f***ing job. He's obviously good at it. What the f*** does Bob Newmeyer know? And Dwight Stones has been out of competition for a long time. Maybe he doesn't know or remember what competing at a world class level is like.

And if Christian Cantwell put up with a talk like that afterward, it would be because he CHOSE to have that kind of coaching. Like a pro athlete.

So Jenn cleared some big heights in practice, and because of this she should beat Isinbayeva, are you kidding me.

Those two Rick and Jen set themselves up for this. They have mentioned several times how they would dominate and so on, beating this person and that person. Did they think that Isi would just sit there and take it? Jumping high in your back yard in training is one thing taking on the likes of Isinbayeva at the height of their career in Olympic Stadium is another matter. All they did with the smack talking is give fuel to fire up Isi, just read her latest quotes.

This Rick character is a joke, with the WWF mentality, come on give us all a break. This was your one chance at the spot light and you blew it, while giving the coaching profession a black eye. Maybe he has some good coaching ideas but they will all be lost due to his unprofessional actions. Being hard and disciplined with your athlete is one thing acting like a jerk, knowing that you are miked on national television representing a whole segment of the sport--coaches is something else.

I wish Jenn lots of good luck and congrats on the well deserved medal.

None of us know the prerequisites of this relationship. She won a silver, with Rick, not you. Rick took her from a shed in Rochester, NY with a heater in the corner to a silver medal. Could she have done it with someone else? Maybe...ask Mary Saxer!

All I know is that you saw something that may go on all the time with other coaches, but NBC doesn't have a camera in their face. I am amazed at the whining over this. You want to know why there isn't more success among americans in TF? Maybe it is because we are coddled and always told how great we are, not to be upset, and 2nd is okay. This is a fundamental problem with our kids today and the complaints on this board tells me that the age of many of these posters probably part of the "age of entitlement". Too bad.

I'm sure that Rick congratulated her later and everything is fine. He may have thought that she could win gold, and she didn't. He was upset and spoke his mind at the time. That's their business...not yours!

Maybe he needs a bit of slack... have you ever reacted in an inappropriate manner to anything in your life? If you answer no your full of **** and if you answer otherwise then you have no right to JUDGE RICK... because you are as guilty as he ... it just so happened he did it on world wide coverage and got caught... a few years back my mens xc team ran the worse race ever the week before we had 7 men running 26:20 or faster and the best time was 27:31 that day... I said I was disgusted to them and just frustrated... it was not my proudest moment.. I apologized to them ... so what have you done that your not proud of? Rick maybe a jerk, a bad person, YOU do not know no matter who you are... so maybe leave it alone.

you know nothing wrote:

None of us know the prerequisites of this relationship. She won a silver, with Rick, not you. Rick took her from a shed in Rochester, NY with a heater in the corner to a silver medal. Could she have done it with someone else? Maybe...ask Mary Saxer!

Tiff Maskulinski too. Who, no offense, is not much of an "athlete" yet both of them went 14' under Suhr...in high school.

I haven't heard so much gossip since the girls lockeroom in high school. come on people get a life shes a 25 year old women she can take it.

lighten up wrote:

Tiff Maskulinski too. Who, no offense, is not much of an "athlete" yet both of them went 14' under Suhr...in high school.

Here he is with high school sr. Mary Saxer.

Was he rooming with these high school girls too?

Rick Suhr is a total ass, they should dime him out and shame him! Let's see this re-run on the evening news for the next 2 weeks. Can we make sure he never coaches again?