Adams parts with Poppe

[John]

Olympic and world champion shot putter Valerie Adams is set to part company with new coach Didier Poppe in the next few weeks.

He will be the second coach she has split from in the past eight months, after parting with long-time mentor Kirsten Hellier in March.

Assuming certain logistical details are ironed out, Poppe will be replaced by Swiss Jean-Pierre Egger, with whom Adams trained with briefly in Switzerland earlier this year before her standout performance of the year in Croatia.

Previously, as she worked through Poppe’s change programme, she had consistently finished second to long-time rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk, of Belorussia.

After working with Werner Gunthor, winner of three world championships between 1987 and 1993, and Jean-Pierre Egger, Adams threw 20.86m to beat Ostapchuk for the first time in an age.

Her manager Nick Cowan said while Adams and Poppe had plenty of healthy “rigorous” debate, there had been some issues between the two. The Frenchman had undertaken a radical re-shaping of Adams’ technique that he likened to turning a truck into a Ferrari.

“There have been some differences of opinion [going back to April] this year,” said Cowan, "a degree of which is normal between an athlete and a coach. The main thing is that at the end of next year, we need to be looking at London and saying, ‘yes, we are on track.’

“There will be one technical head coach [in 2011] and our desire is for that to be Jean-Pierre,” confirmed Cowan.

Adams was ‘buzzing’ after her brief training camp in Switzerland and that is understood to have created the strong impetus for change. While Cowan is quick to stress that she is not “disappearing”, Adams will spend “months rather than weeks” in Europe next year.

“She rang me [after the camp] and said ‘I have to do this again, I have to do it next year and I have to do it for more time’,” said Cowan.

"The connection she made with Jean-Pierre and the areas that he focused on really gave her confidence and re-ignited her competitive resolve to perform the way she did.

"Our main focus is ensuring that we capture that again. "

There is a slim chance that Poppe could still be involved.

“There will be one technical head coach,” said Cowan. “You have to be careful with too much input. Everybody in her team agrees that it is very difficult to have two coaches.”

It is expected that strength and conditioning expert Matt Kritz and power coach Mike McGuigan will remain part of the new set-up.

Together with Athletics New Zealand and her management team, Adams has been undertaking a review of the past year to look at what went well and what didn’t. At the same time Adams has had to put most of her energy and focus into working through her marriage separation which has significantly “slowed things down” and made the change process harder.

Cowan adds that to some degree 2010 was the right time for a few things to go wrong.

“We did the experimenting in a year where we could get away with it,” says Cowan. "Last year she was quite prepared to try a few things out but lately she has been pretty clear that this has got to be sorted.

“She is very ready for next year; she is in the right head space and is totally sorted with how it all needs to roll out.”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/athletics/news/article.cfm?c_id=19&objectid=10689052

[John]

Hellier still raw over split

Kirsten Hellier, now coaching Chinese shot putters, has finally revealed why she split with world champion Valerie Adams - just as news broke that Adams is also quitting the coach that replaced her.

Speaking candidly for the first time about the details of their messy split - and before details became known of Adams’ new decision to walk away from new coach Didier Poppe - Hellier says the pain was still “raw” and concedes she has occasional second thoughts about her decision to walk away.

Talking to the Herald on Sunday in Guangzhou, China, where she is coaching Chinese athletes at the Asian Games, the New Zealander admits she’ll be happy to see the back of 2010.

“[Since the split] I have had some second thoughts - it would be dishonest to say I haven’t. It was a massive decision but it wasn’t done overnight.”

Hellier says she felt Adams had seemed “unhappy” since late 2009. "I tried to find the answers but I couldn’t. It got to the stage where I knew I couldn’t give her what she needed. I had always said to Val that if it ever got to that point, I would walk away - or tell her to move on.

“I don’t believe she was stagnating [in performance] - she just seemed unhappy and that kind of broke my heart.”

Hellier says the delicate situation was exacerbated by difficult contract negotiations with Athletics New Zealand.

“The reality is I wasn’t happy, she wasn’t happy and a decision had to be made. I made that decision - but if you look at the press conference, [it seems like] the decision was hers. I guess it depends who you talk to.”

After the world indoor championships in March, Hellier had made up her mind to go but didn’t want to discuss it with Adams until after the national championships. One of Adams’ support team became aware of Hellier’s decision. “I was given an ultimatum,” recalls Hellier. “This person basically said ‘if you don’t tell her [now], I will’. I wanted to wait until after nationals so she could compete well and it was done properly.”

The split did not happen in private. Instead it felt like a “messy divorce”, with a meeting in a cold boardroom with lawyers and agents.

“It was taken out of my hands. I believe that if we had sat down and talked, the transition would have been smoother. It was done for the right reason and I think Val would agree. I genuinely want success for her and Didier.”

Hellier and Adams keep in semi-regular contact, and talked on Skype last week. “It’s general stuff,” Hellier says. “We never talk about the sport.”

However, Hellier believes her new charge, Li Ling, could challenge Adams at the 2012 Olympics.

“I’m not going to lie - it would feel strange to be there watching Val, absolutely,” says Hellier. “But I would want my athlete to beat her; to throw further and do better. I’m a passionate Kiwi through and through but I wouldn’t take an athlete that far without giving them all of my knowledge and everything I have.”

Hellier was contracted by the Chinese in May and has been working with Ling, their No2-ranked female putter, for the last three months. Ling trained in New Zealand for six weeks recently and Hellier says her progress has been remarkable.

“In training, she has gone from throwing [in the] late 17s [17 metres] to over 19 consistently. Strength-wise, there have been gains of up to 25 per cent in her core lifts, which is phenomenal. Like most Chinese putters, she has great natural speed but needs to work on her strength and technique. The small changes we’ve made have made a huge difference.”

[b]The 25-year-old Ling placed fourth at the 2007 world championships with a throw of 19.38m. Four years on, that remains her personal best. Hellier doesn’t know the reason for the stagnation but was unimpressed with Ling’s training systems and methods.

“There was no real programme in existence. She showed me her weekly [training and weights] plan and it had never changed - apparently it had been the same for years. It was pretty pathetic - even at Les Mills you would get a better programme and this was an Olympic athlete.”
[/b]
Hellier has no doubt Ling has the ability to manage 20 metres-plus regularly - which would put her into medal contention in London, against a certain Valerie Adams.

When the Asian Games conclude on Friday, Hellier will be meeting with the Chinese officials to discuss her contract extension. Relocating to China has been considered but Hellier is reluctant to transplant her two children (10 and 14 years old) and the international schools they scouted in Beijing cost a whopping US$27,000 ($34,700) per year.

The preferred option is for Ling to base herself in Auckland, which Hellier thinks would be “hugely beneficial” for her as an athlete and a person.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10689042

[John]

LETS JUST PLAY THE WHOLE THING OUT VIA THE MEDIA :rolleyes:

Valerie Adams’ relationship with latest coach on the ropes

Didier Poppe says he hasn’t given up hope his coaching partnership with Valerie Adams can be salvaged though he admits to “tension” in his relationship with the world champion Kiwi shot putter.

Adams is on the brink of splitting with Poppe just eight months after she enlisted the North Shore-based Frenchman to replace long-term coach Kirsten Hellier.

It is said Adams is set to join up with Swiss coach Jean-Pierre Egger with whom she has worked recently. The Kiwi was reportedly enthused by Egger’s approach and in particular the improvement it seemed to bring out in her performance.

Though no official termination of her coaching relationship with Poppe has been announced yet, Adams’ manager Nick Cowan has confirmed that there have been “differences of opinion” between the pair and that Adams’ “desire” was for Egger to be her coach for 2011 and beyond.

Poppe said he believed their relationship could still be salvaged but conceded there were major issues to work through.

“I have not asked to be Valerie’s coach some eight month ago,” Poppe told Radio Sport today. “They came to me and asked if I wanted to coach Valerie… I am still not asking to be Valerie’s coach, and I say if you need me, if I can do my coaching job properly, maybe we can keep going.”

But Poppe conceded that after a year where the Kiwi Olympic and world champion consistently come up short of the mark set by her Belarussian rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk, there were problems that had to be surmounted.

“The problem for me and Valerie as well is to build a relationship that is strong enough that she believes in me and I can believe in her,” added Poppe. “If we can build that then everything is open. If not, I am happy to give up, and go back to other athletes.”

Poppe said he remained convinced about his methods which emphasised speed over power. He pointed out that he was coaching the same techniques as Egger.

“I have a bit of experience, and I also have proof with [young New Zealander] Jacko Gill who is doing things that nobody has done before. Jacko Gill is training according to methods we are thinking about developing – speed in priority to strength. He’s living proof it can work.”

Poppe said he would take some time to think through latest developments before making any firm decisions. “If we cannot find a way to go for further improvemnt, then my advice to Valerie is to go to my friend Jean-Pierre and keep going. Jean-Pierre is doing exactly the same method and same technique as I am doing here with Valerie.”

Poppe said he was “surprised” to hear the coaching relationship was all but over and said his understanding was that discussions were ongoing over Adams’ plans for next year.

"Of course there are problems between Valarie and me which are going to be discussed and eventually solved… at the moment the decision has been taken on splitting.

“The coaching situation was not good [for] several weeks, but I don’t say it was desperate,” he said.

Poppe said he thought Adams did “pretty well” on the international circuit, considering the major changes they were introducing to her technique. “By the end of the year she was again consistent at her best level and again in a situation to be the world’s best,” he told Radio Sport.

The Frenchman conceded it had not been easy for Adams to undergo the changes he was asking of her, but he felt she was on the verge of some major breakthroughs.

“It was a process that could be expected to produce in about one year or more,” he added. “This is the positive side of the story. Sometimes there are some other questions – technical coaching questions, and the context of life for Valerie was full of stress and this stress has somehow spoiled most of the relationship.”

Despite Poppe’s conciliatory tone, it appears that Adams’ mind is made up, and that more change is in the air for the conquering Kiwi.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/4371936/Valerie-Adams-relationship-with-latest-coach-on-the-ropes

[Youngy]

Adams 2010 best (20.86) is only 9cm off the world leader - Ostapchuk (20.95), so it’s not as if coach Poppe has done much wrong in the last 8 months?