translation of article "I have a big team now," says Tomas The first winner of the "Sportsman of the month award" , organized by MF Dnes a iDNES
(national czech newspaper and its internet counterpart) for the month of January is figure skater Tomas Verner. The member of the Ceske Budejovice ice skating club received 259 votes, placing first in front of Katerina Neumannova. Both of them are from the southern part of the Czech Republic.
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Oberstdorf is a paradise. The european figure skating silver medalist Tomas Verner is available only late in the evening, when his practice is over. He was reachable by phone on Monday. He described what his day looks like. he is always in a good mood.
"Thank you to everyone who sent me a vote," goes a message from his training center in Oberstdorf. "I am grateful for everyone who supports me and figure skating."
He recalls the question someone asked him in Ceske Budejovice after Euros - how big his team was. "My team is much larger now, a lotn of people have become part of it. The figure skating fans that sent me their votes."
Did you know that MF Dnes started organizing a monthly poll for the best sportsman of each region? The newspaper picks 5 sportsmen/women and people can vote for them online.I didnt know about this poll. After Euros and all that glory I want away to train again and so I am now once again pendling between the rink and school. I am training again.
You are the first one to win this award. You even beat Katerina Neumannova.Really? I am very grateful for winning, I am very happy for this award. But I do regret that Katka is second. I am in no way as good as she is. What she managed to win is amazing!
How do you feel today, now that the biggest attention focused on you is over?After Euros, quite a big wave of popularity that hit me. Because of that, my daily routine of training-school was messed up a bit. But its back to normal now.
You said that you are training again. What does your training look like now?I am in Oberstdorf. 15 minutes ago I came back from one training session and in 45 minutes I have another one, the last for today. I am very busy. I train a lot, but Worlds in Japan is just around the corner.
Can you tell us what your Monday looked like?It wasnt so crazy, I knew that the first training session would be step sequences, so I knew I could sleep in a bit. I got up at half past seven. But normally I get up earlier, because i need to be fully awake for training. The training session started at nine and as all on-ice ones, took one hour.
When did you resume training?At eleven, another intense hour of skating followed. That was the jump session. And from four o´clock in the afternoon was phase three. I did run-throughs of both my long and short programs, giving it everything. And in the evening I do an hour and a half of ballet.
Ballet prep is part of your training. What is its content?This time it was for modern ballet, not classical, which I sometimes do as well. Its good to work on it, it helps me for example make a correct use of my arms.
And your program for Tuesday?Its quite similar to Monday. The content is the same. But on Monday I had on-ice sessions one fast after another, there was no other way. I dont mind doing ballet after an on-ice session, but when I have on-ice sessions back-to-back, it exhausts me. The Tuesday training will be till eight in the evening and then my father will pick me up and we will go home
(meaning Czech Republic). I have school responsibilities to take care of.
You didnt make much use of the exam period this semester...
(note - university exam period mid January-mid February)In the first half on January I was training in Oberstdorf and the second half was Euros in Warsaw. But I want to make up for the missed school assignements by June. Two days after Tokyo I will have an exam from anatomy. I have to study regularly for it. If I was to study anatomy for four hours, I would fall asleep, I am so often very tired after training.
During summer you should have more time for school, but there are also training camps and you train a lot as well.I like the time period you mention. When a nice group of people gets together and we train, one forgets about being tired. You dont mind getting up early and going to bed late. And repeating it day after day. We always had a good group here
(in Oberstdorf) and then everything is easier.
You are the only Czech figure skater training in Oberstdorf at this moment?Nowdays, there is often a number of people who speak Czech and Slovak here. Michal Brezina and a Slovak dance team are here. They are all preparing for Junior Worlds.
Its quite busy there then...One day there will probably be more foreigners here than home figure skaters. And it isnt suprising, really. Even Carolina Kostner is here and that attracts people. Everyone wants to skate where the current European Champion skates. But she attracted people here even when she wasnt a champion. And Europe is small. To reach Oberstdorf, one doesnt have to travel so much, its much better reachable than if you trained, for example, in the USA.
When you have an hour in between training sessions, what do you do? I might write a letter or pick up my anatomy textbook. As I said, I cant study for too long, because I would fall asleep and not memorize anything. I studied non-stop only before my graduation exams. Back then I really studied like crazy.
