92 Kilometers/Hour Head First Skeleton Run

In February, 2025, I attended the 53^rd FIL Luge World Championships in Whistler, British Columbia. Highlights of the event are available here

(https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8B0YVf_mLDybUfVRnBrlO5zxU9AuI1YW&si=AABMUv2q0GdSj25r)

How could you not have curiosity about this sport and the athletes who reach speeds in excess of 150 kilometers an hour on a track of pure ice. The chance to see the championships in Canada was too good for me to pass on.

 

Like most Canadian kids I grew up sliding during winter on our crazy carpets and toboggans, but I’m sure I never reached speeds of 150 kilometers an hour, although we didn’t have devices to measure back in the day.

 

Personal Rush: March 23, 2025 at Whistler Sliding Center

Watching these racers in February, many of them Olympians, was fun and inspiring.  So inspiring that I decided to give the track a run myself in March.  For $249 you can experience the Olympic track at the Whistler Sliding Center during winter– but not during the world championships.

Here is the beginning of my first run (Notice how quickly I hit the wall, and lose speed and direction)

https://youtube.com/shorts/bex7MmUH3yk?feature=share

 

For the price of entry, you can experience two runs with a bobsledder, or solo on a luge, or solo on a skeleton. I decided to go full bore, head first, on the skeleton.  It’s the same icy sliding track, but the risk varies.  Skeleton I was told is the safest. I suspect that’s because a bobsled is quite wide for the narrow sections and does require some steering skill, and the skeleton is slimmer in design. Therefore, if you trust gravity, you will do fine.

On the skeleton sled, so named because of the body hugging snug fit, it easy to look up, and peek at the track, even though we were advised to keep our heads down and look at the ice. When your big, heavy head is down you have less wind resistance and more weight forward, which helps manage the path. If we wanted to peek, we were advised to only crane our necks slightly.

The advice I heard three times that day was “act like a sack of potatoes.” Sounds easy. But unlike a sack of potatoes, I peeked and then skidded around on the icy track quite a bit at 92 kilometers an hour.   

Lessons

1.   Women Follow Instructions – Men Should Too

In our briefing we were told women are usually fastest because they follow instructions, and it was true. Eleven of us enjoyed the experience that day. Lorene was fastest at 97.1 km/hour.  I was slowest at 92.0 km/hour.  Lorene finished the track in 33.57 seconds, and I finished in 35.28 seconds.

(Lorene told me she was from Alaska and often runs a toboggan on 10-minute runs on snowmobile trails, so she had some relevant experience).

 

2.   Do Less to Achieve More

The advice at the Whistler Sliding Center was to “act like a sack of potatoes,” to trust gravity and the sled. But I had to peek from time to time at the frequent fast and scary turns.  Peeking slowed me down and caused me to drift off course. Lifting the head causes slight wind resistance and a subtle shift in weight distribution over the sled.

 

Sometimes it’s best to do less, and to trust the plan and the process. The pros have enough experience to know how to touch a toe or lift a shoulder to affect a turn. I didn’t. I should have stared down at the ice during my two 38 second runs.

 

3.   Act and Avoid Regret

I’ll offer more comments in the conclusion.

 

Conclusion

People have asked if I’d do this again, and I would. I likely won’t be back there, but I would gladly give it another run. I felt compelled to have this experience, and now I’ve done it.  I know what it feels like, and I’m a satisfied customer.

I recommend this experience if you’d enjoy a roller coaster-like experience on an 80-pound metal sled where you’re held in place by your hands and your body weight, you are comfortable knowing there are no brakes, and knowing if you fall off the sled it will continue forward without you for a while, until gravity pulls it back down the slope towards you at a high speed. For example, see https://youtu.be/i9eGpz5-MmI?si=IGWJS1iEamFn-hZg

I would have regretted not completing this experience this year. I had to shift some commitments around to enable this to happen in 2025. I’m glad I did. I would have had regrets if I had missed this opportunity. 

GYCZ Reviewing Basics with New Leaders

If you were coaching someone in a new role, what basics would you review with her as she began?

A colleague I’ve worked with previously had taken a leadership role in a volunteer organization with which I’m familiar, and he requested some guidance in his relatively new role. He had been in his new role for 10 months. In my experience with my colleague, I know he digs in and has been successful at any assignment I’ve seen him perform.

“What Results Panel?”

He told me he was struggling with getting his small team of volunteers focused and aligned and wanted to talk about approaches to do so. Our call was on Zoom so I asked him to share his results panel, which is available to his and all similar teams, so we could review their results and progress. He responded with “what results panel?”

I was really taken aback as the organization had invested in a tool to indicate progress towards team goals, and somehow this skilled new leader, in his new role in the volunteer organization, was not made aware of the tool, of this investment by the organization.

Simple Awareness

As soon as he was aware of this tracking tool, he was energized and saw how he could use it to communicate with his small team, to acknowledge progress and helpful behavior, and to get them focused and engaged to accomplish results.

A Glaring Oversight

I was curious about this onboarding oversight so I asked about his support structure in the volunteer organization. I know from my experience with them that there is an extensive support model in place.

He said there were some vacancies in the support roles available to him and those available had performed only rudimentary onboarding. I suspect they thought he already knew about the tools available to him, but he didn’t. If this was an assumption by support leaders, as it appears to be, it was a bad one. If there are significant vacancies, perhaps those available are feeling burnt out.

Situational Leadership

The situational leadership model from Hersey-Blanchard makes clear that we need to focus on the specific task maturity of the individual when coaching. It’s very easy to assess overall maturity and past success and then offer only rudimentary onboarding when someone appears accomplished and confident. I have made this mistake, and I’m sure most leaders have made this mistake. It’s an art to assess development, progress, and readiness.  

There are many great summaries of the situational leadership approach available.  Here is one;

https://com-peds-pulmonary.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/files/2014/01/Hanke-Situational-Leadership.pdf

 

Conclusion

The Hersey-Blanchard situational model is brilliant because it clearly describes how the leader’s actions must adapt based on the specific task maturity of the follower. In the example I’ve shared, the follower is exceptionally skilled and accomplished, but not yet so in his new role. He needed to be grounded in basics.  Now that he and I have discussed basics, he and his team appear to be doing very well.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Hersey-Blanchard situational model, it is worth some time. It’s also worth time to ensure any team member understands basics when they begin a new role.

If you enjoyed this post, this one may be valuable to you as well https://gycz.blogspot.com/2023/08/how-to-focus-your-distracted-team.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

GYCZ Too Old To Acquire New Skills?

Earlier this month, I delivered a 50-minute Zoom presentation on Building A Healthy Team to a group of Toastmasters in Mexico.  After the session, we had a brief question and answer session.

Usually during a Q&A I get at least one question that surprises me, and once again I received a question that put me momentarily off-balance. Some of the questions that were offered were voiced by participants, and other questions were typed into the chat function. This question was typed in the chat function.

Too Old?

The question entered by the gentleman was can you be too old to begin developing communication and leadership skills. I was taken aback, but after a moment the question was easy to answer. I was in front of a group that had voluntarily decided to attend my session on team building, which had been promoted to a prospective audience. 

This gentleman had chosen to attend, which indicated he does have interest to develop these skills. If someone has interest, he or she should pursue it. Age is irrelevant unless there are significant barriers to success.  (I’ll note that shortly after this presentation I travelled to Whistler, British Columbia to attend the World Luge Championships (https://www.fil-luge.org/en/news/preview-53rd-fil-luge-world-championships-2025-in-whistler-canada), and while  I may have interest in being an Olympian, I believe my window has closed).

When To Stop Pursuing New Skills?

So, in general, at what age should someone stop pursuing new interests and developing new skills? I suppose it’s up to each individual. However, I’ve seen many news items in the past of seniors simply getting on with it, with actioning a bucket list.  Here is one from Malaysia

 https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2025/01/17/starsilver-this-senior-has-a-bucket-list-that-will-inspire-you-to-get-off-your-seat

 

Conclusion

I remain curious what prompted the gentleman to ask his question about developing skills at an advanced age.  I applaud him for voicing, or entering into the chat function, his concern. Too many objections and concerns are withheld. I did notice that the group was comprised largely of younger leaders.

My opinion is if you want to make an impact on an issue, then simply start, and/or get on with acquiring, developing, and practicing the skills that will enable you to make that impact.

Overcoming Speaking Jitters; Fear of Greater Knowledge

Last week I spent 90 minutes with the current cohort of MBA students at the University of New Brunswick – Saint John (https://www.unb.ca/saintjohn/business/mba/). The program is a fast paced one-year version. I completed these same studies in 2013. 

I spoke with the students about public speaking fundamentals and offered some tips and shortcuts, including some that should help with their group presentations. I also encouraged them to be opportunistic and to mine their experience for personal stories they can use to enhance their presentations. 

Life Experience

Great speakers draw upon their life experience and especially customer service experiences for relevant content. Sometimes these experiences can seem trivial at first glance but can be funny, useful and illustrative for presentations. Any story you recount to a friend or colleague with some degree of passion could become a reusable speaking asset. 

Managing Jitters 

During the question-and-answer section, a young woman asked how she can overcome pre-presentation jitters. After the formal session we talked some more and she indicated she has speaking experience, and has confidence in her skills, but she still feels strong jitters before taking a stage. Further, she said she is usually quite nervous that someone in the audience will ask her a question that stumps her, or someone will make a point to showcase his knowledge, perhaps perceived as superior knowledge.

 

Tips for Managing Jitters 

Here are some tips if you feel jitters before a presentation;

1. Jitters are normal

Many people will avoid situations when they must stand before an audience and present. Speakers will feel anxiety because they want to do well. It’s normal to have performance anxiety. Prior to a big game, professional athletes will often be physically ill, but once the game starts, their skills engage and they simply play the game. Be confident in your skills and preparation.   

2. Know precisely what you’ll talk about

Make your plan. Know your key points. I advise that you do not memorize any element of your speech, expect perhaps the structure. It’s fine to take a page of key points on stage that you wish to address. Don’t worry about the precise words you’ll use, or precise sentences.  Be confident in the key points you wish to speak about, and your ability to speak to each.

 

3. Give yourself a pep talk before you hit the stage 

Be confident that you’re prepared, you trust your plan, that you can speak to your key points, and then proceed. You know your content.

4. Questions outside your experience 

If someone asks a question outside your experience, frame your answer around your observations, and indicate the question is outside your familiarity. This could sound like “thank you for the question.  My experience/research focused on the three areas I’ve discussed, and while interesting, your question/scenario is outside my experience/research.” 

If you expect the questioner may persist, you should likely end your response with “I see we have another question over here.” 

Conclusion 

It’s normal to have jitters before speaking to an audience.  You want to perform well and deliver value. These few points should help you manage your jitters. 

GYCZ The Importance of Local Leadership – A Podcast Interview

In November, I was interviewed for The Talkative Toastmaster podcast which is hosted by Melanie Surplice from Brisbane, Australia. Melanie and I talked about communication and leadership skills in general, and as members of Toastmasters International, we easily veered into how this worldwide organization enables people to polish their public speaking skills, and to communicate with confidence. Here is a link to that content -

https://youtu.be/VSn0DRyRR9I?si=yCLJ5Y0cLsl-aSbw

 

Engaged Local Leaders

During the interview we talked about the treasure of engaged local leaders, in this case engaged local Toastmaster club leaders.  In 145 countries worldwide (for reference, there are 193 member countries in the United Nations, some of which are very small), local Toastmasters club leaders respond to the ambitions and needs of their individual members and their local market demands.  While a broader support structure is in place, it is highly variable in its ability to deliver much needed support to local club leaders. Local club leaders perform phenomenal volunteer work in supporting their club members, and adapting to their local market ambitions.

Post Pandemic Effects

The impact of local leadership was made so very clear during the COVID pandemic when local clubs lost their ability to meet in-person for an extended period. Most local leaders reacted with speed and agility that enabled their clubs to quickly pivot to online meetings, primarily using the Zoom platform. While initially their online meeting skills were not extensive or widely shared among their members, as their online meetings continued all participants improved their online meeting skills. As the pandemic eased, their competence to successfully operate hybrid meetings developed.

This quick and effective response from local leaders enabled their clubs to not only meet during the pandemic, but in the long term enabled significant skill advancement in operating online and hybrid meetings for each of their members. In my opinion, this was the organizations most significant collective skill advancement in decades, and was driven by a crisis for local leadership teams.  

I’ve participated in several hybrid meetings outside of Toastmasters and many are not well run. In my experiences outside of Toastmasters, attendees who are not present in the physical room have challenges engaging as a full participant. Conversely, most Toastmaster members who participate in our hybrid or online meetings learn how to respect and manage all participants in meetings. Online participants do learn to assert their presence even though they are not in a room with a majority of attendees.

 

A Rapid Adaptation

The rapid adaptation to online meetings by local leaders personally invested in their clubs would not have been as quick, and perhaps not even possible, by a centralized board. An oversight board would need time to convene, then list several approaches to address the issue, then investigate and debate the merits of each approach, ultimately choose an approach, and then finally communicate the decision to local leaders.  By the time such a process was completed, it would be too late for many who simply folded their tent, and would fail to reach many others who simply missed the messaging.

 

Supporting Local Leaders

In any organization it is critical to support and encourage local autonomy, experimentation and innovation, while ensuring the core objectives of the organization are respected and achieved. 

With such support, all involved can grow their comfort zones.

A Speech Is Not An Essay

I see quite a number of developing speakers prepare excellent content, in the style of an essay, and then stand and read it to their audience with perfunctory attempts to make eye contact with attendees. Members in the audience will work hard to follow along, and organize what they hear from the speaker, however, if a speech is mostly read to an audience, the speaker’s opportunity to truly connect with attendees and clarify content is lost.  If the audience doesn’t receive the message, what was the point of speaking?

A speech isn’t an essay. Occasionally it is important to write precise content and then deliver the material exactly as written. But audience members will feel that they’re being read to. Ideally, a speaker will make frequent eye contact, observe how audience members react assessing message receipt, and then modify their approach if needed.  

Source: https://assets.ltkcontent.com/images/34093/male-student-giving-speech_2516ce170a.jpg)

Contrast: Essay Versus Speech

An essay provides the opportunity to write, rewrite, and rephrase until you’ve documented precisely what you wish to communicate. Readers can consume the essay at their leisure, and re-read sections, underline, and take other steps to process the content.

A speech is an interaction with an audience, and often a distracted audience. A speech provides abundant opportunity for the speaker to clarify content and test for message receipt. In my experience, it is helpful to repeat key points in a speech. While listening to a speech, a listener’s attention will likely drift. While reading an essay, a reader can return to content they’ve not absorbed, or want to consider again.

Organizing Your Speech

First, when developing your speech, I advise to capture all possible content, all your ideas, all the possible speech elements, related to your topic including your key lessons, research, and especially illustrative stories. I use the bubble technique or fishbone technique to capture this.

As a rule of thumb, I expect any speech element to require two to three minutes to deliver to an audience.  For me, this is a helpful planning tool to estimate potential speech duration.

Second, define the key message you wish to leave with this precise audience, based on their interests and experience with your topic. This key message is your speech purpose.

Third, select enough speech elements to consume your time allowance and support your key message. Sometimes speakers will try to share everything they know about a topic, or offer too much background to an already well-informed audience. Select only the speech elements that support your speech purpose and specific audience.

Now that these steps are complete, you’re ready to go. You can practice the brief speech elements independently, assess their sequencing and fit, and polish your delivery.

Your Delivery

When delivering your speech, I advise;

1.     Offer brief introductory remarks if necessary

2.   State your speech purpose

3.   State the speech elements you’ll share with the audience

4.   Speak to each element

5.    Test for comprehension if you’re comfortable doing so

6.   Conclude by restating your speech purpose, and briefly summarizing your speech elements.  (Some members of your audience were distracted)

Conclusion

A speech is different from an essay. You can prepare an essay, and stand and read it to an audience, however, you’ve wasted the opportunity to interact with your audience, and supplement content in response to audience reception.

Here are some more thoughts on this subject https://gycz.blogspot.com/2023/05/my-process-preparing-keynote.html

Comfort Zone – A Visit To Poland November 2024

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” – Terry Pratchett

The Experience 

In early November, my sister and I enjoyed short visits to the Polish cities of Krakow, Gdansk, Warsaw, and Rzeszów, the city from which our grandad left when he immigrated to Sydney, Nova Scotia with his family as a one-year old. 

We’ve never been closely connected to this heritage. My granddad grew up speaking the Polish language, and my dad understood but didn’t have much opportunity to practice it in Sydney or pass it on to us.

I fumble with my attempts to learn French, and regret not learning a second language when I was a kid. I’ve noticed that kids have few fears and little ego when learning language and other skills. I’m convinced that fear and ego impede adult learners, like me.

Here's a brief recap of the itinerary and some highlights of the trip;

Saturday November 2^nd, 2024

Depart Toronto Pearson YYZ one hour late at 11:30p.m. for Frankfurt. A late arrival means its too late to meet the tight connection to Warsaw. Automatically re-booked to a later flight and arrive at Warsaw late afternoon on Sunday.  Stayed at the cool Moxy Warsaw Praga in the Old Praga district. We missed an opportunity to visit the Polish Vodka Museum (https://muzeumpolskiejwodki.pl/en/), but did later sample some local product.

Some of the best memories are stumbled upon, and we found a great restaurant with a variety of eastern European dishes within a very short walk to the corner of the busy street where the hotel was located (https://www.facebook.com/Skamiejka/). Tried an unfamiliar dish, a Georgian soup, Kharcho, made with finely ground beef (or chicken), nuts, and nice spices. Exceptionally good.  

Monday, November 4^th, 2024

 A sunny day that started at 5 degrees Celsius and rose to 10 degrees. A pleasant 30-minute walk from the Marriott Moxy to Warsaw Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We enjoyed stunning views throughout old town on a day with a very blue November sky.

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

A 3-hour, 10:45 a.m. train to Gdansk in the north, on the Baltic Sea. Stayed at a nice hotel on the Motlawa River, in the scenic old town. A gorgeous city where we spent much time wandering admiring and photographing the amazing architecture drinking coffee and eating generous slices of cake. The architectural style in Gdansk (Danzig) differs from other Polish cities, as the city was 90% destroyed after the Nazis began their invasion here in 1939.

Later we enjoyed a very nice meal of halibut at Zafishowani (https://www.zafishowani.pl/menu).

 

 Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Still in Gdansk, I grabbed coffee at 7:00 a.m. (CET), which was 1:00 a.m. (EST) on the east coast of the USA.  The 2024 U.S. election results were being reported.  Spent the morning further exploring the old town and further snacking at coffee shops, then caught a late afternoon train to Krakow. Arriving we were hungry and tired, enjoyed a brief walk and a good, simple Italian meal near the hotel.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Proceeded on a self-guided walking tour of Krakow, an exceptionally beautiful city with a pleasant 10 degrees Celsius on this day.  The Royal Castle (wawel.krakow.pl/en) sits on a hill overlooking the Vistula River.  Stunning views in all directions. Some vendors promoted their river cruises. Along the river, there were lots of runners, cyclists, dog walkers, chess players and more.  I could spend a lot of time in Krakow eating perogies, borscht, and other cuisines, while meandering along the river.

The site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau is a 1.5-hour drive from Krakow. At this site Nazis killed 1.1 million people, mostly Jewish but also Poles, Romani, and Russian.  This felt like a tour we should do (https://krakowdirect.com/auschwitz-tours/), but next on our short itinerary was travel to Rzeszów, the city where our grandad had lived.

As the day wrapped up, we again walked the river as people commuted home from work on bicycles and scooters, or walked or jogged. A young woman tossed a ball to her dog Milka who was very excited with his retrieval duties.  He brought the ball over to me, so I joined in, earning a new friend, and we chatted with Milka’s owner. Publicly eastern Europeans tend to be more reserved than North Americans, but of course very friendly once the ice has been broken.

Later an evening meal at a Ukrainian restaurant. Nice cabbage rolls, breads and beet soup. The owner was a big, beefy gentleman who looked more like a miner than a restauranteur, and likely had been a miner in Dnipro, where he mentioned he and his family had immigrated from. Many Ukrainians have immigrated to Poland since the Russian invasion, and I was curious about his circumstances.  His English was far better than my Polish or Ukrainian, but our conversation was difficult and minimal.

Friday, November 8, 2024

Left the Sheraton Grand Krakow for a train ride to Rzeszów. This morning was cooler, misty and damp.  More traditionally November-like than most of weather we’d experienced.

Arrived in Rzeszów just past noon and immediately bought train tickets back to Warsaw for Saturday, so we’d be sure to be back for our Sunday morning flight. I thought Saturday trains might be busy, and Rzeszów is a smaller city (population 200,000) with fewer services. We had an initial panic when the agent said Saturday capacity was sold out, but we were able to book a 4:00 p.m. Saturday train back to Warsaw.

Tickets in hand, an Uber took us to our hotel, and we set off exploring.  Of interest was the Stary graveyard along the river.  November 2^nd was All Souls Day, when many graves are visited and decorated with flowers, candles, and incense. This Friday in November was very gray, but the remembrances placed were colorful.

We wandered the graveyard, and while it was unacknowledged between us, we looked for the family name. We hadn’t come to Poland to deeply explore the roots, but to spend some time in the city and country where our ancestors had lived. As it turns out, we didn’t see the family name anywhere. I did see something close to a friend’s name at Wolnosci Place (“Freedom” Place).

There were lots of people about on this Friday afternoon, and I couldn’t help thinking that we were just 100 kilometers from the Polish-Ukrainian border, and 200 kilometers from Lviv, Ukraine. Ukrainians were fighting not far from us for their freedom, and their right to exist as an independent, democratic country instead of a colony.

Leaving the graveyard, there was an interesting market with fresh, natural local vegetables, some great coffee and sweet shops.  Later an evening meal on the town square with halibut and French fries, a nice, modest euro-style serving compared with large North American sizes.

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Another cool weather day. Some nice local donuts on the market square. Later had a fantastic chickpea shashuksa at Fisk restaurant on the market square.

After checking out of the hotel at 1:00 p.m., walked down to the area of the train station, and then to the Galeria Rzeszow, with four levels of shops and food, lots of high-end brand names, and international brands as well as local. It was a good place to kill time prior to the 4:32 p.m. train to Warsaw.

On the walk to the Galeria a huge Soviet-era sculpture dominates a traffic circle. The Monument to the Revolutionary Act is quite a sight.  The locals describe it with a crude term.

 

A walk to the train station and back to Warsaw, at the Courtyard Marriott Airport Warsaw, which enabled a short walk from the hotel for our 9:45 a.m. flight Sunday morning to Zurich, then Toronto and back to Atlantic Canada.

 

Reflections

Collect moments, not things.

This was a quick trip to connect somewhat with our Polish heritage, filled with discoveries and memorable moments. It was easy to travel by train around Poland, and we’re lucky as native English speakers that this language is spoken or understood by so many people around the world. I’ve added “Good Day” (Dzień dobry) and “Thank You” (Dziękuję) to my list of international phrases. Google translate helped for some conversations.

This was a short trip covering four beautiful cities.  we’re richer for the experience.