John Rittman has taken a taxi to the Great Wall, tracked down the local McDonald's and done the requisite souvenir shopping. Been there, done that in Beijing, where the Stanford softball coach helped coach the U.S. softball team to a sixth consecutive world championship, back in 2006. Which is why, when Rittman returns to China in August for the Olympic Games, he'll be able to focus.
“When you're getting ready to play for the gold medal, there's not a lot of teaching going on,” he says. Instead, it's all about “problem solving”—making adjustments from pitcher to pitcher, game to game. “There's a lot of video analysis, scouting, gathering and processing information, and then giving it to the athletes so they're prepared.”
Rittman, who will coach outfielders and hitters in his second Olympiad, has been trading tips with head wrestling coach Kerry McCoy, a two-time Olympian and four-time World Cup Champion who will coach at the Games for the first time. McCoy will become head coach at the University of Maryland in September. “Since I retired from competition, I've been to almost every training camp and stayed involved [on committees] and as a training partner,” he says. Big smile. “And I'm physically able to still get down on the mats and wrestle.”
The newest coach on the Farm also will be making the trip to Beijing, as player personnel director for the U.S. men's basketball team. That's despite having a full calendar in August as he gets to know his Cardinal players. “There is no higher honor in my book than working with [the Olympic] team and trying to bring the gold medal back to the United States,” says head coach Johnny Dawkins.
Adding to the Stanford roster are two varsity coaches who'll be calling events in their sports as analysts for NBC—two-time Olympic coxswain Yasmine Farooq, and two-time Olympic synchronized swimmer Heather Olson, '99. Additional coaches may be named once their sports' trials are held and the final athlete and coaching rosters are confirmed. For men's head gymnastics coach Thom Glielmi, who coached the 2000 Olympic team, that means waiting until June.
A member of the national team coaching staff since 2001, Rittman caught up with two of his former players—outfielder Jessica Mendoza, '02, MA '03, and utility player Lauren Lappin, '06—at two of the team's U.S. tour stops this year. “Jessica's a veteran now, and understands the nerves and the reality of it all, and Lauren was an alternate on the '04 team, so she has quite a bit of experience, too.”
As McCoy puts the men and women on the U.S. wrestling squad through their freestyle regimens, he'll also keep an eye on Matt Gentry, '04, a volunteer assistant coach who will be wrestling for Canada. And when McCoy is off duty? “The No. 1 thing is the opening ceremonies,” he says. “Sydney was unbelievable in 2000—everyone was mingling around, including some of the pro basketball players, and I had my picture taken with Venus and Serena Williams. Then, in 2004, it was like, 'I've done this; I know what to expect.' But when we got to the tunnel [into the opening ceremonies], all that 'I've been here before' was gone. I remember getting that same feeling of, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm here at the Olympics.' It was so amazing.”
The two coach-analysts say that learning to avoid outright cheerleading is a big challenge. “We can't say 'we' or 'us' when we're referring to the U.S.,” says Farooq, who will be calling all 14 Olympic rowing events—singles, doubles and quads. “The key is making rowing attractive to a general audience that's not familiar with the sport.”
Farooq has already studied 450 pages of background material compiled by NBC researchers, and her own research suggests that a half-dozen current and former Stanford rowers are strong candidates to make U.S. and Canadian boats. “Of course I will be impartial.”
Synchronized swimming head coach Olson has been preparing for her broadcasting debut by watching NBC commentators Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett call cycling races. “They have to carry interest for hours,” she notes.
In a sport where points are awarded for how well a team blends and moves as one, Olson wants viewers to get to know the athletes as individuals. “I'll spend a lot of time watching the routines so I can say, 'Okay, here comes this new lift that's never been done before.'”
Although Farooq and Olson will do live-to-tape commentaries, they're hoping for timely replays. “I'd really love to see our sport get prime-time coverage, and people have a chance to see it,” Olson says. “But it all depends on how well we do.” That's the international “we.” Mais oui.
