Travel Days
Matthew Sonnenfeldt describes the role of sports agencies and the journey from Olympic Trials to the European track circuit
9:00am 7/10 PDX: I’ve sat onboard my United flight 250 to Venice via Washington Dulles and Dublin for an hour due to technical problems with the wiring of the plane. Will I make my connection in DC?
9:05am PST 7/10: I determine there is no way I will get off the plane, sprint from Terminal B to D and make my Aer Linus flight 631 to Venice within the 10 minute time frame of landing. It’s time for plan B: Call United and switch onto a flight that’ll get me to Venice without a ridiculous flight pattern. Usually there’s about a 50/50 chance this will work, but given the fact I am sitting on the runway ready to fly and the first 5 min of the conversation is making sure they spelled my last name right (this happens a lot), I have zero confidence I am going to get this done before wheels up.
9:07am PST 7/10: With shear luck and a little bit of patience, I am able to switch my outbound flight to Venice to a later time right as the wheels on our plane are off the ground. I can only hope that it’ll be smoother once I get to Europe.
The trials are over. Well, not exactly. As I sit here and type on July 10th, it is the last day of the trials. There are still many teams to make and many “switch focus” conversations to be had. We have many athletes still set to compete, and it kills me that I won’t be able to watch our athletes in the 1500m final and the women’s 5000m final, but my destination is set.
The trials are an experience of emotional highs and lows — at least through my lens. Flynn Sports Management has six US athletes that will be flying over to Rio to compete in the games: Molly Huddle (Saucony) and Marielle Hall (NIKE) in the 10,000m, Maggie Malone (NIKE) in the Javelin, Ajee’ Wilson (Adidas) in the 800m, and Ameer Webb (NIKE) in the 200m, and Robby Andrews in the 1500m. While I celebrate the accomplishment of these athletes, I also share in the heartbreak of those that didn’t make the team. Watching my good friend, former teammate at NC State, and FSM Client for three years, Ryan Hill just not have it the last 400m of the 5,000m was a tough pill to swallow. I selfishly and overconfidently imagined celebrating with him after the race. The reality is, there are no locks. Everyone comes to play at the Trials. The 5,000m, in particular, is the deepest it’s been in a long time. If you’re not on your game on race day, you go home. And that’s exactly what we — Me, Ryan, Emily (Ryan’s girlfriend), and his Dad — did after the race. But life goes on. For me, that means taking some of our athletes to Italy and Ireland, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the job.
6:00pm EST 7/10: Dulles Airport. I come to find the flight that I changed was not properly booked. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but I find out with 15 minutes left until the doors close. This is going to take a miracle.
With it being an Olympic year, the Trials are a week and a half to two weeks later than when USA Championships are usually run, making it particularly difficult to plan travel following the meet. This shortens the first half of the European season to 2–2.5 weeks. Athletes planning on going to Europe have a very quick turnaround after their races at the Trials. The way my travel is planned is very much like the travel the athletes will be taking. For some of our athletes, they’ve been able to go home and decompress before heading out overseas. Others will either be flying from Eugene/PDX or will have a quick 1–2 day stint at their home base before heading out again. It’s a grind to get back out, but the athletes are hungry. As we discussed in my prologue to this series, there is life after the Olympic Trials and it’s here. Logistically, you have to try and plan ahead, but you can’t book because anything can happen while you’re in Eugene. It’s organized chaos, and it’s a tough (but necessary) conversation to have with athletes before they run what may be the biggest race of their lives.
8:16 7/11 DST: I am sitting during my 2 hour layover reeking of BO from the sprint of a life time to and from the United Desk at the Dulles airport. As I sip my black Americano, I can’t help but laugh at my own expense in how terrible travel has been. Sometimes this is how it goes. It’s a grind. As I learn that the flight I thought I amazingly changed was-in fact-booked improperly, I am told that if I can somehow get to the United help desk two terminals away, get help, and run back, then I could be on this flight. I am delivered this by the British Airway’s Agent with a chuckle. Challenge accepted. I take off in a dead sprint in the airport. One obstacle the gate agent had not informed me about was the double escalators between thermals — those hurt. To my surprise there was no line, and I was able to explain my situation and get my original ticket issued. I was never worried about getting the ticket. I knew the flight was not full. I was worried about time. I would have to sprint for glory to catch this plane.
Ten minutes later, I am sitting in my seat of British Airlines flight 216 drenched in sweat, yet happy as can be. Europe will be a breeze after this.
Italy is a beautiful place, and the meets take care of the athletes even when budgets are limited. The athletes are picked up from the airport by meet staff, who patiently wait for you holding a sign with your name on it. You are taken 45 minutes away to the coastal town of Lignano (I’ll go more into the town on my next post). Once the athletes get to the hotel, schedule and logistical info are in the lobby as well as bus schedules to the meet. This makes my job easier, and it does not go unnoticed. Flynn Sports will have four athletes competing in this meet: Heather Kampf, Linden Hall, Stephanie Schappert, and Shaquille Walker. After the races on the 14th, the athletes are driven two hours east to Padoa. This should be an enjoyable ride inland from the coast. Podoa is the second meet on the circuit for us this year, and we will be joined by the whole crew: Eric Avila, Kyle Merber, Cristian Soratos, Johnny Gregorek, Colby Alexander, Amanda Eccleston, and my co-worker, Brad Yewer. Giampaolo Urlando is the meeting organizer for both these meets and things are seamless under his command. He works hard to make sure the athletes are taken care of at and between meets. Every night there is dinner for the athletes at 7:30. Last night, we were provided pasta and lamb, followed by a walk to find the best gelato in town. Flynn Sports has been coming here for many years and has always held Giampaolo in high regard, and I can see why.
8:00am 7/12 CET: From here, I wait for the rest of our crew to arrive and gear up for what’s to be an exciting week of racing in this beautiful country. I hope their journeys have been less energy-intensive than mine…
My next post will highlight some of the results and what the athletes get into between the meets to pass the time. Stay tuned. And hopefully by then United will have found my bags…
Matt
