#108 Olympic legends Bonnie Blair Cruikshank and Dave Cruikshank at Milwaukee’s Pettit National Ice Center.

I traveled to the Pettit Center in Milwaukee, home of DASH, to learn about competing, coaching, and leading from two speedskating legends. Bonnie Blair Cruikshank is one of the most successful Olympic athletes of all time, having won five Olympic speedskating golds and countless other medals and championships. Dave Cruikshank was also an Olympian, a world champion, and one of the elite skaters in the world. This husband and wife duo inspired a generation of Olympic athletes. They continue to take the lead in promoting speedskating and Olympic sports in the United States and beyond. DASH is a premier training organization that prepares highest-level athletes to reach peak performance. I sat with Bonnie and Dave in the DASH training space – located on the second level of the Pettit – to learn from these remarkable people. On this SGG episode, we discussed:

1. Dave’s early and ongoing attraction to speedskating: “I liked going fast. And I still like going fast.”

2. The mentoring that occurred across generations in the U.S. speedskating community – leading to many Olympians and world champions.

3. The impact Olympian Cathy Priestner had on Bonnie’s early path in the sport. “She took me under her wing…It was a neat building of a great friendship…That relationship was a very big part of my journey.”

4. Bonnie training pretty much on her own in Champaign, IL during her early days on the U.S. team.

5. How and when Bonnie knew she had to make coaching changes during her career.

6. Dave being coached by a 4-time Olympian in Northbrook.

7. Dave: “I didn’t really start training until I was 16. I was on my first Olympic team at 18.”

8. Coaching rule of thumb: “If we get hit by a bus, you should be able to take care of yourself. Our job is to educate you and give you as much knowledge and information on technique, training, sleep, nutrition, and preparation as we can. We will help guide you, but it’s your journey.”

9. His athletes keep journals. (What’s in the journals?)

10. Bonnie on the lack of performance training research: “We were flying by the seat of our pants.”

11. Why a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as pre-race meal made sense for Bonnie. (insights from special ops leaders)

12. The importance of getting to know your athletes.

13. Coach and athlete as “caddy-player relationship.”

14. “How can you get the most out of your players if you don’t know them?! It’s staggering to us that that communication is not taking place in a lot of sports.”

15. Cybernetics testing: Bonnie and Dave’s two tests were the hardest they’d ever done. Why? “Because we can hurt. We can take a lot of stuff. We put up with a lot to get where we want to go…If I know I want to race really well, I know there’s some stuff I have to do to hurt mentally and physically.”

16. Right-sizing commitment and sacrifice in sport. Bonnie: “If you want to take it to the absolute levels, there’s absolute commitment.” Constantly “checking ourselves” when it comes to deciding how hard to push.

17. Dave’s early goals: D-1 soccer and pro soccer. Didn’t have concrete Olympic aspirations until six months before his first Olympic trials.

18. Bonnie: “I think my dad saw something in me.”

19. In her third race (ever!), Bonnie placed 8th in the Olympic trials.

20. Bonnie: “We never went on family vacations…We went to Chicago every weekend for races…That’s what we did as a family. I never knew anything different…Skating was the thing that I loved the most.”   

For more episode notes from the Bonnie and Dave interview, refer to sportandthegrowinggood.com.