Juba er en ambitiøs humørspreder
28-05-2013 10:19:59:
Af: Anna Birkbak
Selv efter få minutter er man ikke i tvivl om, at vores nye landstræner har både hjerte og hjerne med ind i jobbet. Læs interviewet her.
Nick Juba har kun været i landet en uge, da vi har fået en aftale i stand ude på NTC fredag eftermiddag. Alligevel virker han hjemmevant, og han har overskud til med et glimt i øjet at skyde skylden på Shannon Rollason for sin 15 minutters forsinkelse.
”I blame him for everything, and he blames me for everything!” De to trænere har allerede fundet en let og humoristisk tone frem overfor hinanden, og man fornemmer en gensidig respekt og afvæbnende humor mellem dem. Men de er samtidig seriøse, for hurtigt får Rollason drejet samtalen i retning af det, de begge er her for: Svømmerne.
Vi sætter os lidt væk, og Juba brokker sig over alderen og de mindre bevægelige lemmer, da han kæmper sig nogle trin op ad tribunen på Bellahøj Svømmestadion. Men der har også været meget at se til for den nye landstræner, efter hans ankomst til landet. Han fortæller:
”This past week I visited the two clubs Sigma and KVIK, and next week I’m going to Aalborg and Odense to speak with the coaches and get a feel of the club. Right now my job is more about listening and observing than actually working on bigger changes or taking initiatives.”
Men hvad er så din ambition? Hvad har du lyst til at gå i gang med, når tiden kommer?
”The first focus is of course the WC in Barcelona this summer. The second focus is the Europeans in Herning. In the period between those two events I will team up with Mikkel and Rollason to work on some changes. I’m definitely going to work on strengthening the clubs. We have strong clubs now, but they should be underpinning the NTC better. I would also like to strengthen the men’s initiatives and profile in this country. Right now there is a big difference between the two standards, and I think the men should be retaining the women, not be behind them.”
“Some other ideas that I have might be to form a University swimming team, although I don’t know if that will be possible. Another idea is to have some kind of coaches group. I would really like to embrace and include more. But on the other hand, the coaches have to prove their worth in that regard.”
Har du nogen filosofier eller ting, som er vigtige for dig?
”I really want to give a feel good-vibe to the people around me. I want to be jolly and happy and get people together, make sure they don’t feel divided. I think swimming is about wanting to be there, tough but enjoyable at the same time. So I really want to interact with people, have a good presence and create a good place here. It’s about being positive and being good!”
“However, taking this job is a big move. So was Rollason’s decision to come here. It would be foolish not give anything less than 110 %. So to me it’s about being relaxed but having really ambitious targets as well. I mean business, of course I do. So while I’m here I will definitely work had and have ambitious goals.”
Nick Juba skal ned og besøge VM-truppen I løbet af deres træningslejr i Sierra Nevada. Han skal ligeledes besøge svømmerne ved alle tre Mare Nostrum stævner i Monaco, Barcelona og Canet. Og derfra skal han selvfølgelig videre til Barcelona til VM på langbane til sommer.
Vi ser frem til nogle spændende år med en ny, ambitiøs træner ved roret, der samtidig spreder god stemning og i den grad er nem at omgås. Velkommen til Nick.
