Taking the Plunge
Multitasking is an interesting skill. At its most basic form it is the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time. Being a good multitasker is a skill that many people hold in high regard. It allows you to accomplish many things in a small amount of time. To put it in sailing terms this efficiency leads one down a “VMG” path of life; finding the balance between the volume of tasks and the quality at which they are finished. This works very well for many people and assists in a well-rounded life of success.
I’ve often had trouble with multitasking. Whatever I find myself doing, if I care about it, all other commitments seem to fade to the background. Whether it’s building something in the garage, learning a challenging riff on the guitar or writing an assignment for school, once I set my mind to something I cannot stop until it is completed. This particular personality trait often leads to me being awake until the early hours of the morning working away at whatever the task at hand. It is a rather extreme way of approaching life but, for as long as I can remember it, has been engrained into my psyche. Pick one thing and do it as best as you can. At the end of the day, quality trumps quantity. No one has ever gone down in history for being pretty good at three or four or even 10 different things. People go down in history for being extraordinary – usually at one very specific thing.
The past three years I have been studying as a full-time student at Queen’s University, working towards a bachelor’s degree in history. This has given me some of the best experiences of my life. I have made lifelong friends; memories I will never forget and all while working towards a sensible achievement to base my future career on. At the same time, I have been training full time out of Kingston working towards achieving the goal of becoming a Canadian Olympic athlete. Though I have no regrets and over this time and have made large strides towards both of my goals, I have been in a constant state of crisis as I blazed forward in two, very opposite, directions. Having achieved high grades throughout my school years, it is excruciating to see my transcript at the end of a semester where I was away traveling for sailing for 6 of 12 weeks. Likewise, looking at my training program and seeing that I have two workouts and an on water session to complete, and knowing that I’ll have to skip most of it because I have class and an assignment due, is something I never want to experience again.
In the aftermath of the past six months of sailing, I have been doing a lot of reflecting. Not achieving the result I had hoped for at the U21 worlds in November, and then watching Canada miss out on an Olympics spot for the 2020 Olympics in January, has given me a lot to think about. At the end of the day, our 2020 Olympic push came down to essentially the toss of a coin. If we had qualified, we would have been the last country to do so and therein lies the problem. Fighting for the chance to participate is exactly the opposite of what I want to be doing. If I want to see my Olympic dreams come true, I need to strive to be the best; and to be the best, I first need to learn from what the current best are doing.
The current best are not multitasking.
My gravitation toward commitment and singular focus may be extreme, but ordinary people become great because they are extreme.
Putting school on hold does not mean abandoning my degree. It means taking my last year of courses and spreading them over a period of time long enough to not affect my sailing.
While I was at the U21 worlds last year, I made many new friends from around the world. Since then, the idea of creating a multinational, handpicked training group has been floating around in my head. After careful reflection and conversations with young laser sailors from all over, I came to the conclusion that the best place to base myself as a young athlete looking to make the jump to the next level was in Malta. Malta is an island south of Italy in the middle of the Mediterranean. Big waves, lots of wind and year-round warm weather make Malta the ideal spot. Furthermore, there is a company there called SailCoach that has proven track record coaching laser sailors to international success. Sailors such as Pavlos Kontides, Maria Erdi and Benjamin Vadani have all spent extensive time training in Malta at the SailCoach facilities. One of the friends I made at U21’s last year, Vishnu, had been training in Malta for a year leading up to the regatta. He went on to finish 3rd overall. Realizing that he was training alone, I figured that he must be looking for a steady training partner who is able to commit to a full-time training program with him. With this in mind I reached out and things started to take shape.
With Covid bans beginning to ease, many European countries including Malta have set dates for reopening their borders and so with this in mind I will be heading to Malta to begin this new chapter of my life on July 3rd 2020. My Visa will allow me to be there for an initial period of one year with the option for extension. This will be the biggest change in my life since I moved into residence to begin my university career. With everything happening, it’s hard to process all of my feelings at the moment. I am sure that it will take a while for it to settle but, at the moment, I am mostly sad to say goodbye to all of my friends and equally excited to start this newest chapter in my Olympic journey.
I am looking forward to taking all of you along on this journey with me. As my supporters, you are the ones who are making my dreams possible and for that I am extremely grateful. Anyone who wishes to follow me on this new leg of my journey can follow me @james.juhasz on Instagram and, as always, if you are able to, all donations would be gratefully accepted and can made at https://www.windathletes.ca/athletes/james-juhasz. These remain tax deductible and go directly to pay for expenses related to training and travelling to competitions.
Thank you all and goodbye for now,
James Juhasz