Olympic sailor Andrew Lewis is revamping his training technique in preparation for participation in pre-Olympic qualifying event now taking place around the world, as he works to secure a place for T&T in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Having previously worked with a coach from Peru, Lewis was now in the care of an Italian.
In a G-Sport interview, he said, "This is something completely opposite from what I used to do. I used to work with a South American coach in Peru, now I am working with an Italian. The European style is totally different from the South American style. I would say it's very military-like; a day-to-day programme, which is set in stone. And, it has a very nice progression to it."
He added, "I never had a programme like this. I am really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I've been feeling excellent. I have had a lot of positives coming of it so far."
Lewis, through his relationship with American laser sailor Charlie Buckingham, travelled to Long Beach, California, where he joined the United States training camp for two months in preparation for the World Championships, which took place in Santander, Spain, back in September. That event marked the start of qualification events for Rio Olympics 2016.
Of that experience, he said "You don't get into jar with these guys very often. It's a big privilege for a small guy like me from T&T to join the Americans. They realised my talent in the light-wind, which they were still working to master. Similarly, I wanted to achieve their technique when dealing with heavy winds. We have a little bit to get from each other. We are competitive, but we are very good friends and the only way to get better is training with the best. We've got to take what we can from each other and may the best man win," he said.
Apart from that training camp, Lewis described his US tour experiences for 2014 as "successful," having achieved top ten places in almost all of his races, leaving him in a good competitive position.
Lewis said, "That's where I need to be right now. My goal is to consistently be in the top ten to be able to target medals. I am hitting my target which is nice and I am improving as much as I can. I went to Europe to do some meets. I suffered an injury, but everything is good now. I finished off the tour very well with some top five races, which is what I needed to be doing. Eventually, it would be the top three and then the medals start to come."
