Leslie Law was kind enough to give me a few minutes to chat about his decision to apply for the US Team coaching job. The first thing we discussed is that Leslie is applying to fill both the Technical Advisor and Chef roles. Leslie said that he studies coaching in riding as well as other sports such as soccer (yes, he said soccer) and feels there has got to be one person that the riders answer to. Leslie said:
“With other sports, there is always one [coach] in charge“
We then spoke about Leslie’s successes history with the British team and I asked him how his experience riding so long in England before moving to the US shaped his ideas about US High Performance. As he put it:
“The US Team is not really a case of reinventing the wheel. I had experience being part of a very successful team system. I learned a lot and I would bring the ideas that worked when I was on the British Team. America is a different country, but many of the same principles apply.”
In eventing, being a bit more like the British team is probably a good thing. One sentiment that Leslie expressed to me that I wholeheartedly agree with is that the US Team is fortunate to have a variety of great applicants. Leslie was very gracious and spoke highly of his competitors.
“It looks very good for the US to have so many strong applicants“
Thanks for chatting with me Leslie, thanks to Leslie’s wife Lesley Grant Law for getting us in touch, and thank you for reading. Go eventing.
