Martti Kuoppa: I am here in Thailand since 1 month now coaching flatland and I am getting some serious progression out of the guys which is nice!!

Me and KGB are organizing an event here in Thailand on 6th of October. It is called: Flatstyles Bangkok edit. PRO/AM comp and legendary Flatstyles jam with the same format as the orignal one in Helsinki.

Interview with Martti about his coaching job

I heard you are coaching the "national flatland team", is there really something like a national team ?

Yeah! I am working for the goverment of Thailand to coach Thai national flatland team for the Asian Indoor Games in October in Macau.. Very official work and I am official coach. Every day wake up 6.30 and coaching, in between my own training and more coaching in the afternoon. Riding and physical coaching.

How did you get that job ?

They have a organization here called ESA, Extreme Sports Association which includes BMX, skate, inline skate etc. sports. That association is supported by the goverment of Thailand and that is why they have the money to hire coaches and pay for the athletes to go to Asian Indoor Games. They like flatland even it is not the biggest sport of the action sports here.

How does a typical training-day look like ?

I have 3 riders under me that I am coaching. We wake up 6.30 a.m. go ride at 8, then we ride 2 hours and after is a lunch break at the university. After that is my private 2 hours of practice. 2 o´clock we return to the spot to ride 2 more hours. After I have another session on my own.3 times a week we go jogging. And this monday I start teaching proper way of lifting weights at the gym. My days are 8 - 10 hours long which includes 3 - 4 hours of my own practice.

Basically we are using my methods of getting consistent excactly the way I practiced when I was the contest machine...
So far it has been working. 4 weeks ago when I came here one of the guys could do his contest run without any mistake only 1 time in 45 minutes. And now 4 weeks later following my instructions he could do it 14 times out of 20 perfectly in 40 minutes. I am aiming to 20/20, 100% consistency here and I know the way to do it and they are willing to work hard. 2 more months to get to the 100% consistency level. I like my job a lot here! Dream work for me!