Friday, November 21, 2014

Aimless? NOT something you see in bicycle racers

“Your son is getting an F in physical education” was the story my wife shared with me this morning.  She was fresh off “parent-teacher meetings” last night.  Surprisingly, both parents and the failing student showed up!  That doesn’t happen very often.   
How does a freshman in high school fail PE?  It’s rather easy if you don’t show up and dress up.  Must be present to win!
How is this story related to our NCCF Team Specialized Juniors?  Well, besides some cyclocross racing, we are into the “off-season”, or put differently “between seasons” which makes it’s the perfect time to reflect on what went right and what you should be worked on.  We have been in this assessment cycle for the past month and we’re getting ready to move into the “Goals” phase.  This will be a deep dive into what the juniors want out of themselves and their teammates.  We’ll take the assessments and goals into our December team camp to ensure we are on the same page, to ensure what we are shooting for is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T).  Going through the assessment and goal setting process is invaluable to our team and itself is an exercise to bring us together.  The juniors are not fond of the extra time required when they might want to relax with friends and take a break from the bike, but it is completely worthwhile!
A special thanks goes out to every parent that appropriately pushes their child to be all that they can be.  The parents of the “F” student didn’t give a care about their son failing.  As you might imagine, I get pretty fired up about this kid wasting our tax payer’s money –and- my wife’s time and energy.  Thankfully bicycle racers are very goal driven. 
Fact: none of our junior teammates are failing any of their classes! 
 
Cheers, Larry Nolan, NCCF Team Specialized Junior Team Director


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