These types of regional teams already exist. Davis Bike Club pulls juniors from not only Davis but Rancho Cordova, Yuba City, Dixon, Vacaville, and Winters. LGBRC is a South Bay Team, Tieni Duro draws kids from all over the Bay Area, Spine has Kids from as far away as Patterson and Truckee, Swift is a North Bay team, but has included kids from as far away as Placerville.

Junior Cycling in the NCNCA has been growing for the past several years, witness 90 rider fields at Cherry Pie in 05 and full fields at McLane in 06 among others. IMO the system is not broken and doesn't need fixing. We have NCNCA juniors who are national champions, have sent numerous kids to Colorado Springs to train at the Olympic Training Center, and several kids to Europe with the National Team. Our kids are well funded and well supported.

The East Coast kids put together regional teams, meaning the whole eastern seaboard, to compete at National Team Selection Races. They also have a dominant team of racers who are highly committed to the sport. Perhaps our kids could benefit from something like this, but not necessarily. By having many junior teams in the NCNCA we spread the talent out, increasing competition. If we gather all the strong racers into one group we don't have anybody for the kids to race against locally.

Just my 2 cents

Steve

wait maybe when I say regional you are thinking of regional areas bigger then I meant. My idea of regional teams is maybe san jose to los gatos, los altos/sunnyvale/mt view/cuppertino to foster city. something like that. is that what you were thinking? nothing kills motivation like having to travel long distances to play

I dont see how it would be possible to have reg teams as it sometimes can be hard as a single parent to get my son to all the team rides with his local team. But the good thing is we live 10 miles from the starting spot for his Local team rides so he can ride to them. If we made teams like this propsal He might need to go to sacramento or father to join his team for a ride. I agree you might be able to draw from some real good coaches to help in the devolopment of the youth. But as a Regional. US cycling coach told me the other day. At 15 My son or for that matter any of our children could change interests real fast. And not to push them but just let them ride. So I think if hes riding with local friends its more likely that He will continue to ride.

thesupervisor wrote:if so why dont I see more of them down here?

If you dig a little, you will find a posting about that subject somewhere else on these forums.

team swift is a great example of pulling in or just letting them local kids roll into one bigger group. That is what I am getting at. If I am correct team swift is all santa rosa/nappa area kids right? or are they all over the bay? if so why dont I see more of them down here? well thanks to the people who keep team swift successful.

My son races for Team Swift, which currently has around 50 kids on its roster. Laura Charameda doesn't require any commitment other than a love of riding your bike. Some of the kids just like coming out now and then to team rides, some do all the local Santa Rosa twilights, and a few, like my son, do a lot of the regional races, Nationals, etc. There are other teams in the area with a large number of juniors--Tieni Duro, Davis, Los Gatos, San Jose, Wolfpak, etc. I think it's good to have teams with different approaches and levels of commitment. It's true, many of the "adult" teams don't have many juniors. I've talked to a few people on teams that had thought about trying to start a juniors programs, but they've been scared off by the thought of having to deal with parents (don't blame them).
I don't really see that a big regional team would be much help for juniors in general. They like competing against other teams, learning team tactics, etc. But it would be interesting to have some sort of event or events for all the juniors in the area--something that's a little more low-key than the USCF regional camps. Since my son is only 12, and there aren't many Swifties his age going to the regional races or Nationals, most of his "serious bike racing pals" are on other teams. He likes competing against them, but he also likes hanging out with them after races.

that is what i noticed about most teams that have juniors. not alot of them. but if you look at the areas in a whole there are plenty.

Now I am not tring to step to the plate to take charge of nothing or even really start anything new. this is an observation i have noticed since moving here and just like any of us ideas form in my head that I would like debated with others rather then just my split personalities.

my ideas as far as who would take care of the financing is well... I have a few ideas. the bases for both is an overall committe to oversee and manage the finances etc....
the teams in the area would all help to finace part of the teams (as to how much each team puts into the pot, well that is a tough solution to come by. as to some clubs *cough* *Cough* area ALOT bigger then others, so do they pay more? ). Then it would be up to the committee and teams to help raise larger outside sponsors and shops to help.

In my eyes there are many more benefits to everyone working together to build our young riders up then one shop/team working with there few. Kids work together and will find more intrests when they are in a larger group of there own ages.

As Colavita/Sutterhome-norcals manager, A Juinor team would be great but not probable this early in our growth, our main goal is to obtain members and have a credible 3/4/5 and masters race team. Both of my kids race for Team Swift and with Laura charameda as the teams coach, I believe there is none better.

Rich

I think you need a little more of a business plan developed before you can get people on board.

I also think starting in one's own backyard is the first step.

EMC/Vellum has every intention of having an official juniors program within our charter, we just lack juniors to make it happen.

I also think there is a problem with teams focusing on juniors and becoming bloated. If everyone rides for the same team, who will they race against?

Food for thought.

Some teams REQUIRE their juniors to ride certain events in order to receive support. Not every young rider is ready to cr willing to commit to that stipulation. My kudos go to the 10-14 year old program at Hellyer velodrome, where FREE training and advice are offered to all who attend, regardless of their ability level. It gives juniors other adults (rather than their parents) a source of valuable tips.

Who would be responsible for coaching and managing these regional teams? Or financing these teams? Would these be shared by the participating teams (ie those teams who recruit juniors to the new team)?

Why would you want to replace the successful juniors teams that are already in existence who already have great resources?

Lorri

ps -- hey Peter!