When I was a kid’s soccer coach I had the luxury of picking the first team. The process was fun, I basically watch kids give it their all for two three hour practices and I got to select what I thought were the best 15 kids of roughly 70 that came out. Once I selected the kids I had to give a call to each. Many of these were waiting by the phone and their parents were usually nearby hoping that this was the call. That is fun for me and for each kid. The hard part came later on. I also had to call each kid that was on the first team but now was being told that he did not make the cut. This broke my heart but amazingly enough many kids took it well. In some cases the kids and parent had a good idea this was coming so it was not too surprising.
As a coach I had to realize that I had to be fair. When a kid came out to try out and he did well, then he deserves a chance to be on the team regardless of anything. I made sure I told everyone that just because they were on the team one year is not a guarantee of a spot in following years. The process worked out well for the most part.
The reason for this post today is because I am in the process of selecting our 2007 MarkAllenOnline team. Our team is a little different. The main objective of the team is to spread the word out about our coaching and the best way to do this is by having athletes out there that do well at races and wear our uniforms. Of course we also want these athletes to feel that one of the reasons they do well is because of our coaching and training methodology. Team members that have our logo on their chest find that they get asked about our coaching. Last year when I wore the team uniform at races I had to come up with a good answer to that question. How do you like the MarkAllenOnline programs? Asked a girl in UTAH when I raced there. I love it I said. I did not want to sit there and tell her who I was and so on. I felt a little sneaky answering the question that way. Oh well I can’t win.
So every year I hope we get some good people on the team that value our coaching and methods. Those are the best athletes for us. We do not want the fastest. It would not hurt of course. But if we can find a fast one that also values our coaching then we have the perfect team member. It is really hard to tell who is best for us to have on the team. Undoubtedly every year we get some that do not work out. We try really hard to pick the best but it is hard. In fact the reason we charge the coaching fee to the entire team is because of this same reason. When I first thought about having a team we though that they should not have to pay a cent. The problem was that if we did that then yes. We will get some real fast folks but many would just apply to get free stuff. Triathletes love free stuff. In Kona I see lines that extend blocks just because they are giving free stuff. Geez I thought triathletes were all fairly well to do. I guess that does not matter. Free is free eh?
The other problem when picking this team is similar to the one I had with my kids. Sending an email to someone that did not quite made the cut is not fun. Oh brother! Sometimes there is no reply at all. Sometimes I get a real sarcastic reply. Sometimes they send a sour grapes answer. Every one is different. I have not quite figured out the best approach to this. This year has been really hard because we are actually turning down some real fast people. We got overwhelmed with applications. It was not the easiest thing to do. In fact we had to make what we call an “Advanced team” in an effort to extend the number of team members. The problem was that some team sponsors were only supporting a certain number of people. That meant that our Elite team was getting a little more free stuff than our Advanced team. Not a lot different but some. But they all get the same coaching which I hope is the reason to be on the team right?
On my end I have been sick as has all my family. The kids caught a real bad bug and that has sent my son to the hospital because he can not breathe well. In fact we came down to Boulder as there is more oxygen here than at the 9000 feet elevation of Winter Park. So we will be here for a while. This is a really bad bug and very contagious. Camilo was finally sent home a few hours ago but will sleep with oxygen until he feels better.
So it has been a crazy beginning to the year. My friend Matt dies, then we had an avalanche near Winter Park that makes the National News, now this crazy bug. We are debating the whole pre-school thing. Many parents send their kids sick to school and in Winter Park were it is so cold they have to stay indoors all day and breathe each others air. It is just a real bad setting. It really stinks. I never went to pre school and did fine in school. Why do they have to go to pre-school now. I only send mine two days but all I get is pressure from many sides that they have to go more. Next thing they send them home with homework at age 3. Is this a Bush idea?