Helping the Possible Become Probable
2009 National Triathlon Training Camp (NTTC): Mar 19-22, 2009
Happy holidays!
I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends. We're just about a week away from the end of another year. 2009 promises to be an extremely exciting one for The Getting2Tri Foundation (G2T).
Our marquee event will once again be our national training camp in March. We'll host the event primarily on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) using many of the excellent facilities on site or in selected nearby locations within the Atlanta metro area.
In a couple weeks, we'll be sending out registration information for athletes as well as a call for volunteers, coaches, handlers and mentors. We are building capacity for the 2009 camp for up to 100 athletes. Realistically, I think we'll get somewhere between 60-70 athletes, but we will plan for 100. (I would love to see 100 athletes attending!)
We are also opening up a select number of slots for The C Different Foundation, our sister organization headed up by Matt Miller in South Florida. Matt and I will work closely together on addressing the needs of his visually impaired athletes, but I am excited to offer this additional component to the 2009 camp.
Some changes from the 2009 camp include the following primarily based on feedback forms from the 2008 camp:
1. Additional training day. We are asking that athletes arrive by Thursday early evening on March 19 for a "meet and greet" mixer and informal opening ceremony/welcome of sorts.
2. Friday and Saturday will be full days of training. Sunday will be a half day with closing ceremony/luncheon (similar to the 2008 camp).
3. We are encouraging athletes to bring their equipment in 2009 (bikes, handcycles, racing chairs, wetsuits). We will have two basic curriculum for athletes to follow: beginner and intermediate/advanced. Athletes will have the opportunity to select from a wide range of sessions. Athletes will also be able to follow a "beginner" curriculum in one discipline and "advanced" curriculum in another discipline if that makes sense. For example, we may have more seasoned racing chair athletes that are not as skilled in swimming. So in that scenario, the athlete might choose the advanced sessions for racing chair and beginner sessions for swimming.
4. We are also looking to take a majority of the camp athletes to an actual open water swim location and road course (cycling and running disciplines). My immediate area of interest in Peachtree City, just 30 minutes south of Georgia Tech, with excellent areas for open water swimming, cycling and running. We will need to coordinate with the local community to make this piece of the camp happen. Safety is always paramount in my mind so I will also considers things like water temperature and automobile traffic. More to follow on this piece.
Some additional targeted concepts for the 2009 camp include:
1. Friday evening buffet-style dinner at the Ga Tech Hotel & Conference Center (the "host" hotel again in 2009) with mini expo/displays by organizations of interest to our athletes. Examples might include: prosthetics manufacturers, racing chair companies, orthotics organizations, etc. The expo/display area would be in an adjacent area to the dinner and would allow athletes, coaches, mentors, and handlers the opportunity to ask questions from these organizations as they relate to active lifestyles, athletics, et al.
2. Saturday evening gala dinner. This sit-down dinner/banquet will be what I hope to see as an annual highlight of the camp. Our target for this dinner is between 150-200 people. Camp athlete attendees automatically get a "seat" as part of your camp registration. All other tickets to the gala/banquet will be initially by invitation only. This "dress to impress" event will feature something I'll introduce in 2009 called the "Hero Awards" as well as a keynote speaker of significance to the mission and focus of the NTTC.
Lastly, one of the biggest positive items from the 2008 camp was the one-on-one feedback that each individual athlete received from a panel of coaches. We will continue this in 2009 with the possibility of providing a DVD of your close-out interview session that athletes can take back to their respective local communities as key guidance for the season ahead.
We will place increased emphasis on the information gathered from athletes in advance of the camp through surveys. We take the information from these advance surveys and provide them to our coaching staff so they can be best prepared for addressing specific needs of individual athletes. We want to minimize the number of surprises ahead of time and make sure we have the most skilled staff and volunteers for the 2009 camp.
Again, this is primarily a "heads up" message to get everyone thinking about the March camp. Please mark your calendars for March 19-22, 2009.
Last but certainly not least, we will be using the Getting2Tri "Ning" community as our primary vehicle for NTTC information. If you have not registered on this social networking site (especially the athletes) please do that as soon as possible.
Have a safe and happy new year celebration this coming week.
I look forward to seeing all of you in Atlanta in March, 2009!
Regards.
Mike
I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends. We're just about a week away from the end of another year. 2009 promises to be an extremely exciting one for The Getting2Tri Foundation (G2T).
Our marquee event will once again be our national training camp in March. We'll host the event primarily on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) using many of the excellent facilities on site or in selected nearby locations within the Atlanta metro area.
In a couple weeks, we'll be sending out registration information for athletes as well as a call for volunteers, coaches, handlers and mentors. We are building capacity for the 2009 camp for up to 100 athletes. Realistically, I think we'll get somewhere between 60-70 athletes, but we will plan for 100. (I would love to see 100 athletes attending!)
We are also opening up a select number of slots for The C Different Foundation, our sister organization headed up by Matt Miller in South Florida. Matt and I will work closely together on addressing the needs of his visually impaired athletes, but I am excited to offer this additional component to the 2009 camp.
Some changes from the 2009 camp include the following primarily based on feedback forms from the 2008 camp:
1. Additional training day. We are asking that athletes arrive by Thursday early evening on March 19 for a "meet and greet" mixer and informal opening ceremony/welcome of sorts.
2. Friday and Saturday will be full days of training. Sunday will be a half day with closing ceremony/luncheon (similar to the 2008 camp).
3. We are encouraging athletes to bring their equipment in 2009 (bikes, handcycles, racing chairs, wetsuits). We will have two basic curriculum for athletes to follow: beginner and intermediate/advanced. Athletes will have the opportunity to select from a wide range of sessions. Athletes will also be able to follow a "beginner" curriculum in one discipline and "advanced" curriculum in another discipline if that makes sense. For example, we may have more seasoned racing chair athletes that are not as skilled in swimming. So in that scenario, the athlete might choose the advanced sessions for racing chair and beginner sessions for swimming.
4. We are also looking to take a majority of the camp athletes to an actual open water swim location and road course (cycling and running disciplines). My immediate area of interest in Peachtree City, just 30 minutes south of Georgia Tech, with excellent areas for open water swimming, cycling and running. We will need to coordinate with the local community to make this piece of the camp happen. Safety is always paramount in my mind so I will also considers things like water temperature and automobile traffic. More to follow on this piece.
Some additional targeted concepts for the 2009 camp include:
1. Friday evening buffet-style dinner at the Ga Tech Hotel & Conference Center (the "host" hotel again in 2009) with mini expo/displays by organizations of interest to our athletes. Examples might include: prosthetics manufacturers, racing chair companies, orthotics organizations, etc. The expo/display area would be in an adjacent area to the dinner and would allow athletes, coaches, mentors, and handlers the opportunity to ask questions from these organizations as they relate to active lifestyles, athletics, et al.
2. Saturday evening gala dinner. This sit-down dinner/banquet will be what I hope to see as an annual highlight of the camp. Our target for this dinner is between 150-200 people. Camp athlete attendees automatically get a "seat" as part of your camp registration. All other tickets to the gala/banquet will be initially by invitation only. This "dress to impress" event will feature something I'll introduce in 2009 called the "Hero Awards" as well as a keynote speaker of significance to the mission and focus of the NTTC.
Lastly, one of the biggest positive items from the 2008 camp was the one-on-one feedback that each individual athlete received from a panel of coaches. We will continue this in 2009 with the possibility of providing a DVD of your close-out interview session that athletes can take back to their respective local communities as key guidance for the season ahead.
We will place increased emphasis on the information gathered from athletes in advance of the camp through surveys. We take the information from these advance surveys and provide them to our coaching staff so they can be best prepared for addressing specific needs of individual athletes. We want to minimize the number of surprises ahead of time and make sure we have the most skilled staff and volunteers for the 2009 camp.
Again, this is primarily a "heads up" message to get everyone thinking about the March camp. Please mark your calendars for March 19-22, 2009.
Last but certainly not least, we will be using the Getting2Tri "Ning" community as our primary vehicle for NTTC information. If you have not registered on this social networking site (especially the athletes) please do that as soon as possible.
Have a safe and happy new year celebration this coming week.
I look forward to seeing all of you in Atlanta in March, 2009!
Regards.
Mike
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Vic Keith on -
Mike,
my name is Vic Keith, we've hosted an event for the past 5 years in upstate South Carolina. It's the American Warrior Triathlon. For the past 5 years we've had a sprint and a 5k run/walk .....Next year we are adding an olympic length and a 10k run, all our proceeds go to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. It pays for the College education of the children of fallen special operation soliders who die during active duty. We would like to extend an invitation to the paratriathletes in you organization to be part of our event. I just need to know what you need from us ....
Please look @ our web page www.americanwarriortriathlon.com & www.specialops.org. To see if you would be interested.
shoot me an e-mail @ rvkeith@duke-energy.com if you have any questions....
Thanks, Vic
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