And thanks to some needed encouragement by Peggy, the Gswede Control Challenge is on!
Let's get the Senior Team a coach to give it the direction it needs. To clarify, I see a thriving senior team as necessary to junior development. A senior national team should be the top level of a country's sport and I think it can be discouraging for many new juniors to "graduate" to the senior team and learn that they now have to train, work, compete, and figure it all out on their own. In addition, the senior team can be role models for the juniors on how to handle work-life-training balance. But we do need a bit of direction ourselves.
It won't take much to get better than where we're at now. We've got the talent. We've got the terrain. And, most importantly, we've got loads of enthusiasm. So let's get a coach.
Summarizing:
Gswede Control Challenge
1. You pledge an amount per control -- 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents -- and I am motivated to train even more.
2. Each control I punch in training and competition from November 26th until January 31st counts except for control pick exercises that count as half.
3. I will post the official count after each training session and race on my log.
4. You support a national team with a clear goal for your donation and motivate a national team member who is training his heart out in the wintry Pocono landscape.
5. You can pledge by either commenting on my log or sending me an email at swederunner154 (at)
gmail.com. I'll keep track of everything in an Excel sheet.
Thanks again, Peggy, for prodding me to do this.
If we don't reach the goal of $2,000, then the funds will be used to support our biannual training camps. Let's go!