ianpeace wrote:
I'm sitting with the perspective of "last in"...."first out".
Four or Five years ago one of my HPT (High Performance Team) Juniors, Dillon Nobbs was selected into the Elite Triathlon Academy. This was the previous offer for U23/Collegiate triathletes. USAT (and others) did a nice job with instate tuition at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, some facilities/services at the OTC, and housing. During Dillon's second year there was a dramatic shift in the coaching staff, and that seemed to be the last straw for the program - it fizzled. Dillon is a great guy, he's going to walk a fantastic life path. I wish his athletic talents could have been nurtured a bit more but he's happy and the Earth is lucky to have him on it.
Today one of my HPT Juniors, Duncan Reid who is 20 now, earned his elite card at the beginning of the year, has race some ITU Conti Cups, and the recent MLT in Vail. He's currently
only 340 spots behind Mario Mola in the ITU World Ranking ;). Duncan is part of this introductory class at Project Podium along with Austin Hindman, Luis Ortiz (just finished 2nd at Junior Elite Nationals last weekend), and several players to be named later (maybe later today).
I have great confidence in Project Podium in terms of it's longevity. Rocky Harris (USAT's new CEO) is a very likable, no-nonsense, get-shit-done kinda guy. You feel it when you meet him. He's got a rich history at ASU. Cliff English is there to manage. Parker Spencer is the Head Coach - he's committed and was deeply motivated to grow his previous program at Liberty University.
At the beginning of the year we knew that Project Podium was gonna happen but there was some delay in the process - USAT's Director of High Performance, Andy Schmitz was leaving after doing a phenomenal job. The chronological order required a new Director of HP and I think we've got a great one in John Farra. Then he could lead the hiring process of a head coach in Project Podium. I have had numerous conversations with Parker - starting back when he was still at Liberty, and then many recently while Duncan and I were trying to decide if he should return to Oberlin College for another year of swimming or commit to Project Podium. One of our final concerns was what would be the quality of the team. This announcement of Austin's move alleviates so much of that. Duncan's got a big brain, his family values education, he's been thinking logically about his life after sport. He'll be joining Barrett, the Honors College at ASU.
I'm excited about Project Podium. It can serve as a bridge between a strong youth and junior development system that Steve Kelley has created and our senior elites. This gives many of our best high school males a chance that our high school females now have with NCAA triathlon programs. I think we'll see the trajectory of our male athletes get steeper and the talent pool get deeper.
If I were a coach in Oceania I might say I was chuffed. I hope I don't feel gutted any time soon.
Ian
austin is the real deal. he ran 8:43 for 3200 in HS. as a triathlete. now, to place that in perspective, lucas ran 8:29 for 2mi, which was maybe 8:25 for 3200m. but he was a freak. he was arguably the 2nd best HS performer all time behind jim ryun, and far and away the fastest ever over 3200m. austin had the 2nd fastest time in the nation last year and it wasn't a fluke year; he'd have been the fastest had he run his time this year, and by a fair bit.
i would be surprised if anyone in the top 50 or so in the ITU right now ran as fast as an 18yo as austin did. so, he's got the capacity, in the run. if we took these athletes that run so fast in HS in the US as triathletes, lucas, tony, daniel vertiz, austin, and kept them healthy, and slotted them right into high performance tri, yes, we'd be the equal on the world stage of any country.
however, here's what we do that other countries don't, to my knowledge: our men and our women retire from triathlon with college degrees in their pockets. show me the pathway by which the kids who move to tempe end up with math and science degrees (and if it takes them 6 or 7 years, that's fine). not degrees in marketing or communications. thanks, but a kid's adult future is not worth a medal. to me.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman