This is why Tri-This! was founded!

Toward the end of last year (October-ish), talk began to steer toward the position of founding Tri-This! We wanted to break from the Police Activities League mainly to be more triathlon-focused when talking to sponsors and even the general public, put on events, and have autonomity.

So far except for being shorter on cash than hoped for everything has gone very well. However I wanted to take a few minutes and share what's been going on.

1) More USA Triathlon Focus
- At least one student will race as a Junior Elite in the Pacific Grove Triathlon in September. It will be Tri-This's first entry. I'm hoping to scrounge up the money ($75 per kid now) to race three kids who would do well.
- give a name to the kids in Tri-This! who compete - the Youth or Jr. teams to align with USAT naming and race structure.
- Try to move more toward getting ALL kids to do all three sports. Plan on doing all three or at least two in a training session rather than allowing kids to do just one. USAT-wise, it's better to have just 10 kids who can do all three and really work on those than have 20 kids who aren't triathlon-ready. On the other hand Tri-This has been instrumental in getting many kids who wouldn't have otherwise been involved in anything more involved in a lot of other school things. (I counted - 30 of my 135 students last year were at some point involved in my triathlon, water polo, or swim team. The swim team alone consisted of 50% of current or former students of mine. wow!)

2) Events
Big news may be coming regarding a mountain bike duathlon event in December/January and a new event we will sponsor in April as well; in addition to the Splash and Dash.

3) Camps
We hope to get some dates and more information about offering one day triathlon camps for kids in different parts of the Valley next Spring as well. Possibly late Fall?

4) Sponsorships
The race is on to erase some Tri-This start up debt as well as build funds for next year. We will do more grant writing soon in earnest as well as actively seek out sponsorships to get real jersey's next year. I'll probably be working with Oomph! sports who donated a BUNCH of tri gear to us last year which we still haven't used all of yet!

5) Volunteers
Trading in the Suburban was a hard decision, but made easier by the fact that we have been blessed to have an abundance of volunteers this year come out of seemingly nowhere; many from the Fresno State Tri team and just other people who had 'heard' of the program, but with the new name and publicity now knew how they could help. 3 great bikes have been donated this year too.

6) Education
Coaching at the USAT Skills Camp last week was so encouraging for a lot of reasons. Mainly I was able to learn how to really run a triathlon camp from professional triathlete and awesome person Alexis (Waddell) Smith and Coach Sharon Osgood. Also, there have been a number of troubling incidents related to kids this summer that have reminded me of why Tri-This exists (to build relationships with kids which help lead to lasting positive life change) and taught myself and my volunteers valuable lessons.