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From The Chair:
| Hello Triathletes,
I hope you are enjoying your training season and this crazy weather. As the season unfolds, we at the USA Triathlon Florida Region are working hard to implement programs and develop the sport. We have several new council members and great programs.
Our Regional Championship, St. Anthony's Triathlon, is coming up on April 28. We have plenty of other events for you as well. Please visit www.usatriathlon.org/florida for more information.
The entire council and myself will be at St. Anthony's Triathlon and we look forward in meeting you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Hector L Torres
USAT Lv 2, USAC Lv 2, USAS and USATF & MS
USA Triathlon Florida Region Chair
Florida Region Paratriathlon Development Coordinator
P: 321-443-0073 |
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| Regional Athlete Development Update | |
The Talent ID Series kicked off at the Escape From Ft. Desoto Triathlon on April 13. The 2013 USAT Florida Talent ID Race Series provides older youth (13-15) and junior (16-19) athletes an opportunity to race against one another on various sprint distance courses throughout the state. Youth and junior multisport athletes of all levels and abilities are encouraged to participate in at least 3 of the 6 the non-drafting sprint races to score points for the overall series awards. Top 3 scores including participation in the Series Finale will determine the overall series winner.
To view the Talent ID Series race schedule, please visit: www.usatriathlon.org/florida or "like" USAT Florida Athlete Development News on Facebook for all the lastest regional happenings.
Other important dates for athletes 13-19:
June 18-25 USAT National Youth/ Junior Skills & Select Camp/ Groveland, FL
July 20 AAA F1 Triathlon/Lake Louisa/Super Sprint Draft Legal Race for 12-16
For more information on the camps or F1 race please contact the Regional Athlete Development Coordinator Jennifer Hutchison at esportsrd@aol.com.
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Youth Update
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 Calling all kids ages 7-15, join your friends on Saturday, June 15 at the Heartland Triathlon as we host the 2013 USA Triathlon Florida Youth Championship. This will be the second year that the Heartland race staff hosts our regional youth championship. In addition to crowning our state champions, last year, we introduced the youth club championship challenge cup, with Tampa Bay Tri Sports taking home the trophy.
This club championship trophy will be up for grabs again in 2013 as we expect close to 15 Florida-based youth clubs to participate. For more information on the youth championship, go to www.heartlandtri.com, or contact Jim Sheets, Regional Youth Development Coordinator. For all youth races across the Florida Region, check out our regional website, www.usatriathlon.org/florida.
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Paratriathlon
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 | | Photo by Mario Cantu/CIMAGES |
The Paratriathlon Regional program has developed several clinics to assist physically challenged athletes get involved within the sport. We just held our Paratriathlon Regional on March 23 with a great success. If you know of any physically challenged athlete who wants to get involved with the sport, please forward them my information.
Hector L Torres - hector.torres@usatriathlon.org or 321-443-0073
We have several clinics coming up in the month of April and May. Please visit: www.usatriathlon.org/florida
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| Attention All Clubs | |
The second annual Club Summit to be held Saturday, April 27 at the Hampton Inn in St. Pete as part of the region's Championship Weekend. All USAT certified clubs are welcome to attend this event. It's a great chance to share what's working for your club as well as what other clubs are doing to increase membership and just have fun. The race director of this year's Club Championship at Longleaf will be there to help you promote this event to your club members and offer big incentives for registrations. Contact John Letourneau (johnletourneau@comcast.net) for additional information.
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Coaches/Athlete Education - CEU
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The Florida Regional Championship will be held in St. Petersburg, Florida, on April 28. There will be seminars for those who are interested in heat acclimatization, and injury prevention and rehabilitation. For more information regarding these seminars please see below.
Schedule of Events
Heat Acclimatization
Clinic dates: Friday, April 26
Time: 4-5:30 p.m.
Clinic location: St. Anthony's Resource Center
500 Dr. MLK Jr. St N
Suite 200 Conference Room
St. Petersburg, FL 33705
This seminar will cover the many issues athletes will have on adapting to heat climates for training and racing. The main objectives of the seminar will be: How to heat acclimatize properly and with a given amount of time to safely race in a hot region; activities to promote cooling of the core temperature while training and racing; proper hydration strategies; what to do in case a heat related illness strikes.
Triathlon - Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Clinic dates: Friday, April 26
Time: 6-7:30 p.m.
Clinic location: St. Anthony's Resource Center
500 Dr. MLK Jr. St N
Suite 200 Conference Room
St. Petersburg, FL 33705
The seminar will cover the most common injuries for all three disciplines, and the demographics around these injuries. We will talk about ways to prevent such injuries and will cover some aspects of rehabilitation to treat or prevent such injuries. The seminar will have both
a theoretical part and practical part, therefore it is advised to come with your sporting kit, such as: foam roller, trigger point ball and band.
USAT Members - Free
USAT Coaches - Clinic Cost: $35.00 Certified Coach (1.5 CEU's)
Register at: http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=2092657
Presenters:
Hector L Torres - USAT Lv 2, USAC Lv 2, USAS and USATF & MS
Jackie Miller - USAT Lv 1 Coach, RN, BS Education, USAT Certified Coach
Dr. Michael Melton - USAT Lv 1 Coach, MD
2. Hampton Inn - Conference Room - Saturday, April 27, 2013
- Official 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
- Club Coalition - 1-2:30 p.m.
- USAT Florida Region Member Meeting 3-4 p.m.
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Officials' Update
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Nobody wants to receive a penalty on race day. You all know "drafting is prohibited, always ride on the right, no right hand passing, make sure you do the entire course, start in your assigned wave," etc. These are all important things to follow. In addition, one of the most important things that every triathlete can do on race morning is to make sure that bicycle handlebar ends are solidly plugged.
It's not unusual for a bar-end plug to pop out while en route to the race. If you don't have an extra bar-end plug with your gear, check with the folks in bicycle support; they're sure to have some. Pop the plug in and you're good to go!
A failure to have bar-ends plugged by the start of the race will result in a disqualification -- something nobody wants. A missing bar-end plug is a safety violation and must be corrected. If, after all efforts have been taken to correct the situation and a bike still has a bar-end plug missing, the USAT official will disqualify that athlete and ask the race director to pull the bike from transition and not allow the athlete to go out on the course. It is up to you to make sure the repair is made. As soon as you arrive at the race site, check your handlebars. Remember, USAT officials are not permitted to repair bikes or provide repair parts.
By the way, we're always looking for people to become USA Triathlon officials. If you're interested in becoming a referee, please email Tom Reilly, the Florida Regional Officials' Coordinator, at FloridaROC@msn.com.
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