Re: RC: RE: WEC and team stuff

[Teddy Lancaster <Teddy@runningbear.com>]

Sbeseda@aol.com wrote:

> Steph writes:
> >Let's put our heads together and come up with some positive solutions.
>
> How can we expect to win at a sport we do not play? WEC is a
> team sport. We do not build teams to compete in Endurance. Our
> competition builds only two parts of the Endurance team, the horse
> and the rider. The other parts of the team (the coach, crews, moral,
> history, equipment) are thrown together at the last minute, just for
> WEC competition. Our expectations are high, but the strategy is
> flawed.
>
> A better solution is for AERC to offer some support for Endurance
> Teams. Then team will form and jell. In short order, new coaches,
> crews, strategies will happen. We will select among many teams
> for WEC completion rather than nominating individuals and
> horses.
>
> The resulting team to represent the US will be a proven,
> hard-bitten, chest bumping, in your face TEAM.
>
> Scott
>
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The strategy is not flawed, it is NON-EXISTANT! They don't HAPPEN, they are
developed and planned.

We have always been a sport of "individuals" who "ride our own rides".
When it comes to TEAMWORK, one must put his own interests aside and
concentrate (and trust) in the directions of a well-informed and
well-versed coach.  That coach must also have ears and eyes for the needs
(not the wants) of each horse and rider as well as their capabilities.

This is also where a vet with an experienced eye, who KNOWS not only this
sport, but the individual horses and riders, can contribute greatly.  Even
at the WEC level, riders can lose focus.

And then there is the matter that when you nominate, IMO, you are
committing to a TEAM effort...your personal goals aside.  You are riding
for the USA, NOT yourself.  Thus, even when a rider does not get chosen to
ride as one of the "team", he/she has commitment to ride under the
instruction of the "coach".

Bottom line, we MUST have good leadership.  Leadership that is respected,
trusted, listened to without question and well-educated in our sport; and
that is NOT a dictator, but a psychologist and "people-person".  Big job.
All for big money, right?


--
Teddy Lancaster

American Endurance Ride Conference # 139422
- Member since 1974
6000+ career miles

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