Talent ID

Aquiline

Hello,

I work in a school and a group of us went to Newport and tried out lots of activities, one of them being track cycling. Two of our children were superstars and the professional cycle man/coach said I should get the two of them into a cycling club as they have real potential. However I am stuck! I don't know whether they should join a road racing group, or specific track racing group. They also don't have bikes, can't get to Newport Velodrome easily (we are in Plymouth and we went up on a minibus) and I don't know what to do or where to start. First of all, is there any sort of funding available for this sort of thing? i.e. getting a road/track worthy bike for them, and hooking them up with a coach? Secondly, does anyone know of any good coaches or clubs these boys could link up with? Thirdly if they make it big time, as their mentor and agent, is 20% of their income too much to ask, and is it cheeky to ask them to get me in the Velodrome in 2012??

If anyone can give me a hand with this I'd be eternally grateful. I'd rather these kids got into something useful rather than descend into drugs and drink like a lot of the youngsters in this neck of the woods.

jrduquemin

There are plenty of shops in the Plymouth area. You should try them first off and see where you go from there. 20% does sound a bit high considering you haven't even made any enquiries. Also, the olympics are only 2 years away and the track riders would already be qualifying to get onto the team...

jibberjim

jrduquemin wrote:

Also, the olympics are only 2 years away and the track riders would already be qualifying to get onto the team...

There's plenty of development riders for 2016 around, probably more than 2012 (since it's a pyramid)

I suspect the OP is a troll, with the talk of 20% etc. But the place to go with track talent is direct to British Cycling.

Aquiline

I hope troll is some forum speak for 'somebody who is joking' otherwise I'll be really offended!

Thanks for the help so far

Pross

FFS guys, lighten up. The 20% was obviously a joke :roll:

Aquiline, I don't know about any clubs in your area. There is obviously no indoor velodrome in the Plymouth area but there may be an outdoor track. If so they generally have cycling clubs attached to them and may have hire bikes available as they do at Newport. I know your area well and it is fantastic for road riding too so if there is no track locally it may be worth them looking at a local cycling club. Quite a few clubs will run a weekend training session for kids and will have coaches to at least level 1 with all the usual child protection stuff that I'm sure you're familiar with! It may also be worth getting in touch with British Cycling about the Go-Ride schools scheme http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/clu/go_ride_for_schools.asp

If you want to know a bit more I have some contacts who deal with this sort of thing in Wales and I will see if they can give me details for your region.

SBezza

First of all what ages are the children?, if they are between 7 and 14, then look on the BC website for a Go Ride club in your area. Even if they are older than this, I would still suggest a Go Ride club.

Go Ride clubs are the first place BC will look for up and coming riders, and if the club is a Go Ride club, it will have coaches that can teach the fundamentals of racing.

Pross

Go-Ride clubs in the South West region are as follows:-

South West 1st Chard Whls Website

South West Bikinmotion Cycling Club Email Website

South West Camel Valley Cycling & Triathlon Club Email Website

South West Cornwall BMX Racing Club Email Website

South West Cycle Sport South Hams Email Website

South West Decoy BMX Club Email Website

South West EMBC - Exeter Mountain Bike Club Email Website

South West Exeter Aces CSC Email Website

South West Exeter Eagles BMX Racing Club Email Website

South West Mid Devon CC Email Website

South West oneandallcycling.co.uk Email Website

South West Taw Velo Email Website

South West Team Tor 2000 Email Website

South West Tiverton BMX Club Email Website


I don't think any are based in Plymouth though. Possibles for Plymouth are Plymouth Corinthian and Yogi

Aquiline

Thanks Pross! Your post has been really useful, I've started using the information and fingers crossed things will start happening. You are a legend

As for the first two replies..... thanks. Even though you don't know a joke when you see one.

bompington

Aquiline wrote:

Even though you don't know a joke when you see one.

Obviously... everyone knows that 10% is the maximum an agent gets

Eddy S

There is a pretty defined programme for talent identification and progress through the team structure. You'll find more background info (just so you can set expectations - the standards are very high...) on this page of the BC site -> http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/gbcycl ... ing-Team-0

An interesting snippet from this page for your charges:

British Cycling wrote:

Great Britain Cycling Team FAQs

How do I become part of talent team?
Get involved with your local Go-Ride club - the Go-Ride club coaches speak regularly to the Talent coaches about local riders who they feel have the ability to benefit from the Talent Programme. Talent coaches run 'Regional School of Racing' sessions that riders showing potential will be invited to and again club coaches are active in nominating youngsters to these sessions.
The regional track omniums, National series, and National Championships results (in all disciplines) are also a sure fire way to get noticed.

Teach

Aquiline wrote:

is 20% of their income too much to ask?

No clearly in today's market you should be looking at a minimum of 50% for yourself with the other 50% divided by forum members for their constructive replies and support. :shock:

The lads will require no money as they will be happy you have helped to introduce them to cycling.

love2ride

You are very unlikely to get funding to buy them a bike. BC only give proper funding to cyclists on the ODP which is junior category riders. It is up to their parents to buy them a bike. As you live quite far away from tracks I would buy a road bike as it is possible to hire bikes from most velodromes.
During the winter there is a fairly friendly track league at calshot velodrome, in southampton, which they might enjoy.