Track in Florida

[slace22]

lol, i thought that would get everyone's attention.
We have had cold weather all week , it has been in the 30's in the mornings for the past two days in Tampa and just an hour north of us they had a low of 23 Saturday morning.
I have a football game today at 4 and it will be in the low 50's but the wind is already blowing hard and its going to be cold.
For the people in Utah when its 40 here it feels the same as 20 there because we are surrounded by water , i myself am only about 2 miles from the Port of Tampa so when its cold we get the cold wind off of that water and it makes it very cold, i will be wearing my skeleton suit under my football uniform today to keep me warm.
Hey George do they have any push camps or anything over the summer in PC or LP and if so do you know when they usually are?
RH

[George]

Hey Harold. Regarding summer push camp, I just responded to an email from Chase about that; I also helped Micah with that last summer. I'll forward you the email, but for anyone else interested, all details will be announced in the USBA email newsletter around the first week of July. I'll post USBA subscription instructions in a separate thread.

I found PC push training sessions to be very useful.

I asked a couple times since 2005 to use the LP push track, both times I was told it was off-limits to me. Last I heard, it was only open to LP-based program athletes.

- George

[slace22]

Do the people in LP realize that were all on the same team here, i mean we are all Americans.

[George]

Yeah, I was frustrated when I hit the LP brickwall in 2005 as a new slider. But the silver lining was that it prompted me to create this site.

As you may have noticed, LP culture is somewhat exclusionary compared to that of UOP and Calgary (btw, Calgary icehouse has an awesome summer push track on a 1-curve indoor ice track, open to Americans). Broadening the sport's appeal isn't the USBSF's top priority.

Theoretically, we should have the most sliding time available at LP--their facility operator (ORDA) boasts the track is open longer than any other track in the world--191 (!) days last season. But in reality, it's much easier for new sliders to get more icetime, and push track time, at UOP.

Who knows, maybe someday LP will improve in these regards. In the meantime, we're fortunate to have UOP, considering most people in the world live even farther away from a world-class track.

- G

[slace22]

Cool , i like the idea of the track in Canada , so is that open all year ? and i guess with it being indoors it has ice all year too right?
We need an indoor ice track with one or two curves to just practice on all year.
As far as LP goes , it seems like they just want to help there own people and nobody else , maybe they should have a team competition next year between LP and UOP.

You know what though, at my age it doesnt matter what i do i'll never have a chance but i promise you this if im able to slide as much as i want to next year by the end of the year i'll be right on there heels with my times as compared to theres.
I need to get my start times down which i will do over the summer , i run a 4.7 in the 40 but i have never ran bent over until our last day of school but i will attend a push track practice this summer and i will get my times down to atleast 5.0 at the start , atleast thats what im aiming for.
I also think if you knew you had a chance George that you would slide more and would put more time and effort into it because i know you can slide good but i also know that its all political and the USBSF has the guys they want right now and it will be hard for anyone to break in.
And for any new guys reading this , UOP is the way to go , trust me on that.
RH

[morey027]

If the USBSF was smart this is what they would do. Tennis, Golf and even soccer has something called the US Open. Anyone whom is USBSF member would be able to enter the tournament and they could have prelims based on regions, East Coast - LP, West-UOP. Cut it down to the final 30 sliders to meet on a weekend in either LP or UOP. They can rotate every year. So sliders like Matt Griff could prove yeah I can slide faster then Lund, Bernotas, Hedquist and the other top ranked sliders. Just a thought.

[George]

I think the Calgary push track ends right at/after one curve, which isn't long enough to do much practicing, but far cooler than any other one on this continent. It's indoor, but it may just be operational off-season, given apparently limited use of it and refrigeration costs.

Yeah, many grievances have been filed with USBSF in recent years, often stemming from athletes being excluded from teams/races for unclear or subjective reasons. In fact, my UOP development teammate Kimber filed a grievance for being arbitrarily excluded from national time trials. Unsurprisingly, the USBSF rejected her grievance outright, but fortunately, the USOC overruled that decision and upheld her grievance this month. The saga is documented on her blog, http://orangetomato.blogspot.com

But guys, don't get discouraged. Do not dwell on politics or stuff beyond your control. This is really an awesome sport, so rather than becoming jaded, just slide as much as you can for as long as you enjoy it. And if you put up great numbers, you'll be noticed.

As for me, I held myself back by not taking it too seriously, or even buying my own sled/runners, because I expected to be in SLC for only one season. Nonetheless, I showed great improvement in my limited time, and would've finished a solid 4th place in Western Regional Championships a couple weeks ago, if not for my relocation-induced "retirement" a few weeks earlier.

- G

[slace22]

you know your right George , i think i had very good numbers for a first timer in Jan. and then on the day of the Utah Winter Games i was so caught up in trying to prove i belonged that i forgot about just having fun and of course my times in the Games showed that.
Dude you know your not retired , your going to slide again because i know you love it to much.