Georgia Cycling Announcement

Oh hang on sorry here we go hey how are you uh are you seeing a countdown on your screen iens all right so I’m unmuted and still cannot start Video go ahead hey guys can you um hey the video works now hey I’ve got you hey if you guys can hear me I did send uh you a thing on text um Holly was on I guess Facebook or YouTube and uh it’s got a black screen with just my name on

It it’ll refresh evening gentlemen what’s going on look at you all prim and proper got Aut and no yes oh it’s not gonna show you it refreshes the YouTube is about 30 seconds you just now touched your glasses and did this little yeah there you go you’re just now doing this online yeah Holly just said that we’re all online right now she can see it all T

Test l charte test test test test hello hello good evening everybody and welcome to our very first live stream event we are super excited to have you guys here um we are about 7 o’clock we got about 84 people in the in the room right now

Watching the stream um we are going to wait a few minutes for anyone who who might be joining us this announcement isn’t going to take a long time so we do want to uh give people a chance to join in I’ll introduce the group my name is Mike Rell I’m the marketing director

With Georgia recycling Association on the screen joining me is Kenny Griffin he is our executive director and my teammate Mark legaspi he is our program director here uh that title is a little misleading you’ll get a little bit more on uh what marks roll here is uh by the

End of this uh this event but we are excited to have you in tonight um we got about 94 people in the room if you have a question we’re going to cover a lot of stuff tonight if you have a question uh my colleagues Kenny and Mark are really

Going to take the bulk of this I’m going to be watching in the chat um so if you’ve got a question drop it in the chat on our YouTube uh we’ve got uh Coach Josh um from folo composite in the house uh we’ve got Jim in there as well

Saying that we see you now and uh got a few people in there drop a question in I will punt it to um either Mark or Kenny to get you the answer um but that will allow you guys to uh ask any questions and we will try to answer everything we

Can we are really excited about tonight’s announcement this is about um a little over a year and some change uh in the works and um so it’s it’s it’s huge for us we hope that you find it as exciting as we do uh we will give another couple of minutes we’re at 105

People that is awesome so we’ll give another another few minutes here um and then we will We Shall begin 7454 Ash hello to you as well all around SC World hey back go St Str wrong strong Thomas how are you this evening strong composite Preston York flow Mountain

Flow motion Trail Builders great to have you guys here thanks the tell for joining Preston Montgomery crew is watching happy to have you guys here in there drop drop in the chat where you’re uh where you’re watching from Columbus is watching good to have you guys art Slayton giving us a thumbs up

This evening give about one more minute and then we shall begin if you’re just just joining us we want to thank you for uh joining the uh live stream tonight Rome composite um they are in the house as well um and if you had just joined and you didn’t hear

The uh the message at the beginning during this announcement if you’ve got any questions please drop them in the chat um Mark and Kenny will be uh speaking I’ll be watching the the chat room here and we’ll uh try to get an answer to your question some things we

Will be able to answer tonight other things won’t that’ll make more sense in in just a minute uh foresight Central okay now we’re going here Lumin County MTB is here Wes and Nicole from Trojans uh pratapa composits they are excited uh Brian McIntosh from North the cab composite and decer are both there

Denmark in the house White County wow now we’re coming Fast and Furious so let’s begin Mr Griffin I shall turn it over to you yeah thanks Mike let’s go everybody um I’m Kenny Griffin executive director as you can see on my screen and just want to thank

You all for taking the time to join tonight on this special announcement um as Mike mentioned earlier um in the call we’ve been working on this project for some time now and we’ve been doing our best to to keep a a tight lid on it um

And so we’re excited to give you more details um so I’m excited to announce a Statewide mountain bike program expansion to include Elementary School age students and that program is now called the trail Rangers and the new program uh the age range that the new program will focus on is third through fifth

Grade um I’ll talk a little bit about the why behind the program uh as a nonprofit We constantly feel the need to to continue our reach and our mission to reach as as many kids as possible and to introduce them to the sport of of of mountain biking um as you can imagine

There’s been a huge demand for this over the last 10 years um thank you all for encouraging us and motivating us um and supporting us to to move forward with um with this expansion as an organization we wanted to make sure that we had the capacity and the timing was right to do

A a really good job and uh put quality over over quantity which has been one of our main focuses since the beginning uh we also believe that after doing this for 10 years and serving Youth and and monitoring program outcomes uh very closely um that we see

A big need to introduce kids at a younger age to healthy and and active habits um through through programs we we also believe that this program expansion is going to be a key element um for us growing female participation not only at the student level but at the coach level

As well and as a matter of fact this program has been strategically created and structured to meet both of those objectives so I look forward to sharing more about that um in the months to come the trail Rangers Core theme at the at the heart of the program um you’ll find

The words play and connect the program has a focus on skill development through gameplay um making new friends and fostering the love of the sport for the third through fifth grade students um in addition to those highlevel plugs tonight U my colleague Mark will jump into more details that

I’m sure you’re interested in hearing about but we we would like to take a special uh opportunity and moment to thank um the generosity of two key foundations that are providing the support for us as an organization to to create this program expansion the First Foundation we’d like to thank is the

Chestnut Family Foundation we’re grateful for your support and the second Foundation that we’d like to thank is the Atlanta Falcons youth fund and that’s an associate Le fund of the Arthur M blank Family Foundation so very grateful for your support as well um so on behalf of Georgia Cycling

Association our board of directors staff volunteers just very grateful for everyone taking the opportunity to to listen in tonight um I look forward to Mark giving you more details but I’d like to introduce uh Mark legaspi our Trail Rangers program director thank you Kenny um well good evening to

All of our George’s families uh and are soon Tobe families for those of you that will be joining us for the 2024 season um before I provide a little bit more of the about this exciting program just want to address my gratitude um basically for being part of the process

Uh and further uh to further expand our second to none program which is you all know Georgia cycling um and of course you already know but you know we hear it time and time again but still want to mention it based on this platform uh just want to mention that we have

Something special here in Georgia all right finding leadership the staff the Partnerships the families and communities all make this happen uh and again this is one example for uh for tonight uh all the all the folks that are joining us tonight uh I know everybody’s been eager and they want to

Hear what’s going on um and we’ve been sitting back in the Shadows wanting to to let everybody know and uh now’s the now’s the moment that we can provide to everyone now with that being said uh we won’t be able to tell you everything uh more to follow on that but this gives

You a a good snapshot um of where we are today and where we want to be uh so a key word that Kenny noted uh was play Connect everything uh and and I mean that sincerely everything that shapes this program is centered around playing connect all right so that’s what shapes the

Trail Ranger program and we we’re going to carry it all across the full spectrum for the program so in and out and we had to keep going back to say this is what we wanted to do U this is what our end state is and and to this point right now

I’m I’m pretty confident that we’ve met that um so we want to see smiles and enjoyment not only for our third through fifth grade Trail Rangers we going to see them across across the full spectrum our coaches our family or supporters and anyone that that plays a role uh in this

This program so with that I’ll I’ll jump right into some of the small snapshots of of information that will help answer some of your questions uh and as Mike said earlier we won’t be able to answer every question right now um and so we’re we’re holding a little bit of that as we

Move forward but U the bottom line on it the program all right so what is this program well again it’s the third through fifth grade uh Focus program and it’s going to be a basically a turnkey program that TurnKey program is going to be based on a 10we community based

Program what does that really mean well what that means for for us to you uh is it includes a full built out curriculum that curriculum contains lesson plans all the supporting materials everything that a program would need all right from start to finish all right so we have you

Covered in everything to make a successful program uh and also for you to be you know have that pleasure to be part of the program um season timelines what does it look like well right now here for 2024 we’re still in that development uh that timeline but we have

A pilot program in place that pilot program is going to help us test out all the things that we’ve created uh there’s been a lot of folks U that have contributed to where we are at today uh and so we’re going to test that out see

If we got it right uh and then we’ll be able to polish it all off um so as we start the 2025 season uh so the official program launch will be 2025 uh and you’re going to see that in the spring time frame so it’s going to

Be an offset season uh from our traditional 6th through 12th grade programs uh you’re going to see it in March to early May is what we’re looking at and within that that structure that season we’re going to see four events of course we’re used to seeing events um at

The later part of the season for 6 through 12th well we’ll see events here but they’re going to be all focused and centered around you know again the play Connect aspect of the program and we’re calling those events Expeditions all right so a totally different flavor all

Right but the still quality product that you’re used to seeing in production all right low barrier to entry so as you see as we go into and speak a little bit about low barrier to entry all the things I’ve kind of mentioned thus far kind of still center around that plane

Connect uh you know we want Smiles in everybody’s faces uh to include all those folks that will make these programs you know uh flourish and so uh another piece to that is a low barrier of Entry uh we’re going to look at a community model versus in Scholastic

Model that we’re used to seeing we’re going to keep it fun we’re going to remove the competitive atmosphere uh within it and it’s it’s going to be appropriately uh based for those uh those age groups we’ll still be able to ride or you will see all the the

Standard aspects to our sixth to 12th grade programs in terms of the laner bike fleets all right yep we’re going to have some laner bike fleets of all ranges of all sizes for our little ones uh to include financial aid uh so again low barer entry uh making it possible

For everybody to participate um and you know really that’s all in a nutshell I know that was very quick uh straight to the point but that’ll get uh get things uh going for you let you know a little bit about the program uh and then as we move forward you know if you’re

Interested in starting something like this a program in your community uh just reach out and contact me Marco gasby I’m the programs uh director for the TR Ranger program um so that was a lot said in a very short period of time uh but hopefully uh you’ll be able to pick that

Up and resonate from that and I’ll hand it back over to Kenny I’m actually going to jump in here real quick Mark um so uh Lonnie Milligan has asked a question about timing and Lonnie the answer is that um the trail Rangers program will be in the springtime um so we’re currently

Envisioning March and it would last for 10 weeks uh in the springtime we also at this juncture want to announce a new name for what we have been calling this evening our 6 through 12 program so we are now going to call that team MTB and so that is our way to

Distinguish um the two different programs team MTB being exactly what you have have come to know uh as Georgia’s uh youth cycling League it still continues with the same inner Scholastic teams same race model everything everything Remains the Same we’re just calling it team MTB right now because

We’ve been calling it Georgia cycling and now we’ve got a new program called Trail Rangers so we kind of needed a name right so we’ve got Trail Rangers team MTB um and they will not overlap Trail Rangers will be in the spring and then July 1st will continue with Team

MTB and that will continue through the early part of November no changes on the team MTB side of things except for a new name um all right we’ve got some questions here um feeds right into team MTB if for a fifth grader that is correct so we’ve

Got um Community models and Mark correct me here if I’m wrong we’ve got community-based models for trail Rangers and that would then feed into a potential um inter Scholastic team when the kid moves from fifth to sixth correct no that absolutely correct um and again going back to that plane

Connect piece um a program you know catered specifically for that third through fifth grade um you know uh writer and it will build up on there still and without going into too much detail on the curriculum um it will build up skills uh there’ll be activities and game play and so we will

Create that that atmosphere we’re going to shape it um so we’re going to shape you know this is an opportunity for us to shape the culture uh bring that culture in at an earlier uh age um so not only again for the writers um but also parents uh future coaches expanding

Communities and so um when we start earlier we’ll we’ll shape it uh appropriately U to provide that that top-notch uh experience and all that will carry through you know hopefully everybody will continue uh for the 6 through 12th grade program which is team MTB um it was tough for me not to say

That while I was going through everything so I had to really think it in my head to to not say that and still continue on with the sixth to 12th grade so um but yes going back to that um separate Seasons um it will be a a

Shaping mechanism and uh we’re going to keep it fun we’ve got a question from uh Coach Josh with FCO composite how often would the group meetups happen great uh great question um remember the the play Connect and keeping F Smiles excuse me Smiles on everyone’s faces all right so uh We’ve

We’ve developed that 10-week program all right so there there are specific lessons uh we’re calling them sessions that will be laid out extensively and it’ll build be a buildup piece uh for progression um going to the the end of the season so uh typically we want to we

Want to keep it at a minimum uh and I I can say this um we’re looking at one session per week is what we’re looking at um and that keeps everything manageable um and uh it allows folks to do other things as well Rich clay uh Rich has a question

Sorry I was confusing two names here uh can older kids get involved in helping to coach so could an older kid who’s part of Team MTB and Kenny I’ll kick this one to you um Can older kid who’s maybe part of Team MTB help coach on the

Um Crow Ranger side yeah great great question rich and the answer is yes um we are working on a student uh mentor and Leadership um program within a program uh model uh for the 25 launch we know that when in Upper classmen and other kids get involved at the program

Le level it becomes uh something really special right and uh and we know that that was a special component that we’ve looked at very hard um we’ll have more details on that probably towards the end of the year um there will be limitations of course as you can imagine um but we

Will be launching with uh with that component art Slayton has a question um and I will start it and either one of you guys can answer it finish it rather um so Art’s question is so will each team have a trail Ranger program and

What I want to back up to Art is that this is going to be what we’re calling community-based programs but really it’s on the county level so Bolton County um might have multiples whereas a different County might only have one so when I say multiples we might have a Fulton North a

Fulton East a Fon West depending on on there is a Max as to how many kids can be part of one Trail Ranger program so how that translates into a a team MTB situation I will toss to either one of my colleagues whoever wants it um actually um we can both probably

Uh tell in on this one here um it’s a good question and when we’re looking at it Community Based program uh for an example just to kind of give you a visual um for instance a team could be sit up uh a program could be stood up

And that program could consist of um say families or coaches of different uh different cities different counties within you know a reasonable region so for instance say a Dawson County um can have Dawson County coaches forye County coaches which is a lumpin county coach and they

Can have one team um and so we’re I’m going to refrain from using the word team um trying to use program to Senator on on there um so we want to to kind of paint that picture that there’s not necessarily A habital a habitual relationship with an existing team uh so

Say for I use Dawson composite there’s not a Dawson composite Elementary team per se and so that kind of helps paint that picture for you and then Kenny you can probably add to that yeah know that’s great mark one of the the themes that you will continue to hear um about

The trail Rangers program is a low barrier to entry so we know that the the inter Scholastic model can pose uh some challenges for families to get to practice locations um commute time based on uh where the parent Works things like that we we want to remove all those

Barriers in the trail Rangers program and we want want the family to be able to have access to the program and and pick whatever Community program works for them and so as Mark mentioned coaches can coach towards any Community program parents can feel free to pick whatever uh location works the best for

Them and uh when it comes to um you know a a densely populated area say a trail system like Blankets Creek you could have uh three different Trail R Trail Rangers program weekly sessions happening on the same trail system and so um more more more to report on that

In the coming months we’ll lay that out for you um on the web page and it’ll be um it’ll be more digestible Lonnie Milligan has another good question and Mark will you go into his question is are these sessions run by Georgia cycling or are these local

Events run by Georgia cycling teams and Joe Lee has chimed in and said Lo local um and he is correct but will you talk a little bit um about what we’re calling season in a duffel um and how this is kind of custom built for the elementary audience absolutely um and it’s that

10-week program that I mentioned earlier um and so those sessions will be run by those specific programs that that are stood up uh that register for Georgia cycling um and then when we come together for culminating event uh which would be the uh uh the Expeditions that

Would be hosted uh and managed that production would be by Georgia Cycling Association yeah David oh sorry go ahead Kenny just to piggy back off of that so there there’s a an individual within a community that’s passionate about serving this age range um through the sport of mountain biking um we you’ll go

Through a process just like there’s a process on the team MTB side um where we’ll uh filter the onboarding make sure it’s it’s a good alignment uh the the flag will be planted so to speak we’ll put you through the the proper training um provide you the proper materials to

Marks Point give you everything you need to know about uh serving that age range through the 10e program so uh we’ll have everything taken care of and Mark if if you are in Dawson County on week one you are doing the same thing um that foresight county is doing in week one

Correct that is correct um so all uh programs U that are registered within Georgia cycling uh when we will have a designated start date uh and so all those organizations uh will do week one session week two week three Etc uh and that allows a buildup and progression

Where all of our Young Riders are all um at the same level um that’s you know that’s our desired uh flow and end State for the program uh and then they’ll all be ready for the Expeditions at the end um David from First siiz Central wants to know will there be race

Weekends we kind of touched on that earlier but maybe you go into a little bit more about our adventure days yes uh so the uh um let’s not uh let’s we I guess let’s see we’re familiar with our our race events uh for the uh the now team MTB uh

Program uh for the elementary program the tril ranger program they’ll will have Expeditions and in those Expeditions uh there’s going to be some events going on within it uh there’ll be activities there’ll be certain on the bike activities and skills Etc uh and

There will be a um um a a trail ride all I’ll leave it at that for now uh but there will be an aspect a component to it where all of our Riders will be on bikes similar to what uh what you normally see uh at our race event weekends with Team

MTB if I just can add one thing it for for this age range it’s really important for us to uh create opportunities on the event platform where every third through fifth grade child can see themselves participating at the event level and so progressively we will Design those on

And off the bike activities to meet those objectives and take a progressive build as you have seen us for example through Middle School getting kids prepared for high school um we’ll be doing the same thing to get them prepared for the sixth grade entry um

Entry time for the team MTB so um a lot more to come there will there be a summit for just this program um for the coaches of this program yes um so sorry there was a a pause there I thought you were going to jump in Kenny um yes there will be a

Summit um and so there’s that formal aspect of the administrative side and the certification side um that we’re all used to to seeing uh with our middle school and high school and so uh without getting into uh down to details on that uh there will be a summit uh

Specifically for uh the tri Ranger program uh and more to follow on that um and it will it will not will let you know it will not be for 2024 and what one additional thing to add there um we know you know the the the leadership and the communities behind the 84 existing

Team MTB uh teams so to speak we know that you all know someone within your community that’s passionate about this age range and so a a huge goal of this program of ours is to recruit new coaches specifically new female coaches as well and so we’ve designed the coach

Licensing requirements which we won’t get into tonight um to be able to meet those objectives and so um we want parents that want to want to continue to be involved or take the opportunity to be involved in their child’s uh sporting activities to be able to accomplish that

So we think we’ve met those of those objectives and those goals um and you’ll see more about that when we roll out coach licensing for the TR Rangers program later this fall all right we’ve got a couple minutes remaining if there are any uh any questions out there we are happy to

Answer them got another few minutes left still got 100 people watching so if you’ve got a question hit us up with that but if you joined us late to recap we’ve got a brand new program it’s called Trail Rangers it is for third through fifth grade elementary school

Kids home school public school private school it is a um local community- based program so it is based on uh county level as opposed to the inner Scholastic model that we have on what we are now calling team MTB which is the sixth through 12th grade program and that

Program other than a new name remains as status quo no changes to that uh Trail Rangers are expected to launch in 2025 more details coming later this summer any additional questions that you have drop in the chat I’ll throw it to Kenny and Mark if they’ve got any last

Minute things they want to add I just want to say thank you uh to all of you that uh that attended tonight um be patient with us there’ll be more information that uh that will come your way um I think this is going to be a

Great thing uh a lot of people have voiced um that we needed this type of program uh and it’s here um so very excited to be a part of it uh and look forward to uh to seeing you all out there as well over you Kenny yeah just

Grateful for everyone taking the time to uh to show their support this evening we’ve um we’ve been working incredibly hard to to create this to serve this age range this is a key element in our organization’s Mission so um really appreciate your your future partnership and support and helping us identify

People in your community that that can help us serve these these kids um and very much looking forward to many other exciting things um that we’ll we’ll talk about this year on the program front um as uh as as the next couple months go by well we’ve got a lot of positive

Comments coming in uh people saying great decision people excited think think this is going to be great so we thank you so much for joining us tonight um and we hope you have a great evening