What Can Building Champion Cyclists Florida Do For The Young Athletes?

Well it is not just about handing out some money and saying go race. This program will provide a few gentle pushes and, if necessary, frank advice for how to accomplish ambitious goals. What are those ambitious goals? To become an athlete. Building Champion Cyclists maintains that top-level athleticism is not just about going fast on a bicycle. Participation and competition in athletics should include efforts to learn more about oneself and the world. We seek to provide guidance in the following areas: managing goals and the challenges presented by elite competition; nurturing the importance of teamwork and self-confidence; instilling the symbiotic relationship between failure and success. Building Champion Cyclists mentors young cyclists, who might otherwise, due to lack of support, abandon a promising athletic path and thereby lose the opportunity to learn about themselves and the world.

From time to time, an athlete dreams of the Olympics or of becoming a professional athlete. Everyone knows that few actually have the talent and fortitude to find a path to accomplish this dream. But there must also be emphasis on sport as an integral part of one’s total life education - a unique way of understanding your body, testing yourself, and working with other people. Athletes can learn from the lessons of participation and competition, along with constantly required and expected good sportsmanship. Respect—for the opponent, official, coach, spectator and teammate—is the foundation of enjoying athletics and understanding its value.

At Building Champion Cyclists, we believe that if there is a young cyclist from the state of Florida who has the ability (and done the work) to place well at a National Championship of his or her respective discipline, that cyclist should have the opportunity to attend the event, even if he or she does not have the funds to attend. Secondly, able young cyclists who have not done the work—perhaps due to ignorance or lack of support—will be mentored, as outlined above, and be taught the necessary steps to success.

Building Champion Cyclists Florida also seeks to promote the overall sport of Cycling in Florida and to generate more interest in cycling enthusiasts and the young cyclists who enjoy the sport. Many young cyclists might not have considered how far their so-called hobby can take them. Sure, this sport is not going to be a lucrative career (except for a select few), but that does not mean one should not follow a dream and ride at a high level, even while continuing on to higher education or advancing into the business/labor pool.

It seems that in 2008 there has been an increased number of Florida cyclists taking their talents beyond the Southeastern United States to prominent national races. Building Champion Cyclists Florida feels that the efforts of these cyclists should be conveyed to the public in general and certainly made available to Florida’s cycling community. Thus, I ask that those capable provide a summary of the occurrences and results of national races. Building Champion Cyclists Florida has developed a News Page that can be used to post articles and results of Florida Cyclists’. This News Page is not limited to writing about the members of the program (Martin Cox, Brent Hall, Chris Janiszewski, Regan Woodall and Jamie Knight) but wishes to extend to any Florida Cyclists that is striving to achieve at the national or international level. Thus, I am pleading for your assistance in promoting these athletes and the sport of cycling. With assistance from you, this Cycling News can evolve into an actual News Page publication, a separate entity from the website.

In the six short months that this program has been in existence, I have been very pleased with its development. A static website, BuildingChampionCyclistsFl.net, has been established that outlines the program and lists the cyclists currently being sponsored. A News Page, buildingchampioncyclistsfl-news.blogspot.com, has been developed along with cyclists’ individual blogs. Sponsors are listed and thanked for their contributions, along with the continued development of additional sponsors and donations received. The program is slowly gaining recognition and intends to keep striving to assist the deserving young men and women cyclists. I have various new ideas, which I intend to implement in the near future, and I request any assistance from the public in reaching these goals. One thing in the works is a journalistic web site to report on Florida cyclists’ results at national and major Florida racing events.


This is probably a separate topic:
In conclusion, as time permits, I hope to continue with efforts to develop a source of information concerning continued education opportunities of colleges that either provides cycling clubs, college racing and scholarship opportunities. In addition to this, developing a program of career guiding that might assist the young athletes in advancing their careers with guidance for developing career choices and resumes development. Should anyone have any input concerning the aforementioned aspects please feel free to contact me.

Now I must ask – Did you ride today?

Written by Kurt Leverett and edited by Ryan Walsh.