AW Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Ride Leaders and Mechanics

IIn recent years, AW has had more than seventy Riders on the team. Keeping such a large and diverse group of kids engaged across a variety of events, team rides, races, and volunteer engagements takes a dedicated team of experienced adults. This team of experienced and qualified adults are selected based on their being good role models, motivators, teachers, organizers, authority figures, risk managers, and perhaps most importantly friends and mentors. And they all have a love of the sport. In addition, all coaches and ride leaders have a responsibility to maintain a safe and harassment- and discrimination-free environment at all team events and rides, and are also expected to:

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• Keep safety top of mind in all team rides and events

• Behave professionally

• Use appropriate language

• Model good sporting behavior

• Model being respectful of others and of our environment

• Be energized and upbeat

• Cheer the team

• Give specific feedback and praise

• Celebrate effort and victories

• Respect the land management rules whether with the team or not

Three Co-Head Coaches
The co-head coaches are involved with every aspect of the team, but have primary responsibility for the following:

• Set up the ride calendar for the season

• Select ride leaders and assistant coaches

• Make sure every team ride has adequate coaching staff and ride leaders

• Coordinate guest speakers and team volunteer engagements

• Attend parent committee meetings

• Work with Norcal on race scheduling and race-day logistics

• Organize team workouts at sponsors Pelo and Marin Power Yoga

Ten Assistant Coaches
Like the head coaches, assistant coaches tend to be involved with every aspect of the team. They are most important, however, in helping the head coaches with the following:

• Staffing every team ride and providing on-the-trail leadership for safety and risk management

• Giving individual attention to Riders on team rides, helping them with technique, maintenance, encouragement, and feedback.

• Acting as Pit Zone managers during races, making sure that each group of Riders knows their schedule for the day and follows it. This includes critical things like making sure the kids are at the Pit Zone on time, have the proper equipment for racing, have access to a trainer before races, eat properly, have a race plate, don’t fall asleep in a car before a race, have had their bike checked out by the mechanics, eat after a race, cheer for the team, etc etc.

Twenty Ride Leaders
As the name suggests, Ride Leaders are strong adult mountain bikers who work with the coaches to make sure that team rides are safe, organized, challenging, and fun. Each group of riders that goes on a team ride has at least one Ride Leader at the front and one Ride Leader at the back (aka “Sweep”) so that no riders within a specific group are without immediate assistance in the event of injury or confusion as to ride route. All Ride Leaders have been trained in Wilderness First Aid, CPR, and concussion identification. At the end of every team ride, Ride Leaders let the head coaches know that all riders have completed the ride and made it back home (or to Deer Park) safely.

Team Mechanic(s)

in the Pit Zone during races
Mountain bikes are complex mechanical devices with many points of failure. Riders put in long hours of training to prepare for races, and mechanical failures can put their personal safety at risk. One of the best ways to minimize this risk is to train your Rider to know his her bike inside and out; as a back-up to that, the AW team is extremely fortunate to have three team mechanics that check every single Rider’s bike in detail just before every race. In the pre-race Pit Zone, the AW team has seen last-minute drivetrain replacements, wheel swaps, brake change-outs, shock servicing, and a host of other complex issues addressed under great time pressure to keep the Riders ready to race. The Mechanic’s Area of the Pit Zone is an amazing place, and staffed by bike mechanics with more than 60 years of wrenching… and more than 100 years of very entertaining bicycling-related stories. Please encourage your Rider to treat them with the highest level of gratitude – they, too, are adult volunteers and do their jobs for altruistic reasons, and a single fussy or impatient rider who does not know his or her bike can wipe the smile off of a Mechanic’s face.

NICA requirements for Head Coaches [NICA Level 3 Coach] (see http://www.nationalmtb.org/coaches-license-program/ for details on coaching requirements)

• Background Check

• CDC Heads Up Annual Concussion Certification

• Annual Waiver

• Wilderness First Aid training

• CPR training

• 80 Field Hours: actual hours spent in contact with HS students while engaged in MTB program

• NICA On-the-bike skills training

• NICA Student-Athlete Coaching Philosophy webinar and test

• Annual Risk Management webinar and test 3

Assistant Coach and Ride Leader Requirements [NICA Level 2 Coach]

• Background Check

• CDC Heads Up Annual Concussion Certification

• Annual Waiver

• Basic first aid training instead of Wilderness First Aid training

• 20 field hours with students

• NICA On-the-bike skills training

• NICA Student-Athlete Coaching Philosophy webinar and test

• Annual Risk Management webinars 1 and 2 and tests

General Volunteer Requirements (like parents who occasionally do Sunday rides) [NICA Level 1 Coach]

• Background Check

• CDC Heads Up Annual Concussion Certification

• Annual Waiver

• Annual Risk Management webinar 1 and test