Ride Like A Girl: 01.28.14 #BMXinSchool Samsula Academy

I was fortunate enough to stay with a pretty amazing family this week that allowed me to do a second presentation while I was over the in the Daytona Beach area. The Meurlot family welcomed me with open arms to stay at their home while I was on the East Coast of Florida. When their kids Weston and Dawson heard I was going to talk at Wadsworth Elementary school they asked their teacher if I could come in and talk to their classes.

The school was happy to hear that they could have a speaker come in and talk with the students. When Dawson approached his teacher he said I have a professional BMX rider staying at my house and I want to bring her to school tomorrow! He was so excited and the teacher had seen his energy level and wanted to get more information. After speaking with Dawson's parents they set it all up while I was doing my presentation on Monday. On Tuesday when I came into the school the Vice Principal Gail Conrad was there to greet me and escort me to the cafeteria where the kids were sitting patiently waiting for me. I thanked her for allowing me to come to talk to her students and she said "anytime I can get an athlete especially a women to talk to students I am all for it". She has a passion for keeping kids active and healthy. I then met coach Sue Carignan who was a beach volleyball athlete and was siked to meet me, we talked about the struggles you have to go through to get to that pro level. It was great hearing her stories about trying to find a perfect partner for beach volleyball I never knew all the dynamics of that sport compared to regular volleyball.

I started my talk with a brief introduction about who I am and how I got started into BMX racing. Since these sessions were a little shorter then the previous day I had to keep my energy up and talk a little faster to get it all in.

First thing I always make sure to talk about is why it is so important to wear a helmet when riding your bike. I took the pad out of the inside of my helmet so the kids could see the foam and I taught them how to inspect their helmets to make sure it is always safe to protect your head if you were to fall. Biggest thing I see with kids who wear helmets is that they don't fit especially the half shell helmets. I explained the importance of a helmet that fits properly and how to adjust the straps.

I was then able to show them my G Form pads and Novik gloves, the kids were pumped they were able to touch all the safety equipment I brought in to show them. Good thing about having kid size hands is some kids actually fit into my gloves.

The next thing I went on to explain was all the parts on my bike. This came in handy later when I was giving out goodies I asked the kids questions about my bike to see if they were listening. The kids went home with a signed post card of me, and some Dan's Comp and Kid Dynamite stickers.

In detail I described how the bike works, showed them how the gears and how to properly use the breaks. Some kids have coaster breaks at home so I would show them my hand break but also explain how the coaster break works with their pedals.

I asked kids by a show of hands how many of them had a bike at home. It was encouraging that the show of raised hands were high even with the younger kindergarten classes. I loved to see most kids own a bike now, when I grew up I knew a lot of my friends didn't have bikes and I am excited that times changed. This makes it easier to invite them to the track when their parents don't need to go out and buy a bike right away. I was very impressed that most kids knew the word BMX and what it stood for.

Teaching kids balance is really important, I explained how riding with your weight on your feet allows you to control your bike a lot easier. I showed them how you can ride with minimal weight on your bars and could still maneuver your bike easily. I demonstrated how they could use their bike bike like a strider to get used to balance before they tried to pedal. I asked the kids to remove their training wheels and work on this at home. Since it was such a beautiful day I asked the kids to go home and ride their bikes and use the tools I taught them.

I caught myself several times smiling ear to ear just feeling so thankful to be standing in front of the next generation and sharing the sport that means the most to me. I have had friends get started in this sport because 1 person came into their life made a difference and motivated them towards BMX. I would be so pumped to see more kids on bikes and at the local tracks instead of just riding hte streets. BMX bikes are sold in most major retailers and online so it is easy to get your friends, family and neighbors involved into this sport.

When the Kindergarten class came in I asked if any of them have never ridden a bike before and with a show of hands I choose this little guy. He was super pumped to be able to wear my helmet and in just a few laps he was able to ride across the stage with his feet up and was balancing all thanks to the strider bike. He already had great coordination and he followed directions very well so he was a very quick learner.

Since my visit to this school would not have been possible without the help of Dawson Meurlot I brought him up on stage and asked him some questions. He told his peers what BMX meant to him, how long he has been racing and places it has taken him. I look forward to Dawson taking my spot on this stage someday this kid just strives to be a Pro.I am looking forward to working with Dawson on some of his 2014 goals to get him where he needs to be on the path of success.

I then went into talking about goals and what kids wanted to be what they got older and it was really inspiring to hear girls saying they wanted to be surfers, skateboarders, wakeboarders, and boys saying they wanted to be hunters, football players and firefighters.

But this little girl Lydia above stood out from the rest. She raised her hand and said when I grow up I wanna be like you a pro BMX racer! I was speechless and she was dead serious with her comment. What happened later that day when she went home has completely made my trip to the schools a success. Her mother tells me she walks into the house from school and says "Mom I need a wrench can you help me, I need to take the training wheels off my bike. I had a pro BMX girl in my school today and she said I could be whatever I wanted to and I need to ride my bike today we need to take my training wheels off!" I love kids who have that sass and get really focused when they find something they really want to do. I am so honored I could make such an impact that she was that pumped to go home and tell her parents about a goal she had set just a few hours ago.

We had some extra time on one of the sessions and I was able to take a group photo of Dawsons class. I really hope to see more of these kids out at the Daytona BMX Track or St Augustine next time I'm there. It really excited the kids to get to come up and sit on my bike and interact with me.

This is a view of my set up for the talks, I was very fortunate to have a large stage to set up on to show everything. When showing the kids balance and how to ride a bike I had more then enough room to ride around and even do a feel wheelies.

Once the day was over Coach Carignan asked what Kid Dynamite was and after a brief description she invited me to come back and set up a tent to sell some of our products for the kids to purchase. I do not discuss Kid Dynamite in my talks unless asked and these talks are not about sales. My main goal for doing this is to get kids riding bikes, interested in BMX racing and building better local programs for tracks. These school visits are done on my own time and I do not charge for them. I am thankful enough to have amazing sponsors who help me afford to inspire others while still riding my bike. I make it about what matters and in BMX is always about the kids, when you focus on the new riders local programs will grow. When the local program grows the income can come in to make the track better for all and makes racing so much more exciting.

When coach heard that Kid Dynamite had cool clothes for kids she invited me to come back in the morning and set up a booth to show the kids about a brand made to stand out from the rest

The school went the extra mile to send home a flyer to each student to show their parents so their were prepared to come to school with money. I set up in the cafeteria due to the rain and got to see all those smiling faces again. This was awesome because I was able to meet a lot of parents of interested kids for the sport. Thankfully Weston and Dawson were there to help me get items for students and I was there to sign tons of autographs for all the new fans I had made the day prior.

Kids were able to check out the Kid Dynamite brand but more importantly interact with me, ask me questions and take photos with me. When signing autographs I feel it is really important to ask their name because then they know it is for them and I am not generically signing something as if I am too busy to know who they are. I like adding a special personalized touch to their request for my autograph. I remember how special it felt as a kid to get something signed.

The photos above and below are of Lydia this is the next girl pro in the making. I am going to keep in touch with her family and make sure she does get those training wheels off and that she can have the opportunity to reach her goals to be just like me and race BMX professionally. Her sister was very excited to meet me as well it was cool to shake hands with her mother, hear her story of Lydia's determination about taking off her training wheels. Parents get really excited when their kids show interest in something and Lydia is on board 100% to be the next best thing on a bike and I can not be more excited to be her motivating factor to try this out!

Big thumbs up on how the 2 days went at Samsula Academy! Got to teach 300 kids about bike safety, bike safety equipment, BMX racing, goals and how to set and achieve them. Pumped on life and how the last few days went I started to talk with some people who were interested in having me come to their area schools to get kids excited about BMX. I am going to use the next few days to get together a plan on how I can do this all along the east coast. I am looking for help with funding as well as grants I can apply for to help fund this project. So if i have anyone out there who has experience with this I would love for you to shoot me an email. cyoungrideslikeagirl at gmail.com (sorry I get spam when I do the click able address) Please put #bmxinschool for the subject so I keep all your emails organized in my inbox.

When I got all packed up I then had a long conversation with the Vice Principal Gail and she was so motivated to keep this going because of how excited all the children were about my talk. She said parents were excited when they came home that day about bikes and she feels this is a good out for a lot of kids who need something other then traditional sports. She even mentioned about having a Samsula BMX race team that could go out to the track together! She was not the first person to mention this idea to me so I am going to see what I can do to get more schools involved as a team to get more kids out to the track. We are going to do an event real soon for this school since there was so much interest. I look forward to sharing the details with you once I have more information.

If you want more information about Samsula Academy please visit their website.

www.readingedgeacademy.org

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Friday, January 31, 2014

01.28.14 #BMXinSchool Samsula Academy

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