WEC and team stuff

["Steph Teeter" <steph@endurance.net>]

 >>If all the comments made by riders is correct about the last 2 World
Championships, someone explain to me why the same Chef d'equip was
reelected>>

A couple reasons:

1) it is not exactly a job that people are clamoring for. I think only
two people wanted it for the 2000 WEC.

2) if you judge the Chef's success by the event's success, then the
1998 Chef was good: Individual Gold and Team Silver. Not bad. And
4 out of 6 horses finished. The Chef must work with the horses that
the selection committee selects, and the selection committee can only
select from horse/riders that nominate and complete their demonstration
ride. The pool for International is not huge - either from the horse/rider
perspective  or the volunteer/staff perspective.

IMO the 98 and 00 Chef did a very good job with the organizational
details of the events. There is support and organization from USET
that must also be figured into the recipe - sometimes the Chef and
USET were at odds with exactly what their respective jobs were.
All in all we were well informed, and very well supported.
I do however think there are a few things that could be better -

Statistics - maybe it is just because I was not a team member, and
not a front runner, but I never knew what place I was in. My crew
asked often, but never got an answer. This is information
that should be more readily available.

Team spirit and moral and PR - I think we could use an individual who's
job is to rally the riders - instill a spirit of teamwork, make sure
we present a unified front, make sure we 'look' good and are obviously
proud of being the US team (the Brazilians were inspirational in
this respect - they always had on their team shirts, and were usually
together). The traditional US Chef's mode has been to pretty much
trust the riders to do their own thing, the right thing, and stay out
of their way. The US riders are typically competent and individualistic,
obtaining their level of accomplishment through their own efforts -
ie not exactly 'coachable'.

It would take a rare individual to be able to coach and unify the US
riders -  and maybe this person should be hired as the team 'coach' - rather
than the Chef d'Equipe. In France our Chef was constantly busy with
organizational details - and somebody needs to focus on this. Maybe
it's too much to ask this person to also be there for the riders 100%.
Let's put our heads together and come up with some positive solutions.

I just looked up the location of the 2002 WEC - it is in Jerez, Spain.
The southern tip of spain, in the region of Andalucia (as in Andalusian
horses!). I'm definitely planning on being there, with or without a horse.
I strongly encourage you folks to attend - these events are a gas. Lots
of fun, new people to meet, a certain amount of pride in being there,
and a great way to see a new country. All of the folks I talked to who
volunteered in France had a wonderful time.  Riding at the Int'l level
is not for everybody, and probably only for relatively few - it demands a
lot
of time, and a fair amount of money, and is pretty darn stressful. But
just being involved in the whole effort is fun and rewarding. Plenty
of jobs for all types. And it is STILL endurance - still a collection of
the most beautiful horses you'll ever find. And still a big party :)

Steph



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