Week 2 - William Gates - Cycling/HWC

Cycling week 2
My second week working with cycling was very exciting! I was given the duty to do a bicycle safety presentation at the Campbellsville Wal-Mart. While I was there at Wal-Mart, there was a table set up with helmets, elbow pads, brochures for children, and a free raffle. I brought a bike and my racing helmet for viewing purposes. Some of the demonstrations that I did included proper helmet fitting and pointing out certain features of the bike that a child and parent should be cautious about. It was a very rewarding experience to share my cycling knowledge with kids and parents.
But wait, there is MORE! I had to go to Mackville for a second bicycle safety presentation. This time it was in front of about 140 5th grade students from three different schools in the area. I did the presentation with Lindsey Wilson Alumni and former USA Cycling Collegiate Dual Slalom National Champion, Cody Stagner. It was a very great and rewarding experience because it helped me get over some of my personal fears of rejection while being in front of a group of people. There were times when some of the children would get out of hand, so I had to use my ‘big boy voice’ and get their attention, which also presents a fear of mine – being known as the ‘bad/mean person’. However, all of the kids seemed to enjoy the presentation that included safety tips, proper helmet fitting, a question and answer segment, and a bicycle stunt demonstration.
Besides doing the bicycle safety presentations, I have continued working on one of my projects which is the compilation of points for every student-athlete that has worn and raced in a Lindsey Wilson jersey. I have developed a good relationship with Ruth over at Plant because I had to get a Lindsey Wilson vehicle on each of the days that I had to do presentations. I have also been learning about recruiting and how to gain interest of potential students, along with how to correspond to them in terms of talking about scholarship money, admissions, among other things. I have been developing a professional relationship with some prospective student-athletes from across the world. Some of them are from France, Australia, South Africa, and all across the United States. I’ve been also gathering some additional information regarding my special project – the videos. So, week 2 was definitely a success!

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HWC week 2
Week two was the final week for preparations for the Flab2Fab fitness challenge. I had to finalize the participant parameters, schedules, sign-up sheets, and answer numerous questions regarding the program. One of the issues that I have run into and has constantly bothered me is that due to time constraints (of my own – doing two internships) is the fact that we can only accept 16 people into the program. The number of people that have signed up was in the 30s. I really wish I could help everyone that has signed up, but I have to get over it and strive to make the program as successful as I possibly can.
I also started dealing with some of the major programming aspects of the Couch-2-5K training program and dealing with programming the 5K event, too. Which has led to more time constraint issues since the Flab2Fab program will end up taking near 20 hours in itself, but I will work over those 20 hours if necessary to make sure that the programs is properly planned and successful.
In terms of dealing with the programming of the Flab2Fab challenge, one of the constraints that I came up with included how to choose the eight teams of two – sixteen people total. I chatted with Joel about it several times and the conclusion that was made was that the six teams that have the highest percentage of weight lost would be selected. Those six teams would then vote on a seventh team to be chosen. O’Shaughnessy, Joel, and myself would pick the final team. From there, those eight teams will have seven more weeks under my jurisdiction until the final weight-in on July 26, 2011.
It has been a great week and I am ready for week three and the challenges it will bring!