About Us - DirtCraft

Our Vision

Enable individuals to grow their potential in MTB while developing skills and experiences that are transferable to other areas of life.

Mission Statement

Crafting cool kids
into capable people.

Our Values

DirtCraft prioritizes fostering well-rounded individuals by integrating core values into their mountain biking programs.

The progressing of these values are underpinned with two-way enjoyment, teamwork and respect.

We acknowledge that family values may differ and encourage open communication to ensure the best coaching approach for each child.

These values include:

Integrity

Honesty and goal setting. We believe in leading by example and demonstrating integrity by embodying all the values we teach.

Independence

Honesty and goal setting. We believe in leading by example and demonstrating integrity by embodying all the values we teach.

Courage

Riders process calculated risk-reward decision with appropriate confidence.

Accountability

Riders take responsibility for their actions and learn from their mistakes. Riders are comfortable to make mistakes.

Growth Mindset

Viewing challenges as opportunities for development. Riders accept no one is perfect, and approach challenge with a framework to improve themselves.

Resilience

The ability to navigate adversity, uncertainty, pressure, change and fear while upholding their own values, but adapting to change as they grow into themselves.

Self-Awareness

Stepping outside comfort zones and reflecting on strengths and weaknesses. For example, MTB trips push individuals to the extreme, teamwork, race pressures, logistical pressures and often tired individuals. It brings out true colours of the individual to enable them to reflect on who they are and how they fit into the world.

Grit

Dedication and perseverance towards achieving goals. The world is a tough place, and we see hiding this as a disservice to young people. We introduce it in an age-appropriate manner throughout high school.

Service

A capable person can identify a need for service and put steps in place to help resolve the issue. In DirtCraft there is organic service already occurring, fundraising events an opportunity, working bees and event volunteering. We are focused on expanding service opportunities and looking to event tie this in with employment and even career opportunities.

By instilling these values alongside mountain biking skills, DirtCraft aims to develop capable young people better prepared for life’s challenges. This is ingrained in all our services but primarily focused on in our Development Squad.

Our Goals

Grow individual competence in the sport.
Enable transfer of the skills, experiences and confidence into life.
Complete this process in an enjoyable and supported environment.

Our Origin

As a teenager, the future DirtCraft founder, Tristan Haycock always pondered why so many promising young athletes dropped out of competitive sport.

On his journey, Tristan achieved some outstanding successes including:

– Placing 1st and 2nd in the 2016 & 2017 Endurance World Champs U23 + 3rd place Eliminator Oceania Champs 2016 & 13th Place 2019 BC Bike Race.

Tristan went on to complete a Bachelors Degree in Sport & Rereation, Cycling NZ Coach accreditation, UCI Level 2 Coach, UCI Level 1 Mechanic all prior to reaching his 20s.

Since then Tristan has consolidated the delivery programmes of DirtCraft, sunk his teeth into Directing a number of events at all scales and recently completed his Pre Hospital Emergency Care Qualification (PHEC) along with the Cycling NZ Commissaire Course (theory).

As Tristan transitioned from teen to young adult, he began to learn and understand, the dropout in sport was a result of many different angles, changing priorities, financial and career pressures, lack of life skills and maintaining a sustainable approach to ones health.

This really helped to shape the foundations of DirtSkill.

Themes like:

Focusing on ones own controllables.

Time management, independence & ownership.

Consistency + joy for the sport.

Encouraging the the itenfication and ability to transfer skills to other areas of life.

How we operate

Please communicate how your family values and philosophies differ to DirtCraft.

All values and operating procedures are delivered in an age-appropriate manner.

We’ve learnt to develop a great athlete; you need to develop a great person. This is why we take the holistic approach. It also means that riders have a lot of skills and experience that they can take beyond the sport into other areas of life, education, work and family.

Coaching Style

Coaching Style – Our coaches use a “guided discovery” approach, empowering riders to learn problem-solving skills through exploration and experimentation, but step in when the going gets tough or is high risk consequences. We aim to facilitate an environment where individuals can experience and learn from adversity without trauma.

Communication & Trust

Communication & Trust – Clear, honest and frequent communication between athlete, parents, coach and remainder of tight team (other coaches, sponsors, mentors) so that all parties are informed.

Sustainable & Consistent

The athlete development process is done in an enjoyable and sustainable way. This requires a healthy balance of fun, consistency and discipline throughout the process.

Safety

DirtCraft operates to the national standard as set out by WorkSafe and is Adventure mark accredited ensuring our practices are safe. We have Child Protection, Interaction Policy along with Health & Safety policies that are publicly viewable.

Loyalty

DirtCraft requires transparent and timely communication in scenarios where opportunities arise that may alter coach parent/athlete relationship. DirtCraft riders are expected to uphold DirtCraft values to the best of their ability.

Controllables

Any person has control over three things, what they think, what they do and how they do it.
Learning in the extremes – The extremes are where you can learn the most about yourself because there is less room to hide from who you are. This might be committing to training for a big race, completing a long ride, or digging deep in the last lap of an XC race. The more extreme the environment, the clearer the learning

Fast learning loop

A capable person can read a situation they are experiencing/have experienced through a lens of the wider lessons available. This can shape their philosophy of the world and then be easily applied to other situations in their life in a timely fashion.