Why The Change?
In 2016 I (Tristan) founded the Mountainbike Tauranga Youth Academy in my final year of Highschool with two objectives. 1. To formalise an organic network of information sharing from my experiences as an athlete to other young riders within Mountainbike Tauranga. 2. To make enough money to fund my racing travels until I was successful enough to be a professional rider. As you’ll learn the objectives went through huge change over the next few years leading up to now.
As I grew I found more and more purpose in coaching, until 2019 where it over took racing as the priority in my life. From here the Mountainbike Tauranga Youth Academy morphed into the Junior Development Process and grew rapidly. I could invest energy into the programmes and found huge fulfilment in my work. I found that empowering others to coach and share this journey also not only expanded the impact we could have but was also packed with healthy growth in itself. I had uncovered a great system to develop great riders and great leaders.
Here we are a few years later and things are changing again. Now we’re doing it properly. Towards the end of June we founded DirtCraft and utlised the winter to setup up the new company as best we could. I use ‘We’ terminology because it really is a team effort from the community to get DirtCraft off the ground. August 1st we launched our plans to the world and our website, registrations, merch and coaches are all to follow.
A few months prior to DirtCraft launching it was decided that the ‘Junior Development Process’ operation that had grown rapidly from 10 kids to over 250 in a few years was not suited to fit within the Mountainbike Tauranga umbrella. It was time to create a separate entity. We thank the club for fostering the growth of this platform until now. But from 2021 onwards we will be standing on our own feet. Something that is very daunting but exciting at the same time as the opportunities are endless. We will continue to maintain a mutually benefitable relationship with Mountainbike Tauranga as we boost their club memberships and in return gain access to the local trails for operations.
WHAT WE’VE LEARNT
There’s been plenty learnt so far, and plenty more still to come on our exciting journey as DirtCraft. Over the past 5 years we have developed the craft of coaching and empowered others with coaching opportunities. Thus having a larger reach with our sessions but also allowing genuine leadership and responsibility opportunities for our coaches. Our structure is developed from lessons over the passed five years as we’ve developed this platform. Tristan’s international experiences as an athlete, formal qualifications, networking and passion for the sport.
Our sessions are developed to have a great mixture of fun, learning, self development and connection, all in a safe environment for learning and progression. We’ve learnt what the kids want, we’ve learnt what the parents want, we’ve learnt every family is different, we’ve learnt how to provide an environment where the kids are comfortable to be themselves, try, fail, learn, connect. We’ve learnt how to encourage kids to enjoy each others company, face challenge and be inspired. We’ve learned the balance of fun and productivity, we’ve learnt when to be staunch, where to be dynamic. We’ve learnt that adults don’t want to miss out on skill learning. And most importantly we’ve learnt that there is so much more to learn! We invite you to join us on this learning journey. As you develop skills, fitness, confidence and experience, while we improve our services and our craft for the future
What to expect
So what does all this mean? I’ll break it down as simple as I can for you. We are including adult skills coaching and we are going to keep growing the Academy in the kids space. There will also be an expansion into the the events space, from everything to First Aid Courses, to races, mechanical courses and more. Have a look below for a quick overview. Or scan through the website for a more in-depth breakdown.
Private Coaching (Adults or Kids)
1:1 Coaching – Skill learning, Skill progression
Group Coaching – Skill learning, Skill progression
DirtCraft Academy
Skills – Skill Learning (we know how much you love the current Youth Academy)
Training – Physical group training and mental/physical individual training.
Experience – Holiday Programmes, Camps, Girls Programme, Race accessibility.
More
Merchandise – There is some sweet DIrtCraft swagger on the way.
Events – We have plenty of events planned in the pipeline.
Coaching – We want to empower others to pursue leadership and responsibility positions. Who knows where this could lead DirtCraft and these individuals in the future.