Originally Posted by
queerpunk
****'s expensive, man! USAC isn't government-funded like all the other national programs. It runs on sponsorship, race fees, and outside money.
There has been a long-term program in place for about four years, which is nice. There's a respectable Olympic program right now (which is to say, a team that is developed, coached, supported, and sent to world cups). What they're trying to do with this new youth structure is make sure that the Olympic program keeps getting fed. They're taking steps in the right direction, and I think it's worth it to let them and not gripe about where they're starting from.
That's fair...but as Shakespeare put it, "What's past is prologue."
Identifying athletes isn't that hard...even 15 year olds. They key is to not wait for them to discover the niche of track cycling within the niche of cycling. Go to Track and Field and it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel finding talent. The USA has probably the best track and field grass roots development programs in the world. Those kids have been training their legs and lungs since like age 8. The talented have
already been identified.
For the athletes on the US National Team, working to pay bills while putting in the necessary training is the hard part. There are countless stories of US household-name trackies that were already world class that quit because they can't pay adult bills. Bobby Lea gave an interview about it.
I'll rejoice when I see the press release that states the actual salaries and contract lengths that will be paid to those on the team.