Call to Action 2013

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard of The Triathlon Squad before. That’s because in the past two years, The Triathlon Squad has established itself as the premier high performance training environment in North America.

We’ve been very successful these past couple of years. We, the athletes and I, were able to create a fantastic training environment, which was the basis for the good level of results achieved. Each and every one of the athletes in the Squad developed at what I consider an excellent rate by high performance standards.

For this Call to Action, we’re looking for new athletes that are ready to step-up their commitment to being excellent. We’re looking for two kinds of athletes:
- Those who want to represent their country at the Olympic Games.
- Those who want to win an Ironman.

We’re looking for a minimum commitment of two years. I consider 2 years as the minimum time for both athlete and coach to have a clear picture of where they are and what can be achieved. The Squad is an “all-in” endeavor. The athletes are all-in and I am all-in. Everything we do in the Squad is performance-oriented. Every action, every decision, we ask “how is this helping us win?”

The Squad is based on commitment. My commitment to offer world-class coaching, and the athletes’ commitment to achieve their world-class goals. Words like commitment are nice words, words that you can find in any self-help book. But few of us realize what they really mean because few of us have an idea of what commitment really means. In a society where everything is served to us on a platter, everyone has an increasing difficulty in understanding the real meaning of commitment. And that means that few of us have what it takes. How do you know if you have what it takes? It is quite simple: You go through the process. You put the work in. You commit. And the product of your commitment will answer the question.

The core values of the Squad are:
- Commitment to excellence, fair play and clean sport
- Integrity, loyalty and honesty
- Long-term approach to high performance
- Stability of methods and technical approaches

The Squad operates mainly in North America, with a permanent base in San Diego, CA. In addition to the work done at the Squad’s base, the Triathlon Squad will have training camps outside San Diego. Locations for training camps will not be decided by lifestyle considerations, but on what is the best training environment for the athletes to work. The Squad has distinguished itself for being an extremely flexible structure, totally focused on what is the best environment for the athletes, and will continue to work with that philosophy.

Selection for the Squad will be composed of two phases:
Phase 1 – Application to join the Squad (October 2012).
Phase 2 – Evaluation after attending a trial training camp (November 2012).

Applications for Phase 1 are open until October 26th, 2012. Just send an email to pstriathlon@gmail.com with your resume and a statement on your motivation to join the Squad. All athletes applying to the Squad will receive a reply, stating their acceptance or not into the Squad.

The athletes selected for Phase 2 will be announced before November 15th. Those athletes will attend a two-week training camp in San Diego, CA in November 2012. At the camp, the athletes will be evaluated as to their potential to be part of the Squad in 2013 and beyond.

If you have any questions regarding the Squad, please don’t hesitate to contact me at pstriathlon@gmail.com

Yours in Triathlon,

Paulo