Posted: Wednesday, 3rd March, 2010 : 9:23 AM - - 2,674 Reads

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This year to date the club has trained 60+ new riders through the kickstart program. With a warm day expected the club set up camp out the front of the MX Canteen. With sign on finished nice and early they were able to get the bulk of the theory component of the course finished by 9.30 with the first group of riders on the track at 9.45.

This course was focussed at the younger kids – basically 50’s 65,s and small trail bikes. The youngest rider had only just turned 4 with a number of riders having less than a couple of weeks riding experience.

The job of presenting the theory component of the course was split amongst the coaches and our demonstration riders. The club actively encourages our younger demonstration riders to get involved in presenting certain components of the theory. All presenters spoke confidently to their chosen subject matter and were able to relate just as well to the 4 year old students as they were to the parents.

The riders were split up into two groups with the younger group heading up to the junior rider training area at dirt track with the larger bikes spending the morning on the motorcross track.

The biggest test for our demonstration riders came at lunch time when they were forced to make the decision of eating “healthy” in front of the students or sneaking out the back and having “Mcdonalds”. The decision was unanimous, with 20 Mcdonalds burgers gone within about 5 minutes.

Their decision was surprising, considering that Nick Ahern from Ahern fitness was at the track talking about the benefits of exercise and healthy eating !

With lunch finished, Gary Dawson led the group of 24 students through the theory test, everyone passed.

The riders then split up into their groups to spend the rest of the afternoon fine tuning their confidence in ruts and improving their jumping.

The weekends activities concluded with a formal presentation where the kids were presented with their certificates, test results and some special prizes. We were lucky enough to have Axle Motorcycles providing us with some motul products to give away and Gary Reid from Showtime FMX providing us with heap’s of DVD’s, Lanyards, Drink Bottles and stickers.

The quote of the day came from one of the mums who commented on how sweet and caring young Luke (Schlizio) and Kyle were. I’m not sure that was the image they were hoping for !

The ATMCC in conjunction with a number of the Central West and Riverina clubs is in the process of organising a course to train up more coaches. With rider numbers at the Kickstart Courses continuing to grow the club would love to hear from both current riders and parents of riders who would be interested in getting involved.

The club is tentatively trying to get a course organised for May/June this year.

With on-going support from local business, the club hopes to be able to continue to promote ongoing rider education equally as much to those kids that want to be the next “Chad Reed” or to those kids who just want to ride safely and have fun with their mates.

The ACTMCC extended a special thanks to the following people who helped out
Course Sponsors Axle Motorcycles and Showtime FMX.
Coaches Gary Dawson, Rod Maley, Pat Pither and Kyle Anderson

Demo Riders Troy Tasker, Brad Stoddard, Ben Kelly, Michael Dawson, Luke Maley, Kye Ahern Luke Schlizio. (and Connie for helping at sign on !)

If you would like to get involved or want to know more about the Kickstart Training contact Rod Maley on 0419 271 241 or Paul Bink on 0430 500441

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