May I see some I.D.?

I've been getting the question a lot lately about what we do during the summertime as bobsled athletes. I think the common misconception is that we just sit around and relax all through the hot summer months and attend parties and take vacations.

Well, that's half true. But the other half is where the real work comes into play.

Throughout the summer we have some incredible plans and goals as a team. Of course we have the general goals of increasing our strength and speed for our pushing abilities, but we also have some specific plans as well. A few of us are going to be working with TOSH at the Utah Olympic Oval to better perfect our sprinting technique. This is going to be a blast to work with the TOSH crew and we'll be sure to post some pictures of it.

We are also planning a trip to Calgary in July to do some practicing at the Ice House, a facility built next to the bobsled track where teams can go and practice their push and loads. I can't decide if this will be more work or more play. Probably a good combination of both, so we'll be sure to have some fun posts about this as well.

Another plan involves heading to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs sometime in either June or August. I'm not sure who all will be going on this one, but it is going to be an incredible opportunity to work with some of the trainers and nutritionists out there at the Center.

As you can see, there will be plenty to do during the off-season, including all our regular working out and sprint training. Plus the norms of life such as careers, social lives, other hobbies, etc.

So where does the title of this post come in to play?

Most of the time when you go to pay for something with anything other than cash, you get asked the question "May I see some I.D.?" Well, what most people don't know about bobsledding is that it is the second most expensive sport in the Olympics, second only to Equestrian. And contrary to popular belief, as athletes we pay for a lot of our training, travel, and equipment needs out of our own pockets.

So a huge overall goal of ours this summer is to actively seek out and gain sponsorships and donations to help defray the costs of our summer training as well as the immense financial burden of next season.

We are currently working to set ourselves up as a non-profit organization, but are running into huge cost estimates to do so, so if any of you blog readers have any experience with setting up a non-profit group, please let us know.

Also, if you know of any companies interested in helping an incredibly talented team as they prepare for the Olympics, please send them the following link and have them contact us to discuss further options: http://www.teamholmbobsled.com/Pages/donating.html