About Us

iCAN Junior Triathlon Club Brochure

Mission Statement

Teaching youth fundamental life principles through the sport of Triathlon.

Vision Statement

iCAN Junior Triathlon Club will inspire and empower youth of all backgrounds and abilities, helping participants embrace an “I CAN” attitude throughout their lives. Promoting the “iCAN” core life principles of confidence, patience and determination, while developing goal setting skills in a team environment will foster academic growth, increase leadership and promote adherence to a healthier lifestyle by participants.

Organization

iCAN Junior Triathlon Club is a 501c.3., Community Benefit Organization that relies upon charitable donations, corporate sponsorship and grants to support and advance our Mission and Vision.

iCAN Junior Triathlon Club

iCAN Junior Triathlon Club is a fun, friendly and exciting place where young people between the ages of 7 and 19 can come together and participate in a variety of activities and programs designed to foster academic growth, increase leadership skills and promote adherence to healthy lifestyles.  The triathlon is the platform we use for character development, training, teaching and encouraging youth to develop an "I CAN" attitude coupled with confidence, patience and determination which are the cornerstones to life's successes. 

 

Todd Waldner
Director and Lead Coach

With over 24 years of training and racing experience Todd Waldner, “Coach Todd” is a long-time participant in Triathlons throughout the US. As the Central Valley’s first USAT Level II Certified Triathlon Coaches, Coach Todd has the experience and knowledge to communicate with youth of all ages and abilities. He puts great emphasis on training fundamentals and is highly skilled in his ability to motivate his athletes to achieve their best. He is passionate about coaching the youth and constantly encourages and supports each athlete’s individual goals. With his long standing involvement in the field of motivation, personal and sports nutrition, Coach Todd brings all the necessary training components together to develop educated, confident and highly motivated triathletes.

Coaching Philosophy

So much of what a child chooses to believe about their self determines their life results. Whether faced with an athletic, academic, social or spiritual challenge, success starts with employing the correct choices and attitude. This is why we teach and encourage the "I CAN" attitude. An "I CAN" belief system coupled with confidence, patience and determination will enable a child to plant their flag on the summit of any mountain in life. All of life’s accomplishments are a result of an "I CAN" attitude.

The iCAN Junior Triathlon Club is much more than an athletic endeavor. It is membership into a group that reinforces fundamental and essential life skills: Confidence, Patience and Determination. These cornerstones of character will support a child in all facets of their lives.

Most athletic, academic and social endeavors, even at very elementary stages, focus on winning and comparison. Individual results are compared to others. This can be very discouraging and in many instances, disqualify kids who would normally try something new. In many traditional team sports a child knows that there is only one position available to each player. Some kids invest a lot of time, effort and energy in practice and their only reward is sitting because another child is deemed better. This makes it extremely competitive to get participation time. Not every child has the same athletic or academic abilities and they come in all shapes and sizes. In many cases athletic and academic abilities change as kids mature. The iCAN approach takes the focus off comparison and puts the focus on the individual. What are the individual goals and what does the individual want to accomplish? In many sports, there is a clear delineation between the kids who are winners, and the kids who are not. As our kids get older, many kids get the message, “I CAN’T”. Failure in any undertaking in a child’s life has a way of creeping into a child’s overall view of themselves. "I CAN’T" is a seed that plants itself and tugs at our kids as students, as decision makers, as participants, as friends, and as leaders.

Triathlon is the "equal opportunity" sport. Just as in life, you get out of it exactly what you invest into it. Your goals and results should be individualized and not compared to the group. Kids who are focused on race statistics and analyze other competitors can establish this mind-set in the context of individual goal setting. In other words, performance is relative to the child’s goals and simply finishing can be an overwhelming achievement.

"It is not where you finish but how you finish". We encourage kids to look at specific parts of their own performance and allow them to set new goals for improvement. Every child that embraces the iCAN attitude will be an individual winner.

Triathlon provides the vehicle through which we can begin to influence and reshape a child’s attitude of "I CAN" and at the same time imbue our kids with the fundamental building blocks of confidence, patience and determination. Is doing a triathlon nuts? Sort of. But that’s the beauty of it. The races we train for are designed specifically for a child’s age and ability. The overwhelming experience, excitement and energy of just completing your first triathlon is in itself one of the most rewarding experiences that any child will ever experience. The weeks of training leading up to the event and then the culmination of race day experience is incredible to say the least. I have seen the faces of these young athletes as they cross the finish line and witness the changes that influence their lives. The sheer fact of participating in a triathlon is success. The iCAN philosophy of triathlon is that your child gets to define “winning” as an individual. Maybe winning is swimming one pool length. Maybe winning is running without stopping for two laps. Maybe winning is getting up on the podium at the end of a race.  Kids of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities have a safe, encouraging and uplifting environment to reach their goals. While the disciplines of swimming, biking and running are individual and require individual commitment, the training is accomplished in a team setting.

Parents of the iCAN Junior Triathlon Team will tell you that watching your child cross the finish line with his teammates and coach cheering him along, is the best kind of soul food. Then your child looks at you and says, “I did it!” What an accomplishment.

Training

Training programs are developed based on the individual athlete’s chronological and developmental age, demonstrated skill level, perceived training level, abilities and goals. The coaches work with the athletes collectively and individually.  Triathlons are selected that fit individual triathletes or each training Session so each athlete can participate and experience the excitement, enthusiasm and energy of race day. Coaches pay very close attention to what motivates each athlete individually and they use this to the athlete's advantage. Coaches focus on skills and the fundamentals of training, equipment and nutrition.   They put great emphasis on the fundamentals and sport specific training drills for swimming, cycling and running. Our passion is coaching youth and we are constantly encouraging and supporting each young athlete’s progress. We have a keen sense of identifying a child’s motivation and athletic level.

Athletes are put into groups that match their skill level, ability and developmental age. It is not unusual to see a swimming lane with youth of different ages. If they’re equally skilled, they will swim together. Similarly, athletes are broken into groups for running and cycling. The effect is that they complete workouts that are attainable and give them each a sense of personal accomplishment. The athletes “feed off of each other and create a very unique kind of synergy during their training time.”