Magic Valley Composite High School Mountain Biking Team

State mountain biking championships at Bogus Basin for 2021. the rains brought in some almost perfect riding conditions that many like to refer to as Hero dirt and the temps were a mountain bikers dream condition unless you chose to over dress for the occasion as a racer. Some used hand warmers inside the gloves, some used the toe warmers and others the sandwich bag trick inside the shoes to keep the toes dry and warm and others just said its race day and raced. Congratulations to Magic Valley composite and Twin Falls High School teams for a great effort. I was able to hear from some of the team members that talked highly about the amazing course that provided for steep climbs and a fast downhill which should only be expected for the state championship race. Each of you showed up at the start line and conquered the mountain and gained a ton of confidence for future rides and for life in general knowing that you are learning to do difficult things. Congrats to the seniors and wishing each of you the best for what the future holds for each of you. Congratulations to our newest state champion, Libby Traveller. A big thank you to our coaches that see your potential to do difficult and challenging things and then coach with high expectations for each of you to give yourselves your maximum effort for your team. Lifes lessons being learned while building character on a bike and having fun doing it at the same time. A big thank you to parents that allow the coaches to have high expectations for your kids and to help them dig deep to realize just what they can accomplish. These lessons will take them far in all aspects of life. And to the kids, thank you for showing up and being respectful, full of excitement for the challenge, and giving that challenge your best effort!!

State Championship today at Bogus Basin! Cold weather but warm smiles all around!

Pocatello Crazy Train 2021. The kids showed up today to race and represented the Magic Valley very well. Congratulations to the kids, the Parents, the coaches.

I promised myself years ago, every time I saw this I would re-post. Rings true EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.... Here goes!!!

Most people won't take the time to read this all the way to the end. I hope that you will. 👇

17 INCHES" - you will not regret reading this an excellent article to read from beginning to end. Twenty years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA's convention.

While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh, man, worth every penny of my airfare.”

Who is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter; I was just happy to be there.

In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate.

Seriously, I wondered, who is this guy? After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage. Then, finally …

“You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”

Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?”

After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”, more of a question than answer.

“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause.

“Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.
“That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”

“Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident.
“You’re right!” Scolinos barked. “And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?”

“Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison.
“Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?”............“Seventeen inches!”

“RIGHT! And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues? “Seventeen inches!”

“SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?” Pause. “They send him to Pocatello !” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter. “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'”

Pause. “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? or when our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him? Do we widen home plate? "

The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline.
We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!”

Pause. Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag. “This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?”

Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross. “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves! And we allow it.”

“And the same is true with our government. Our so-called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss while we just watch.”

I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curve balls and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable.
From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.

“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: "If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools & churches & our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”

With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside, “…We have dark days ahead!.”

Note: Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including mine. Meeting him at my first ABCA convention kept me returning year after year, looking for similar wisdom and inspiration from other coaches. He is the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches."

And this my friends is what our country has become and what is wrong with it today, and now go out there and fix it!

"Don't widen the plate."

While we all ride different levels of bikes the distance at races is the same for every participant in the various categories. Proper preparation requires a genuine effort to to be ready for that challenge. Congrats on a great effort at the Pocy race. As a team we are learning much more than just racing. I am enjoying watching your preparation with your bikes, your individual practice routines, nutrition, etc. Life skills are being learned and it's very rewarding to watch it all unfold.

Race day in Pocy

Magic Valley Composite and Twin Falls Teams putting on their own race at Magic during our bye week. Thank You coaches and parents for helping make this a fun event

Had an amazing practice tonight at Magic Mountain. Course was set up, crossing volunteers present and the riders that made the effort to be at practice came away better for being there.
Congrats on the girls night out and the positive report.
This team is alive and well with some real life attitude.

Brundage 2021

Grand Targhee 2021

Magic Mania 2021

I have pictures from first two races and working to get them posted. 200 plus from the first race.

How do you prepare for a hot weather practice?

Please remember to bring plenty of water AND electrolyte replacement (gel, blocks, drink, etc - no caffeine). We will be at Magic Mountain tonight.

MV and TFHS Composite MTB Summer Practices

Hi team and families! Please see the linked survey on Google Forms regarding Thursday practices and respond no later than 1:00 PM on TUESDAY 7/13. Thanks!

https://forms.gle/86KojtRcWxLztbjW9

MV and TFHS Composite MTB Summer Practices PLEASE RESPOND BY 1:00 PM TUESDAY JULY 13 We are evaluating options for summer practices, and would like to gauge interest/availability for early morning practices once a week. Given the heat of the afternoon, family conflicts, etc. we are curious if this may help us hold more effective practices. U...

Magic Valley Composite High School Mountain Biking Team

Did you get out and ride as part of the Magic Valley Open July 1-5? If so, please head over to TeamSnap and post your TOTAL miles - dont worry about a screenshot, just get miles posted by midnight tonight! If you are having trouble posting, send a TeamSnap or Facebook message with rider name and total miles!

Magic Valley Composite High School Mountain Biking Team Now in our seventh season for high school mountain biking in the Magic Valley. We are a composite team made up of youth from area schools.

First practice is Tuesday, July 6th at Magic Mountain. Be ready to practice at 7 pm. We will be done by 8:30.

MAGIC VALLEY COMPOSITE OPEN RIDE JULY 1-5. Get out and ride your mountain bike anywhere between July 1-5, keep track of your ride on your favorite app and post your ride results. Riders with the most miles logged will win awesome prizes.

Skills Clinic this Thursday - Passing off skills will determine your practice groups. Also last chance for KIT (aka uniform) fittings.

Our 1st Pre-Season Activity - Bike Inspection is tonight at South Hills Middle School-check TeamSnap for details. Our local bike shops will look over your bike and make recommendations for repairs/maintenance that needs to be completed. They will NOT be doing on-site repair work.

Please make sure you are practice ready in the PitZone. We look forward to seeing you tonight!

Congratulations to the TFHS BPA team! They brought home some hardware from the State competition! Congratulations to:

Stephanie Case: 4th in Fundamental Accounting
Jeremy Case: 1st in Advanced Interview Skills & 3rd in Database Applications
Gabe Zavala: 1st in Fundamental Accounting
Trevor Walter, Mason Ward, Colton Ward, Jacob Stevens: 1st in Video Production Team
Trevor Walter: 6th in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications
Jacob Stevens: 1st in Personal Financial Management
Kenadee Egbert: 1st in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications
Nathan Jones: 10th in Advanced Spreadsheets Applications
Scarlet Rulien: 2nd in Digital Media Production
Jordan Lookingbill: 2nd in Advanced Accounting & 7th in Payroll Accounting
Andrea Maccabee: 2nd in Interview Skills
Alayna Geddes: 4th in Advanced Accounting & 5th in Payroll Accounting
Lexanna Rasmussen: 2nd in Payroll Accounting
Carson Hazen: 5th in Advanced Accounting

Not pictured
Lily Larson: 6th Interview Skills
Abigail Peterson: 6th Presentation Mgt-Individual

Congratulations to Kimberly High School students Carson Stanger, Andrew Tilton, Brayden Derricott and Chase Tilton on their successful presentation to KHS Student Council. These Magic Valley riders were able to create a formally recognized mountain bike club for Kimberly students! All of these students will continue to ride under the Magic Valley Composite jersey. Also, a special welcome to their new Faculty Advisor, Mr. Luke Schroeder.

If your school would like to create a formal club on campus, please reach out to us!

Congratulations Ethan!!!

Pre-Season activities have been posted in Teamsnap. Please set availability for these events in the app so we can plan for the correct number of riders/coaches for each event.
*MUST BE PRACTICE READY IN PIT ZONE*