How Alums Can Help

Buggy is hard. Once you get a fast buggy built (or bought), a team needs to find someone 5’0” or shorter to drive fearlessly and a mechanic or two to make the wheels go lightening fast, and FIVE pushers to race. And those pushers need to have great form, technique and synergy with that buggy in order to win. That’s a tall order (especially for the driver, because… y’know… 5’0” is short).

We asked the chairmen what we as alum could do to help in the area. Here’s what they said:

COME TO FREE ROLLS

"It is always nice to have alum come out to rolls to support the team. Especially when it comes to the pushers. Being in the backhills can lonely task can become quite boring. Having some fresh faces come in to visit, bring food and hang out would definitely liven things up. It also shows that the pushers were invested all year long, not just come Raceday. "

GIVE TIPS/TRICKS/TECHNIQUES

"I think advice is always useful. Now, whether or not we decide to take the advice is a completely different story. However, I think as we want to improve year after year, we have to look back. We need to ask the people before us for what worked and what didn't. We need to take everything that did work and put that into something that will work for our current team. But, the caveat is that the alum should avoid being preachy. Offer suggestions, not demands. "

SEND US EMAILS, RESPOND TO FACEBOOK POSTS OR TELL US A BETTER WAY TO CONNECT WITH YOU

"Communication and transparency are key. I want for there to be a way for anyone from the team to contact the entire sector of the pushers. Right now it seems difficult to contact people except for a choice few that make themselves available and known to the world. I don't know if we should offer another forum, they are not invested anymore or "just waiting to be reached out to". Send us an email (spiritracingsystems@gmail.com), send us your email, comment on our insta (@spiritracingsystems), or put a note in the SRS alum group. If there’s a better way to reach you let us know! "

GIVE PUSHER HISTORY

"I think as a team something that we haven't spoken about in a long time is just our history. I feel like there is this really big disconnect between the current team and the teams of the past. Even those during the dark ages. Something that helped me understand more and more why in high school my Science Olympiad team did well was because we felt an urge to upkeep a tradition. We won states for X-many years in the past and we heard all about all the funny stories and what not that the teams in the past. So i think this is a very close parallel here, with increased pusher history and understanding how we ended up where we are now, we can find ways to perfect our pusher routine/regime/recruitment. The whole nine yards. "

Just get involved

"We are all a team. [Alums] were once in my shoes as a general member pushing buggies, or being mechanics or flagging. God forbid for another team. There feels to be a pretty big disconnect from the current team and any alum outside of those who have graduated a year or two ago. So please come back (in person or virtually) and make your face known other than just at carnival. "