The program is focused on helping young athletes build life skills through the sport of cycling. GS Andiamo strives to help young riders use bikes to explore their world and develop their own identity in sport.
We had the opportunity to connect with Sean Wilson, team manager, and a head coach for GS Andiamo, and ask about their goals, story, team values, and kit!
Story
GS Andiamo was founded in 2015 after coaches, Sean and Rachael, along with dedicated parents decided to provide new opportunities for riders to connect with one another in meaningful ways within their local communities while reducing barriers to sport. The program was crucial as there are only a handful of locally driven avenues for junior cyclists to progress in Southern California.
While the club initially had several chapters in the region with its own local riders, the club built a larger cycling clubhouse in Redlands, California. This hub has provided unique cycling opportunities to a diverse array of local young riders. Two key components to the program were to provide a bicycle library loan program for the athletes along with high-quality coach-led programs. The bike loan program has helped many athletes and families overcome economic barriers in the sport associated with having to obtain new bicycles as the athletes grow or purchase additional bicycles as they explore various disciplines. Many of the bicycles in the club fleet are donated by members of the cycling community. These bikes are refurbished and maintained by young athletes who are in our mechanics apprenticeship program.
Since our beginnings as a community youth cycling club, we have gone on to establish Team California Juniors in collaboration with the Fast Freddie Foundation for the most driven athletes. This performance-oriented junior racing team now serves as a pathway for riders to continue racing in college and join the U25 Team California program that is a USA Cycling Developmental Elite Team.
Team culture and values
Gruppo Sportivo (GS) Andiamo is a nonprofit cycling club that builds the next generation, teaching young riders and their parents to be safe and effective cyclists, all while making rides fun and rewarding. The members of Gruppo Sportivo Andiamo, an Italian phrase meaning “Sporting Group let’s go,” are passionate about cycling, athletics, and sportsmanship. For more information, check out their website, here: http://www.gsandiamo.com
Goals
GS Andiamo is built to develop young riders into engaged citizens who value sportsmanship and enjoy riding bikes- racing and competition are second to this. What is most important are the meaningful ways that goal setting, collaboration, mentorship, and teamwork build athletes who feel strong and empowered.
Several club members go on to race while others do not, but above all else, riding is for fun! GS Andiamo club members, racers, or otherwise, are known for being excellent bike handlers, having a positive attitude, being inclusive, and kind to each other, which is refreshing in the sometimes overly competitive world of cycling.
Kit
GS Andiamo has various colored striped jerseys that are modeled after the “vintage” Atala striped jersey. The jerseys are kept sponsor free to represent the investment of the club into their juniors rather than the profitzation of the sport or the distraction of sponsorship obligations at the youth level. Instead, the club wants to ensure that new cyclists are focused on having fun, being a good sport and team member, and riding safely more so than shouting out products or companies.
The club does have donors and sponsors, we just have expressed our priorities to our sponsors, and they understand that we give them visibility in other ways. Also, the stripes make our racers easy to find when riding in the pack. The Team California moniker is built around the same ideal of being sponsor independent. At the point that junior athletes are accepted into the Team California Juniors program, they are expected to be ambassadors for the sport, are given opportunities to interact with the U25 program, and receive training on how to properly engage and represent team sponsors.
If you are interested in helping clubs like GSA grow the sport of cycling, please consider donating to the USA Cycling Foundation's Center of Excellence: DONATE HERE
Photos Courtesy: GSA
