Team Name Change!!!!!!

[benbiggles]

Dear Team Synergy,

After much discussion with Cindy and others I have a proposition to put forward to you all and would welcome your thoughts and comments through this medium initially, and perhaps we can discuss it in more detail at our Winter (Xmas) Social, date still to be determined I believe. Anyhow here goes -

There has been much confusion over the last year with regard to our identity and our associations. This has been doubly so for me due to my relationships with Team Synergy, EMC and of course my primary business Vo2Multisport.

I feel more people recognize us as the EMC tri team than recognize us as Team Synergy. Perhaps this is in part due to the prominence of the EMC logo on our kit perhaps due to the fact that Cindy and I have been intrinsically linked to EMC (more likely a combination of both). Either way our new identity has not been established and this is something I want to change.

My proposal is that VO2Multisport Triathlon Team or simply VO2Multisport becomes the new team name!!! My reasons are as follows:

1. There is an increasingly large overlap between my clients and the team.
2. VO2Multisport (see logo prototypes attached) is a name we can get behind.
3. It will clear up a lot of confusion.
4. It means one team kit for both my coached athletes and team members
5. We grow which makes us more attractive to sponsors.
6. I can pass on all of my (currently unique to VO2 athletes) industry deals to everyone.
7. The team will not change in the way it is run (although it will perhaps get better).
8. I have already secured a financial commitment from several sponsors to help pay for team clothing for 2009 which will help subsidize new team kit.
9. With more members we more easily hit the minimum quantities imposed on us by apparel providers.
10. You have to agree the name VO2Multisport is pretty cool!

Please take a moment to post how you feel about this potential change -

[max]

Sounds fine by me - I have clothes that say teamsynergie and EMC so I am happy to change again.

[Deb Rubens]

Sounds good to me. :)

[lkinkade]

New uniform sounds great. Will it be possible to get short sleeve bike jerseys as well? Also can I be on the clothing approval committee?

[HansLund]

Anything with VO2 in the name has my support ;)

I vote for a mainly white shirt as I really suffer in the heat.

Bring on 2009!!!!

[Heidi]

My thoughts/questions:
positives - team grows (more sponsors), more team deals, financial support to offset cost of new clothing, the logo and name are cool.

negatives (sort of) - Third name in 3 years is still confusing, it will probably take a couple of seasons of a consistent name to clear up any confusion about who we are. Team kit and sweatshirt/tech tee relegated to the training drawer again (although, we learned a lot this year from the process which will help make the next round of ordering much better).

questions - Do you mean your coached athletes who are not currently on the team will be joining? How will that work as far as team fees, etc.? What is happening with EMC as a sponsor?

Overall, I think it's a fine idea.

[Ryan]

Change it.

I didn't win a single overall race, age group race, beat Heidi, and for that matter even wear the kit in a race. It was terrible luck for me and figure if I get a new jersey I might either win or at a minimum participate.

[Lee]

Does this mean we will finally be able to order 1 piece skinsuits?

[MikePritch]

i'm good with the name change. team purpose remains the same: facilitate group training, social, team deals, etc... and sounds like the Vo2 connection will add to the team deals/benefits.

[benbiggles]

Heidi - Good questions.

1. My 'coached' athletes as they have done this year would continue to pay the membership fee just like everyone else. My coached athletes will not be forced to join the team however obviously will be able to wear VO2Multisport clothing. I believe most will take advantage of joining the team though.
2. The current team kit is giving 'free' exposure to companies that I believe need to pay for that space. If we can get a head start on funds required for artwork and to hit high minimums this eases the pain for us.
3. No-one I know outside of the team (and I mean this) have any idea who Team Synergy is. Meaning even several more years being known as Team Synergy does not guarantee us establishing an identity!
4. What is happening with 'EMC'? Just like everyone else they will be offered space on the jersey for something in return, such as cold hard cash, or a screaming deal for our members to use the facility. An example TYR are willing to give us wholesale pricing on anything ordered through their website and cash. Prime space (such as where EMC is right now) will be more expensive.

Hope that answers your questions Heidi?

[benbiggles]

Lee - Yes their is a strong likelihood that one piece tri suits will be available. At this stage I can't absolutely guarantee this but I would say there is a 90% chance we will hit the minimums on this garment.

[Kara]

Hi guys,

I guess my main concern with changing our name to V02 Multisport is that for those of us who are not coached under V02 Multisport or who are coached by someone different, it seems a bit odd to be advertising a single coaching business. I suppose my view of our team is a group of people getting together to work out - more of a club team and less of a business. I know a business is not the intention, but it just seems a bit odd if the entire team is not coached by the team name. Just my 2 cents, for what's it worth:o I know majority rules, but I just wanted to throw my thoughts out there.

Kara

[BryanU]

Yeah, Ben - you need to provide coaching to us all in return for us wearing the name!

Well, according to your last post, you should be paying for your name to be on the uniforms. Hmmm... I'll take cash or check.

But seriously, I like the name and think it easily improves over the Team Synergy name - which I still have trouble calling us.

[MikePritch]

speaking of the team kit and "free exposure," we may want to go with a color change too.

;)

[ricoplatzo]

If a sponsor does provide cash, as opposed to discounts for team members, what happens to that money? How does the team use that money, as well as annual dues? Are the team kits subsidized, etc...?

[benbiggles]

Thanks for the well thought out and valid questions you all raise. I shall try and address them in turn.

Conflict with other coaches/coached athletes - I do not want to monopolize the team from a coaching perspective. I would have no personal issues with members of the team being coached by other people. Everyone has choice and I am not a dictator. If they don't want to wear the team kit they do not have to. This would be the same for team members who perhaps have their own sponsors (and this has always been the case).

Answering Bryan's question - Vo2Multisport (between Cindy and I) is already running the team, providing the benefits (in the form of sponsorships, lower than standard minimums on proposed new team clothing etc), securing cash from companies and generally keeping things going. I think this justifies exposure on the team kit ;)

In answer to Dan's questions - As far as I am concerned all of the money I raise from sponsors (which is for logo placement on team kit) will be fully allocated to paying for the new team clothing. If there are funds left over (which in truth will be doubtful) then they would go into club funds to be used for whatever the board (yes there will still be a board) feels is needed. It could be used for social events, to purchase bike boxes, pay for a new forum/website and hosting fees etc. Membership dues could be used to further subsidize team kit and/or the other aforementioned items.

This is an opportunity for the team and I hope you all see it that way. Yes I do want the best for my business. I will not deny that having you all wearing Vo2Multisport race kit would help my marketing efforts. Vo2Multisport will be my primary focus (this is my livelihood) going forward and I would love to have my business associated with such a great bunch of individuals. There may be people who decide this won't work or that they do not want to be a part of it. The core values of the team as Mike Pritchard highlighted in an earlier post will remain the same - to have fun, train together, socialize and get some screaming deals.

I think the next stage is to canvass all members asking for a simple yes or no answer as to whether this should go ahead or not. The fine detail as to how membership fees are spent etc can be discussed at the next team meeting.

Again your comments, feedback good and bad always welcomed.

I shall have Chris Esposito set up a poll on the forum and everyone (who cares I guess) will vote.

Thanks for your time everyone and following this.

[Lee]

If we change the team name do we get a free VO2 max test with our membership?

[mgordon]

Ben,

Thanks for the explanations of the some of the questions brought up so far.
I've had many of the same concerns that have been mentioned and just wanted to throw them in the hat for something to think about.

I find it ironic that we would try to eliminate doubt about who our team is, by continuing to change our name (4th title we've had in our two years, no wonder no one knows who we are). Also, if we are trying to get rid of the confusion between V02 and Team Synergy, then why are we making them the same thing, shouldn't we continue to foster the name we have and make a name for ourselves through consistent exposure with the same name, and solid results? That being said, there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming favor for the name Team Synergy, so changing the name to something we all like, and hopefully will stick to, would be fine.

Another thing that I've had concern with is that naming ourselves after a currently existing coaching business, has connotations that may or may not be helpful to the team. If we are to remain a club team as opposed to a coached team (such as other local groups like Pauole Sport, of team JFT) then we need to be open to althetes who are coached by anyone, or allowing other team members to coach althetes of there own. It sounds like you are very open to that idea Ben, so that is great as I think we would all like to keep the team as an open club to all ideas and backgrounds and not just people who are coached by VO2Multisport. (not that there's anything wrong with that :)) Obviously there are also a lot of upsides for the team in being associated with V02, that being the increased ability to secure sponsorships,(thanks Ben) and money for the team which will hopefully help pay for uniforms, since I thought our teams dues would help with that this year.
Assuming we can still keep our status as a club team (i.e. open to all coaches, coached athletes, members and promoting healthy lifestyles, socializing, and fun racing) I don't think it is out of the question to advertise Ben's business, in exchange for sponsorships for the team to make it better. As Lee mentioned too, it would be cool if we could get some sort of performance testing done (blood lactate tests) through V02Multisport too, that would definitely sweeten the deal :)

Thanks again for the explanations so far Ben, I would like to keep this team the way it is, and if we can ensure that we aren't becoming exclusive to V02 athletes only, and we get a better team in exchange, then advertising for you seems like a fair trade.

Michael

[benbiggles]

Michael, first off thank you for contributing. Again I shall try and answer your questions and correct some inaccuracies in your post if I may:

1. The team to date has only had two names, those being Sammamish Valley Triathlon Team (SVTT) and Team Synergy. Vo2Multisport would be the third. Regardless, no-one seems to be overly enthused with the name Team Synergy (oh how I wish people had expressed at the meeting where this was initially decided upon their dislike for the name Team Synergy!).

2. We will remain a club team Michael, sorry if I did not make this clear. The team will remain essentially unchanged. The forum will operate as it has done (perhaps with a new URL), Cindy and I will continue to drive it forward, membership fees will be payable by everyone, and hopefully a board of enthusiastic people will be elected to the positions that are currently in place (where they don't already exist).

3. This notion that I am the one to gain from the team advertising Vo2Multisport is an interesting one. I feel this is just reward for all the time and energy Cindy and I have put into ensuring this team/club continues to move forward. My coaching business is thriving and I am very fortunate to be able make a living (albeit modest) from the thing I love. I could quite happily walk away from the team and focus purely on my coaching business and be successful. Don't get me wrong I am aware of the positive exposure having the general membership (meaning those that are not VO2Multisport coached athletes) wear Vo2Multisport branded race kit and apparel provides but I would have an equal if not greater number of athletes in the kit if I walked away.

4. I believe Lee was joking with the VO2Max question! Anyhow as we all know it is lactate testing that is of value, V02Max is really an arbitrary number at best! I shall give some thought to team pricing on this, it is raw materials and time that are the expense here.

My closing summary - I want what is best for the team, simple!

[mgordon]

Ben,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to all this stuff, it is helpful for everyone to understand where you are coming from on this and I know that know one means disrespect in questioning the team name changes, we just want to make sure things don't change in a way that will turn people away from the team, or perhaps lose existing members.

1. To reply to your last message, when I said going on 4 team names I was also including the "Eastside Multisport Team" that was used for a brief time (although unofficially, I suppose) before we merged and became team Synergy.

2. I know everyone on the team appreciates all the hard work you and Cindy put into making the team great, and I know it would be helpful to have more people volunteering to help out with different jobs to make things even better going forward. (I know I would like to be more involved next year.) That being said, everyone else on the team has jobs and other commitments that are not directly related to the team, nor do our jobs benefit directly as a result of our team participation, hence less motivation at times. Having the team so closely related to your business makes it possible for the "team upkeep" to be linked to your job, because as we all know it helps to have more exposure. That being said, I don't think it is over the line at all to name the team after your company in recognition for your work, it certainly wouldn't be what it is without you.

3. FYI, I certainly don't expect free perfomance testing as we've joked about on here :)
One thing that I had a question about was concerning group workouts structure within the two V02 groups (coaching vs. club) Would V02 (coaching) workouts be open to all team members, or would there be seperate groups like in the past. The reason I bring this up is that I feel that if we are all going to be under the same name, it would be great to be able to all workout together; for instance we could have the sunday morning bricks open to everyone each week, or even alternate weeks rather than having some people feel excluded on certain weeks like I've heard talk of in the past. The only reason I bring this up is that if we have a large overlap of coached vs. non-coached althetes on the team, then is seems exclusive and a bit weird to have to have a non-coached V02 althete workout and then a seperate coached V02 althete workout venue happening simultaneously, when we could all workout together and make each other better, as well as build team comraderie (after all, I only road with you once last year because you had your team workouts and I couldn't come, I want to be able to ride with you again like two years ago and suffer in the rain! :)). I also recognize the benefit of the coached althete being able to have a workout built around there schedule and getting to do that with there coach and other althetes training for similar things, however, with the grouping of the club and business together, my fear is that the non-coached athletes could become second class team members. It seems like if someone on the team is organizing a group ride, run, swim, brick, or race rehearsal workout, then we should all be able to make the team better by being invited. I hope you understand what I am trying to get across here, I recognize that there could become a gray area between coached and non-coached people, and I know we all want the best for your business but also for the "club-level" members. I am not trying to imply that the club members should be able to get free coaching of any kind by getting to workout all together, and I don't think that would be an issue, after all we all have to do the work ourselves and just knowing what is the best training doesn't do the trick at race time.
For example, if on a saturday there is an indoor ride at EMC and an outdoor ride as well, we would all be able to make either ride, but perhaps the coached althetes could get a better deal on the indoor ride, but at least everyone would be open to riding with either group. (for the outdoor ride, the coached althetes could do all the pulling as we know Ben would want them to work harder, that could be their reward!)

Anyway, just some thoughts I've had. Hope this all makes sense and no one is offended by anything posted here. Obviously, we are all adults here and have the choice to remain a part of, or leave the team, based on the changes that are made; hopefully these changes will make the team something we are all proud to be part of. I can definitely see a great upside to changing our name to V02Multisport if we are able to go about this in the right way. Thanks for all your hard work in the past and into the future on making this team what it is Ben!

All the best, Michael







Michael, first off thank you for contributing. Again I shall try and answer your questions and correct some inaccuracies in your post if I may:

1. The team to date has only had two names, those being Sammamish Valley Triathlon Team (SVTT) and Team Synergy. Vo2Multisport would be the third. Regardless, no-one seems to be overly enthused with the name Team Synergy (oh how I wish people had expressed at the meeting where this was initially decided upon their dislike for the name Team Synergy!).

2. We will remain a club team Michael, sorry if I did not make this clear. The team will remain essentially unchanged. The forum will operate as it has done (perhaps with a new URL), Cindy and I will continue to drive it forward, membership fees will be payable by everyone, and hopefully a board of enthusiastic people will be elected to the positions that are currently in place (where they don't already exist).

3. This notion that I am the one to gain from the team advertising Vo2Multisport is an interesting one. I feel this is just reward for all the time and energy Cindy and I have put into ensuring this team/club continues to move forward. My coaching business is thriving and I am very fortunate to be able make a living (albeit modest) from the thing I love. I could quite happily walk away from the team and focus purely on my coaching business and be successful. Don't get me wrong I am aware of the positive exposure having the general membership (meaning those that are not VO2Multisport coached athletes) wear Vo2Multisport branded race kit and apparel provides but I would have an equal if not greater number of athletes in the kit if I walked away.

4. I believe Lee was joking with the VO2Max question! Anyhow as we all know it is lactate testing that is of value, V02Max is really an arbitrary number at best! I shall give some thought to team pricing on this, it is raw materials and time that are the expense here.

My closing summary - I want what is best for the team, simple!

[benbiggles]

Thanks for your support Michael (I think ;) ).

I am happy for team members to join any workouts where there is no limitation on the numbers such as the 'race rehearsal' sessions that were undertaken this year. Heck I am even happy to provide sag to the whole team on the occasional key long ride as I did for my coached athletes.

The EMC workouts that I run on a Mon/Wed/SAt/SUn are quite unique in that they are limited in number (to eight athletes) and put me personally out of pocket. FOr those of you that don't know I buy space at EMC and unless I fill the classes I am out of pocket financially. Now fortunately the classes are all full which is a good thing (for my pocket anyway). Where space becomes available I shall offer it to the team as a whole where there is not already someone waiting to join that particular class.

The track session is and has always been open to team members, unfortunately as per the Saturday rides no-one has really taken advantage of this other than Mike P on occasion. So team prove to me that you want to take par tin these workouts by attending them and I am happy to promote and lead more of them, can't say fairer than that.

Thanks again everyone for your contributions.

Ben

[Tomgru]

some good comments and thoughts here. Personally... i think changing the name yet again will only serve to offer more confusion again... One thing about establishing a "brand" is that it takes time... and we haven't given "Synergy" enough time to stick.

I do agree that the association with EMC (e.g.) has caused some confusion, and can also see the same issues occur if we change the team to VO2Multisports. Anyone that sees the kit will assume that we are not a club, but a group of coached athletes. I think this will likely turn away some folks who may want to become part of a community, but don't want (or cannot affort) coaching.

Ben... i don't deny the work you have put into the team, for whatever reason, and it's appreciated. so here's my idea:

We stay Team Synergy, but give you the prime location on the team kit for free (actually trade), in return for the services you mention. Seems like everyone wins.

thoughts?

[sbonvallet]

Works for me!

[Cindybigglestone]

Well I guess that's a "no" vote Tom :D

When the name "Synergy" was thought up we were told there was going to be another driving force helping run this team. Unfortunatly for what ever reason this did not happen.

Ben and I started this team out of a passion for the sport. For the last three years I have worked full time and in my spare time put all my effort into this team. The recent loss of my job has put us in a position that all our efforts need to go to Vo2multisport. It sounds like most of you understand that and will look forward to the continued benefits of being with a "team"

Lastly I want to point out that JFT has 75 members which of only about 20 or so are actually coached by her. This is a team that is run by voluenteers and is consistently out in full force at all events.

[benbiggles]

Thanks Tom and I especially like the part of your statement that I bolded!

Ben... i don't deny the work you have put into the team, for whatever reason, and it's appreciated. so here's my idea:

Cheers

[Tomgru]

No offense was meant.... although i can see how it came out that way.

[lakerfan]

My feeling is that a team name doesn't dictate who we are. We as individuals on the team, our behavior and our communication within the community dictate who we are.

I'm open for a change in team name but do believe that we need to pick a name and stick with it in order to allow it to become well established in the tri community. If that name is "VO2Multisport" then I'm fine with that. I don't really concern myself with how others might perceive that name because I can't control their behavior. I can only control my behavior as a representative of a team I believe in so that's my focus.

I think it's more important that we decide on a common set of principles and goals for the team.

Thanks, Chris

[benbiggles]

Just want to take this opportunity to thank all those team members that have got involved in this dialogue and/or voted on the subject. It is great to see so many team members taking an active interest in the outcome of this.

Those yet to vote please do so by end of day Sunday October 26th.

Thanks

[catrenajs@yahoo.com]

I am supportive of any change you see fit. I have hopes similar to Ryan...maybe new clothes will help me make it to more races that the rest of the team does! I would definitely be interested in the new team kit as the old one was pretty unflattering and not the most comfortable. I would also love to be able to have a little input into the selection so we could come up with something I would actually wear!