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I think Mitchie Brusco is around 13 year’s old…wow!

Andy B
outsideallday.com

Growing up among the 1,341 people in Taylorsville, Miss., Oakland Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell probably didn’t encounter the best coaches or the greatest competition. Which probably helped him reach the NFL. Studies show that small towns are better breeding grounds for athletes than cities, and sports psychologists are using these data to question our ideas about talent development.

Only one-in-four Americans come from towns of fewer than 50,000 people, but nearly half of NFL players and PGA golfers do, according to two recent studies. The small-town figures for golf and baseball are just under 40%. The studies use 1980 Census figures because they most closely represented the birth year of pro athletes.

A co-author of the studies, Queen’s University’s Jean Côté, attributed the small-town overrepresentation to a number of factors. These include the accessibility of sports role models in little towns, the cultural values placed on sport (think “Hoosiers”), and even the “big fish little pond” effect, which can be a positive reinforcer for young athletes. Dr. Côté also argues that, despite the prevailing notion that kids need to specialize early and immerse themselves in 10,000 hours of repetitive training, small-town athletes excel precisely because they spend more time playing outside of schools and leagues.

“In bigger cities, youth sport is overorganized and overcoached,” Dr. Côté says.

Dr. Côté admits that potential superstars eventually have to move to get superior training, but specialization before age 13 or 14 is more likely to produce a tired-out teen than a Tiger Woods, he says.

Then there’s what might be called the boredom factor. As Jason Campbell once said, in Taylorsville, “you have nothing else to do but sit outside and throw a football at trees.
—Austin Kelley, WSJ.com

I just discovered Woodward at Copper, it’s located 2 1/2 hours away at Copper Mountain in Colorado. Makes me want to get the shred stick out again and hit up some jibs. Check out the video and their facility.

Woodward at Copper is a year round ski and snowboard program offering winter day camps and week-long summer camps. Woodward at Copper offers the Barn, the first indoor ski and snowboard training facility with trampolines, foam pits, and Snowflex jumps dedicated to terrain park and pipe progression. Campers develop their tricks in the Woodward at Copper Barn and progress them in Copper Mountain’s winter and summer terrain parks and pipe.

I cannot wait until Carter and Landon are old enough to go to snowboard camp!

Andy B
outsideallday.com

Our friends over at Outside Magazine have posted their Summer Buyer’s Guide. If you are trying to figure out what sleeping bag to pickup for your affair with the Sierra or pair of boots for time in the Rockies then head on over to the buyer’s guide and get an educated opinion.

This Friday, June 26 at REI stores and REI.com the summer sale clearance begins. Items will be up 30% off. Be sure and get there early to grab some product for your summer adventures.

You can expect to save 20% – 30% on selected clothing, footwear, and camping and cycling gear. Selected bikes will be 15% – 20% off.

We all find ourselves scouring our collection of iTunes music for training music. Before my last half-marathon I carefully chose just enough music to finish without hearing one song twice. I timed it just so I would make my goal. As the race came to a close (iPods were legal) I picked up the pace as the final song came on. Normally I would have waited much later to pick up the pace for the final sprint – but the song urged me on. And so I only heard the first few seconds of the first song. Mission accomplished.

Finding the right music takes a little time. Our buddy Fitz Cahall over at The Dirtbag Diaries has sweet music on his site and I from time to time grab it and go.

My latest find from KCRW in LA is Loney Dear. The lead is Emil Svanangen an ex-pro cyclist. Spin Magazine says of Loney Dear, “Despair has never sounded so sweet.” But I beg to differ. There have been a few long climbs I have made where I could have used his music. Check them out on their site and their myspace page.

Join us.

Siiiiccccccccccccc!

HT Brandon Groza for the find.

Andy B
outsideallday.com

Saturday morning I got up early, dressed quietly, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, slipped quietly into the garage to hook the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour.

The wind was blowing 50 mph. I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad throughout the day.

I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. There I cuddled up to my wife’s back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, “The weather out there is terrible.”

My loving wife of 20 years replied, “Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that?”

I still don’t know if she was joking, but I’ve given up fishing.

Author unknown.

2nd X Games Gold Medal for Kyle Loza with his brand new trick the Electric Death. It’s electric awesome!

Danny Way completed 3 more rounds of jumps after this fall to take 2nd place. Toughest dude ever.

Andy B
outsideallday.com

My buddy Matt Smart from Ashland Skateboards sent me a link to this video.

These guys are SIC!

Andy B
outsideallday.com