Big Week!

What a Week!

Noelly on stage with Laila Ali!

i-tri Girls with Abby Wambach

The i-tri Girls were invited to attend the Women's Sports Foundations Annual Salute to Women in Sports Gala in NYC!  our own Noelly Martinez was chosen to tell her amazing story of TRI-umph on stage with the beautiful Laila Ali!  The girls were able to meet inspirational olympic and professional female athletes, such as soccer great Abby Wambach and Billy Jean King, the founder of the WSF!  

Transformation through Triathlon!!!!

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THE FINISH LINE!

In March 15 new girls joined the i-tri alumni girls and started on a journey that would lead them to the finish line of a youth distance triathlon.  Along the way- the girls forged strong bonds, opened their minds and hearts to new ways of thinking and seeing the world and tested the limits of their courage and strength.  Yesterday all who witnessed this AMAZING group of young women- in their team uniforms- bravely entering the water of Gardners Bay and swimming the daunting distance of 300 yards, biking 7 miles and running 1.5 miles, were moved and inspired by their accomplishment!  Yesterday these girls proved to themselves, their friends and families that they could do ANYTHING that they put their minds and hearts into!  Even though i-tri is about competing in a triathlon- the true benefits go way further than one race-along the way- they have become confident, self assured young women who can not wait to mentor the next group of i-tri girls! 

Abby Roden i-tri Alumni crossing the finish line with teammate Camilla Tucci- tying for 1st place out of the i-tri girls!  A true example of i-tri spirit and camaraderie!

The i-tri program was made possible by grants from:

The Women's Sports Foundation, GoGirlGo!  www.womenssportsfoundation.org

The East Hampton Healthcare Foundation  www.easthamptonhealthcare.org

Simple Works Foundation www.simpleworksfoundation.org

Long Island Fund for Women & Girls www.lifwg.org

as well as donations & inkind support from local businesses such as:

The East Hampton RECenter YMCA

East Hampton Rotary Club

OMAC

Montauk Bike Shop

Paddle Diva

i-tri is so grateful for all of this support!

RACE DAY IS NEAR!

Race day is just two days away- this Sunday- July 24th at 8am- the former non-athletes will cross a finish line and will be able to proclaim - I AM A TRIATHLETE!!!!  This amazing group of young women have been training their body, minds and spirits since March and are READY TO TRI!!!  Along the way they have discovered hidden talents, they have DREAMED BIG and used affirmations and visualization to get them through choppy water- up steep hills and across the finish line!  Last night they did a run through of the entire race and finished feeling "SO PUMPED!"  We celebrated with a bonfire on the beach!  And today after visiting Dr Aponte at the Wellness Center at Southampton Hospital for our follow up physicals- we went PADDLE BOARDING with Gina and Paddle Divas!!! 

Girls Say, ‘Yes I Can’ | The East Hampton Star

Girls Say, ‘Yes I Can’ The East Hampton Star

Vision Boards & Natural Running

The girls have been working to create their own VISION BOARDS and today a few of them shared their creations.  When describing their boards- the girls used affirmative- present tense language- I AM Lucky, I LOVE MY LIFE, I DREAM BIG, I HAVE a CUTE BOYFRIEND, etc...

Later today, the girls received an AMAZING gift from Newton Running who sent each of the i-tri girls a pair of brand new Newton Running Shoes!!!  We took the bus into town to Gubbins Running Ahead, a Newton distributor, where we were joined by Michael Blanchard from Newton who came out from Colorado to teach the girls about "Natural Running."

He actually had the girls take off their shoes and run barefoot to get the sensation of running naturally and the proper"foot strike" which is achieved when wearing Newton Running Shoes.

i-tri Receives a $10,000 Grant from Simple Works Foundation!



i-tri Girls depositing their “Big Check” at Bridgehampton National Bank,
also featured: Andrew Hellman, BNB Customer Service Associate (back row)
and Gisella Recalde, BNB Commercial Loan Officer
and I-TRI Board Member.(far right)


















i-tri recently received a $10,000 grant from Simple Works Foundation which is based in East Hampton. This generous grant helps provide the necessary equipment & training for twenty three young women (ages 11-15) from Springs School who are currently enrolled in the program and are in-training for the 2011 Maidstone Park Youth Triathlon on July 24th. This grant will also enable i-tri to pursue plans to bring the program to other school districts in 2012.

SHINE YOUR LIGHT- Real Beauty!

Over the course of the last two weeks we have been focusing on BEAUTY.  We've taken a closer look at the type of beauty portrayed in magazines and have discovered that most of those images have been re-touched to a point way beyond reality.  We've focused on how each of us are beautiful in our own ways and focused on the things we loved most about our appearance.  But most importantly we realize that REAL Beauty comes from within and when FEEL pretty and good about yourself on the INSIDE than THAT is what is reflected on the outside- YOUR LIGHT! 

Click to see our i-tri original Who Says Video Slide Show...

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Life is GOOD!!!

i-tri is extremely grateful to the East Hampton Rotary for their very generous donation of two brand new hybrid bikes and helmets!  Chris Pfund, long-time triathlete and owner of Montauk Bike Shop and Tri-Guy.com has been a sponsor and supporter of i-tri since its inception and has provides all of the maintenance on the i-tri bikes free of charge.  I am still so wonderfully amazed by the overwhelming generosity of our community!

This week we had a special visit during our Thursday lunch/recess session from Erin Bernard, manager of the East Hampton Lululemon store.  She introduced the girls to the concept of Goal Setting- Dreaming Big and the steps to make that dream come true!

Later in the day we walked over to Ashawagh Hall in Springs and had the most wonderful outdoor yoga class with Steve Eaton.  Steve started and ended the class with chanting.  He explained to the girls how chanting is like meditation and in doing so you connect with the vibrations and energy of the earth. 

We finished this amazing week helping out at the EH Rotary's, Spring Into Action 5K and kids fun run at the East Hampton Daycare Center.  The i-tri girls did face-painting for the little ones, handed out medals for the 5K runners and then ran the mile fun-run!  Our own Coach Sharon McCobb came in 1st Overall Woman in the 5K!  Way to go Sharon!

Label Reading 101

i-tri continues to thrive and grow because of the amazing generosity of our local community!  Last night was the first of four family nutrition/cooking sessions.  Last year Wellness Foundation of East Hampton sponsored our nutrition education component taught by their Executive Director, Jennifer Taylor.  Although these sessions were fantastic, the timing (during lunch) wasn't the greatest and because the information was not making it home to mom & dad (who ultimately make the food purchases) the girls did not seem to make any significant changes in their food choices.   This year we wanted to try something different- what if.. we brought the girls and their families together and did some hands on nutrition education and cooking together AND what if... we filmed the classes and put them on youtube and our local TV station LTV...  Of course that was the DREAM and from that vision came the miracles that made last night possible.  The East Hampton High School offered us their state of the art Family/Consumer Science room, complete with brand-new Viking stoves, two former Springs alumna along with film teacher Jeremy Quitko are filming and editing the series into a "cooking show" and will arrange for it to be shown on LTV and on youtube,  the Wellness Foundation has again generously sponsored Jennifer Taylor to create and teach the program and Cirillo's Market IGA in Amagansett is DONATING ALL OF THE FOOD!!!  Not to mention the fact that 23 busy, hard-working families made the effort and came and filled the room with eager smiles!  I love when a DREAM comes TRUE!!!

I AM...

Today we worked with two of the MOST POWERFUL WORDS in the English language  I AM.  After a mini run on the actual triathlon course, the i-tri girls walked down to the waters' edge at Maidstone Park where they were instructed to choose a long stick, find their own patch of sand and fill in the blank, I AM ________.  They each took their time to think about their POWER WORD and then, using their stick, wrote the word in the sand and then decorated each letter with shells or rocks. 

A really BIG Check!

i-tri was the recipient of a $10,000 grant from the Women's Sports Foundation- GoGirlGo! The Women's Sports Foundation founded in 1974 by tennis super-star Billie Jean King, builds on her legacy as a champion athlete, advocate of social justice and agent of change. The Women's Sports Foundation strives for gender equity and fights discrimination in sports.  i-tri is excited to be incorporating the GoGirlGo!  Curriculum into our program this year!

how bright is your LIGHT?

This week we compared self-esteem to the light of a lantern.  When we were born, each of us came into this world as a very bright light- bringing joy to all, as we grew up, we started comparing ourselves to others and began to judge and criticize ourselves or listen to the criticisms of others- this dimmed our lights.  Today we used the light of a lantern to demonstrate how unkind words or actions can dim our lights but ALSO to show how you can make your light SHINE BRIGHTLY by thinking and speaking kindly to yourself, being proud of yourself, doing acts of kindness & generosity.



Rosie Orlando, CPT leading us in Zumba!

 After-school we experienced another wonderful way to activate that BRIGHT LIGHT- through exercise, laughter and time spent with friends!    Rosie Orlando, Fitness Director at the East Hampton YMCA RECenter led us in a fast-paced workout that combined both circuit training and Zumba.

Evals

In order to gauge the success of the i-tri program, the girls undergo a series of evaluations at the start of the program which are repeated again at the end.  Over the past two weeks the girls completed fitness evaluations, including a VO2 Max test, shuttle runs and a timed half mile run along with a swim evaluation and medical evaluations which were done compliments of Dr Alex Aponte & his staff at the Ed & Phyllis Davis Wellness Institute at Southampton Hospital.  Based on the extraordinary results of last years' pilot program, we expect the girls to show dramatic increases in their overall fitness levels and positive changes to their overall health, such as lowered blood pressure and an increase in muscle mass.  It is important and interesting to note that their is NO EXPECTATION for any of the girls to loose weight as a result of participating in i-tri- in fact, based on the results of last year, we completly expect ALL of the girls to actually GAIN weight, as a result of the tremendous growth (height) that happens during adolescence as well as the healthy addition of body fat that girls naturally put on during puberty.

The Journey to the FINISH LINE BEGINS!

 i-tri has grown!  The origional i-tri girls from last  years' pilot program have been joined by fifteen new 6th-7th & 8th grade girls from Springs School. 

i-tri

officially began TODAY with our first after-school fitness activity at B-East http://www.eastfit.com/ in Amagansett!                            Romaine & Allen worked us hard on the REALRYDER Spin Bikes.

What a great start!  Thanks B East!  

All of the fitness experiences are donated by generous local fitness professionals!

i-tri has its' first official Corporate Sponsor!

i-tri is happy to announce that mich's MACCS will be donating 10% of all sales to benefit the i-tri Program! We are so grateful to Michele Goldberg, avid triathlete and owner of mich's MACCS for this VERY generous show of support! 

Her scrumptious hand-made macaroons are available throughout the Hamptons and select NYC locations, as well as on-line at:
 http://www.michsmaccs.com/

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