2009 TEAM USA F3A - FG FUND RAISER

[SleepyC]

As a community, the Flyinggiants members are nothing short of amazing. When we as a modeling community put our collective effort into something, we can accomplish almost anything. We have shown this many times over the last four years. At this time, I'd like to focus our collective effort on the 2009 F3A World Championships.
This year the United States is being represented by four amazing pilots who we all know and love.

Quique Somenzini, 2007 World Champion and 2007 USA Team member, chose the option of
competing at the 2009 World Championships as an individual representing the USA. This
decision allows the USA to send four representatives comprised of a three man team plus Quique
to Portugal next year.

So the Team consists of:

Jason Shulman, Team Leader; Jason is a two-time National Champion and six-time USA F3A
Team Member.

Andrew Jesky, Team Member; Andrew is returning to the USA Team for the second time and has
proven himself to be a world class competitor.

Brett Wickizer, Team Member; Brett is an amazing young talent with a great future. This will be
Brett’s first World Championships.

These four guys will be traveling to Portugal in August, and they will basically live there for almost three weeks. During that stay, they will be practicing for many hours a day, learning how their planes respond to the climate and altitude of Portugal and finally competing against the Worlds best pilots in the World Championship.

The information listed above is generally common knowledge in the modeling community. BUT, what is not commonly known is that each of OUR Team USA Members for the most part pays their own way for the entire trip. These costs include: the competition airplane equipment, air fare, car rentals, hotel lodging, meals and many other small expenses.

I was speaking to Ben Fisher of 3DHobbyshop a few weeks back, and he mentioned that he has spoke to Andrew about the costs associated with representing the USA at the F3A World Championships. Andrew being the humble guy he is, didn't divulge too much info, but after some poking and proding, Ben and I were able to determine that each of the TEAM USA members spends around $9,000 - $11,000 of their own money to attend the World Championships!!

SERIOUSLY?! HOLY COW!!

Can you imagine any of the USA Olympic teams being invited to the 2012 games in London and we just say, "Hey great, that is awesome! Ok, hope ya make it.. Oh and if you can find the time between fund raising, try to get a little practice in, and bring home a GOLD for the USA!!" That is kind of what we are doing to these guys. "Hey thanks for working so hard, and representing the USA over there in Portugal... Hey guys.. Win one for the Gipper!"

I think it is time for us as a RC aerobatic community to step up and raise some coin for these guys. Lets help them relax a little and spend some extra time practicing. Lets support OUR Team USA!

I still have the Paypal account set up that we used to bring Wesse to the Nall. As of today, it is open for donations for Team USA. Every single cent that is put into that account will be delivered to the Team USA manager right before the trip in August. So come on guys we have several months to pony up and show these guys that we will support them! I would love to see the Giants raise a nice total of $10,000 or more in that account by August 1. The Giants has 40,000 members. If only 1/2 of the population gave $5 we could start a Team USA Fund that could support the team for several years! Also, I bet we could convince the guys to sport a small Flyinggiants sticker on their competition planes to show the World that FG supports Team USA!

So what do you say guys... Instead of that extra coffee, that pack of smokes or that donut you REALLY DO NOT NEED, throw those bucks into the TEAM USA ACCOUNT!
Lets help OUR Team USA out!

To donate please just Paypal whatever amount you can to: stephencinch@gmail.com

I will post bi-weekly account totals so we know where we stand.

Also, Any donations of $25 or more will get a 2009 F3A award under their name. So start Donating!

FG will start this off with $100!

[SleepyC]

TEAM USA FUND-O-METER!

[exeter_acres]

Fantastic....

I believe there are shirts, etc for sale too as a fund raiser....
Any ideas on that?

[3DHobbyShop]

Thanks for doing this, Sleepy. It's great to help our Team USA guys out. 3DHobbyShop in for $250.

And thanks to Jason, Andrew, and Brett for all the hard work, practice, and determination that goes into representing the USA on the world level.

[SleepyC]

Ben.. don't place this entirely on me sir, you were the guy who placed the bug into my ear.

[SleepyC]

	Quote: Originally Posted by exeter_acres
	Fantastic.... I believe there are shirts, etc for sale too as a fund raiser.... Any ideas on that?

I'll get the info from the shirts from Andrew. But I'd like our fund raiser be in addition to the money they collect from the shirts.


Make this year a smooth one for all three guys!

[exeter_acres]

	Quote: Originally Posted by SleepyC
	I'll get the info from the shirts from Andrew. But I'd like our fund raiser be in addition to the money they collect from the shirts. Make this year a smooth one for all three guys!

Yep...

Shirts in addition!

[RollingHarrier]

Great Idea Steve and Ben. Come on FG let's support these guys!

[SleepyC]

	Quote: Originally Posted by RollingHarrier
	Great Idea Steve.

AND BEN!

[mikaelmiki]

congradulations to the 2009 USA Team

[Judge]

Here is the official F3A-USA website: http://f3a.us/

There is a link there for Team merchandise.

BTW - I am in for $100

[flyintexan]

This is very cool...way to go FG!

-Mark
www.insightrc.com
www.nsrca.us

[Animal Jesky]

Thank you guys so very much for doing this. We really appreciate all the support that you guys are showing for the Team.
Lets also not forget Quique Somenzini. Quique won the worlds in 2007, he is returning as the World Champion. He has elected to return as the World Champion. This allowed a total of 4 people to go to Portugal. This works to everyone advantage as we are all able to practice together and make the team better as a whole.

Andrew

[Smelyal8r]

Donation sent!


Good luck guys!!! Kick some tail out there!

Brett

[SleepyC]

Andrew just sent me this, it gives you guys an idea of what this entails in his words:

	Quote:
	QQ is returning as World Champion, this allowed 4 people to go from the USA. 3 for the team and himself. In the end it was a win win for him. If he didn’t return as World Champion he would have had to remake the team. Plus this allows the other person (4th) to go which is a great experience for that person. The team goes over to the other country for about 2 and a half weeks during the contest. The contest is a weeklong. From Sun up to Sun down we are all out at the flying field. Many long days with not a lot of great sleep. This year it will be Jason Shulman Pilot-Dave Stodart Caller Andrew Jesky Pilot-Verne Koester Caller Brett Wickizer Pilot- Bryan Hebert Caller Quique Somenzini Pilot-Ryan Smith Caller Albert Glenn Team Manager- Raiko Potter Assistant Team Manager Jason Shulman is a 2 time US-F3A National Champion. Jason also has participated in the worlds since 99. This making it his 6th year returning. Jason has been on a mission this year and is flying extremely well. This is the second time I’m returning to compete for the USA. It has been a hard battle to get to but well worth it. I’m looking forward to Portugal and flying with the Team. I feel we have a great shot at the Podium this year. Brett Wickizer is a multi time National Champion and this will be his first time competing for the USA. Brett has risen up thru the ranks quickly and is an extremely gifted pilot. Brett is extremely excited to compete for the USA and will represent our country great. Quique Somenzini is the returning World Champion. Quique elected to return as the world champion as it allowed 3 people to make up the US team. In reality we will have 4 Americans competing but only Jason, myself, and Brett’s scores will count. This was a great thing on Quique’s part as it allowed the team to expand. This will only help all of our odds at winning in Portugal as we will all practice together and help each other. We will have other people also going with us as supporters so you can see how many actually go for the US. Each Team member has to have their own car to hall around the planes as well as pilot/caller has their own hotel room. This way we are always focused on the goal. So it is 4 rental cars, 4 hotel rooms, 14 people to feed at least 2 times a day, 14 Airline tickets. You can see it adds up quickly. For all of us going over it is the highest honor to compete for the United States of America. We are going over to represent our country which is just the coolest feeling ever. Getting to listen to the Star Spangled Banner playing is a pretty proud moment for us.

We are proud to have you guys representing us!



Also, my apologies to QQ, I didn't quite understand the way the four pilots worked out with the team. Now I understand, and have adjusted the post above!