About: Tino

Tino Specht
Website
http://levelsixinc.com/
Profile
My name is Tino Specht and I am the Head Coach at New River Academy. I have been here for 2 and a half years. My goals include making people the best athlete they can be as well as pushing myself to higher limits. I am also the video Teacher so you will see lots of video on this blog!

Posts by tinospecht:

    Author Archive

    Coaches Report

    Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

    WOW!

    What an amazing week. New River Academy has been based at Cara Del Indio which is the take out and put in two amazing sections of the Rio Futaleufu. I wish you could all be here to experience how blue and big this river really is. It is truly one of a kind. After a few days of training on the Futa all the students competed in one of the biggest most important competitions of the year. Its is thrown to bring awareness to the river and other chilean rivers so damming does not continue to happen. Because of this tons of international paddlers flock to the competition to compete and support the cause. You will be happy to know that NRA swept the competition. The first even being the down river race. Katie Kowalski took first in the womens class. Eric Bartl took 2nd in the mens playboat class. Lorenzo 4th, Stephen Forster 5th,David Gorski 6th in long boat class. Then NRA put a rafting team together led by Lorenzo and we got 1st in that race as well. In rafting we beat the Peruvian national rafting team. The freestyle placing was Me in 1st place, Stephen in second and Eric in Third. This is a great reflection of all the athletes working hard on their skills everyday and it paying off. I hope everybody is well. Check in soon.

    Best,

    Coach Tino Specht

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    Lorenzo’s Spanish Report

    Saturday, February 27th, 2010

    En Español 1 lo que hemos venido haciendo en estas clases es aprender las diferentes palabras en español, para las diferentes situaciones (clima, cuerpo, etc.). Al comienzo de las clases los alumnos realizan una completa presentación (en español) de ellos, incluyendo nombre, familia, edad, deportes, gustos, películas favoritas etc.

    También estamos aprendiendo los verbos en presente y pasado.

    Español 2: lo que hemos venido haciendo en esta asignatura es trabajar en el libro de español 2 pero en el volumen 2.

    Cada cinco clases comenzamos un nuevo proyecto, nuestro ultimo proyecto fue crear una presentación (en español de nuestro campamento base en Pucón).

    Actualmente estamos traduciendo la obra los tres cerditos al español.

    En Español 3 trabajamos con el libro de español tres. Además creamos proyectos de títeres los cuales presentamos a los demás alumnos, nuestro último proyecto fue la caperucita roja.

    Los alumnos trabajan diariamente en verbos en pasado presente y futuro.

    Cada tres clases utilizamos una solamente para hablar en español, los alumnos se sientan alrededor del profesor y cuentan su estadía en chile (en español).

    En Español 4 lo que hemos venido haciendo en esta clase es poner en práctica todo lo aprendido en los niveles anteriores (español 1, 2,3). La manera utilizada para poner en practica es realizando conversaciones acerca de diferentes temas que los alumnos deben estudiar. En todas las clases de español 4 realizamos largas charlas en español para mejorar la pronunciación.

    Los proyectos de este nivel son acerca de turismo, cultura y temas más técnicos.

    Nuestro ultimo proyecto fue una entrevista a un empresario de turismo de Pucón.

    In Spanish I we have been learning the different words for different situations, like words to describe the weather, the body, etc. At the start of classes, students undertook a comprehensive presentation (in Spanish) of themselves, including name, family, age, sports, tastes, favorite movies and so on.We are also learning the verbs in present and past tenses.

    My Spanish II classes are doing very well, and have burned through the first book, moving on to a more advanced text. Each of the Spanish classes have started different projects, in Spanish II we are currently translating the play the ¨Three Little Pigs¨ to Spanish.

    In Spanish III the class worked on making a puppet show of ¨Little Red Riding Hood¨, which they performed for the whole school when the visiting parents were in town.
    Also, students work daily on verbs in past, present and future tenses, and once every three classes, the students sit and talk about their time in Chile, only in Spanish.

    What we have been doing in Spanish IV is to put into practice everything learned in previous levels (Spanish 1, 2,3). The way we put this into practice is by discussions on various topics that students must study. Every day, each student makes long talks in Spanish to improve pronunciation. Projects at this level are about tourism, culture and are more technical. Our last project was an interview with a businessman from tourism in Pucón.

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    Coaches Report

    Saturday, February 27th, 2010

    Hey Everyone,

    The New River Academy Rio Negro down river race went off very well. Results photo’s and video are to come shortly along with a full report!

    Tino

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    Check this out Parents!

    Monday, February 22nd, 2010

    Hey Guys,

    Here is a video made by our very own Jess in Video 1 Class. Hope your like and and enjoy seeing some of the things around our camp.

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    Next River

    Monday, February 22nd, 2010

    Well to our dismay it began to rain and the Palguin River rose to a level that was to high to hold the race on. We are now far south in Hornopiren and something lucky and amazing has happened. The Rio Negro which snakes around the side of our camp is even better than the Palguin to hold our down river race! This means, STAY TUNED, for the Rio Negro race coverage.

    I hope every one is well,

    Coach Specht

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    Coaches Report

    Monday, February 22nd, 2010

    Coaches Report

    Hey Everyone!

    New River Academy has been having a great time here in Pucon! We have been here for a few days after an amazing trip at the Fuy River. With all our athletes getting so skilled in creek boating and river running we decided to hold an Upper Palguin race! So as of right now everyone is very focused on training mental and physically for their 4 minutes of all out determination and smooth lines.
    For training we have been going to the Palguin race grounds to spend time on each line feeling out exactly what line gets you smoothly and safely through to the next rapid. At the beginning of every session sit down and talk about different strategies and techniques to improve upon your past performance. Some of the things we work on are, for example:

    -Keeping your bow (the front of your boat) above the water. If water comes over your bow it acts like a parachute and slows you down by pushing back against your boat and your body.
    -Keeping your bow from rising to high. This sounds like the opposite of our first tip but let me explain. Your kayak is fastest when its hull (bottom of the boat) is flat on the water. If your let your bow rise up high in the air this means that on the other end your stern (back end of the boat) is becoming more vertical under water behind you. This acts like a brake and is an easy way to loose time.
    -Avoid going strait over the top of wave trains. This is a common misconception, people often believe that staying in the middle of the current is the fastest line but this is not true if there are waves. The reason for this is because in a wave train you have to travel up one side of the wave and then down the other thus doubling the distance of where ever your going. The fastest place most of the time is right on the downstream side of an eddy line. In this place it is usually flat and still moving at the same speed as the normal current.
    -Conserve your energy. Most of us can’t sprint through a whole race course so here is the formula for when to switch up a gear and turn it down. Take a break in the rapids and paddle hard in the flats. The water in the rapids is moving about as fast as your boat will be. But the water in the flats you can sit still in. So paddle in the flats and in the rapids just focus on having the smoothest line and executing all the first things we talked about.
    -Last tip of the day is to go fastest and mess up least.

    Stay tuned to see what happens on the Palguin

    Coach Specht

    Here is a little Video on how to Keep that Bow from sinking under water with Billy Harris, one of the best coaches in the world

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    Coaches Report

    Saturday, February 6th, 2010

    Hey Everyone!

    We have passed the first  week in Chile with everyday being better than the next. The group arrived safely and soundly in Pucon around a week ago. We spent the time by starting off with a safety clinic to bring everyone up to date on their rescue skills before we hit the river. After we had finished this we headed to the local runs such as the Upper and Lower Trancura and the Rio Palguin! All of these runs were perfect starters to reboot everyones paddling skills up to where they were when they left.

    If you haven’t heard we have a secret weapon with us so far that has been Priceless. Billy Harris. Billy is a multiple time canadian team member for freestyle, two time runner up world champ and with out a doubt one of the best whitewater instructors on the planet. He has been with us since the beginning of the trip so each athlete has gotten the chance to work  one on one with him. Through this I have seen the entire group take a huge jump in skill and confidence on and off the river.

    We are now stationed in Choshuenco on the Rio Fuy which is my personal favorite river in the world. We have three sections of river to choose from. The upper is a class 4 waterfall section with very safe yet challenging rapids. The middle has tons of rapids that are perfect for the intermediates in our group to practice their eddy turns and other river running techniques. The lower is a slower moving section with some play waves on it. This section is perfect for everyone to practice their ferries, eddy turns, safety, and other river techniques that they have been learning.

    We are having a great time. I hope everyone out there is well.

    Best,

    Coach Specht

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    Rio Achi Bueno

    Friday, December 18th, 2009

    New River Academy gives you a look at the Rio Achi Bueno! Deep in the Andes you find this river coursing like blood through a vein. Except bright blue. Let us know what you think! Video by Clay Whitaker of NRA Video Class!

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    Siete Tazas

    Thursday, December 17th, 2009

    Have any of you wondered what the Rio Claro looks like from inside the canyon? Here is a quick look into the Rio Claro from the eyes of New River Academy video class. Enjoy!

    Tino

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    Directors Update

    Monday, November 30th, 2009

    David Hughes gives all you guys out there the low down, Hope you guys like it!

    Best,

    Tino

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New River Academy
Rt. 2 Box 245
Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
Fax: (304) 513-2247
New River Academy

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