Summer Novel Part Three In Austria teams all the teams traded gear. All teams had their National Team apparel and gear, part of being on a team meant they were given this country specific gear. The person who traded the most gear on the team was Coach Chris. He traded with the Austrians, the Germans, the Slovenians, the Germans, and the British teams. He wanted to get more ideas for how the US gear could look in the future. It is no secret that the US team usually has the least desirable gear and usually takes last in the all of the events. This is because there is no money for downriver provided by the US. Hence there are no Senior downriver coaches in the US. In Europe, the Seniors who compete in downriver do so because it is their job, in the US, the Seniors who compete in downriver do so because they enjoy it and it happens to work into their schedule. When the US team arrived at the Junior Championships no one expected anything from them because they were American and America doesn't take downriver seriously. back to Summer Novel 2003