April 2002 Tell Tale
Volume 56, Number 2 April 2002
The Spring Season Starts
Notre Dame Goes South
The Notre Dame Sailing team traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida for the Eckerd Intersectional over the weekend of March 2-3. It was a breezy day for sailing on Boca Ciega Bay. Due to wind gusts as high as 37 knots only two 'A' races and one 'B' race were completed before racing was postponed for concern that conditions would continue to deteriorate. No protests were filed.
The team took this time to enjoy being down in sunny Florida. By Sunday the winds had died down to a more reasonable level and we had a full day of competitive sailing. The breeze held all day a constant 12-15 knots with the last A/B sets clocking in at 18 knots with gusts at 22 knots. Courses sailed were W /L (2x) and Gold Cups. Again no protests were filed.
As always with intersectional, it is a great experience to interact with sailors from outside of the MCSA and see how their different programs are run. We found it as an opportunity to interchange ideas on how practices and regattas are run. One thing to remember when traveling to Intersectional events is that they are not necessarily run in the same format as MCSA events. Make sure to check and see whether the host school is providing lunch and whether there are any social events. Notre Dame hopes to be able to return next year to this event as well as send a Women's team to the USF Women's Intersectional.
School A B TOT
1. Eckerd 26 11 37
2. Rollins 35 17 52
3. Florida State 14 48 62
4. Florida 42 28 70
5. Tulane 41 64 105
6. Eckerd Tritons 55 56 111
7. Notre Dame 62 51 113
8. South Florida 63 54 117
9. NC State 75 90 165
A Division
7. Notre Dame 62 Jack Gaither 03 (1-9) / Mike Stephens 04 (1-9)
B Division
5. Notre Dame 51 Matt Cassady 03 (1-9) / Meghann Finerghty 04 (1-9)
Minnesota travels to Navy
Truxton Umsted
Kelly Nichols
For the first time ever the University of Minnesota sailing team traveled to the U.S. Naval Academy for the Truxton Umsted Intersectional Regatta. Twelve members of the team sacrificed the first weekend of their spring break to spend almost forty hours in the car to get there and back. They stayed with Zach Coelius' parents who live in Annapolis.
The breeze was light on Saturday morning. Racing was postponed till almost lunchtime. The wind did eventually pick up and six races were completed on Saturday. The courses were trapezoids with starboard rounding.
The nice weather did not hold up for Sunday. The entire day was plagued with on and off rain and hail. The winds were strong with gusts up to 16 mph.
Judges Dave Pyron and Henry Filter heard six protests and provided on-water judging of rule 42 during the regatta.
Everyone agreed that the experience was well worth the two days in the car. The team is excited to continue to travel out East and attend intersectional regattas.
School A B C D TOT
1. Harvard 133 71 85 160 449
2. Tufts 90 121 123 120 454
3. Old Dominion Univ 80 109 168 120 477
4. St. Mary's 130 117 103 147 497
5. Navy 128 143 128 103 502
6. Boston College l00 146 172 105 523
7. Hobart / Wm Smith 144 146 148 108 546
8. Georgetown 122 129 172 130 553
9. ColI of Charleston 151 160 167 116 594
10. Brown 129 146 154 166 595
11. Dartmouth 172 161 164 127 624
12. Conn ColI 176 166 153 190 685
13. Kings Point 178 201 126 187 692
14. Hawaii 172 228 191 157 748
15. Univ So California 187 148 192 229 756
16. Washington ColI 213 127 243 208 791
17. Queen's 274 266 161 155 856
18. Texas A&M Galveston 258 230 220 246 954
19. Minnesota 301 301 201 267 1070
20. Univ of Maryland BC 224 249 298 319 1090
A Division
20. Minnesota 301 Zinn, Hans '03 (1-6,13-14), Symes, Alex (7-12)
Nichols, Kel1y '04 ( 1-6), Hertel, Naomi (7 -16)
B division
20. Minnesota 301 Kobs, P '02 (1-6), Coelius, Z (7-12), Kerr, B (13-16)
Rosenblatt, Molly '04(1-6,13-16), Long, Ian '03 (7-12)
C Division
17. Minnesota 201 Krech, Tim '03
D Division
19. Minnesota 267 Burgum, Ben '04
New Addresses
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME SAILING CLUB
COMMODORE: Mike Stephens (574) 634-1832
TEAM CAPT.: Jack Gaither (219) 634-1692
ALT. CONT.: Katie Roney (219) 284-4025
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE SAILING TEAM
Kalamazoo College
Hicks Center
Kalamazoo, MI 49006
How to Develop Leadership Within Your Group
Anne Scheureman
Within a group or team, generally leadership is split into two roles: the executive board role and the intra-team leader's role. These leaders are people chosen by the team to direct their group to success and continuity. Having said this, you can safely assume choosing an individual whom you are confidant will perform to their greatest potential for the good of the team can be a tough decision.
The executive board is a group of individuals who oversees the general operations and management of the team. This group also makes the decisions which help the team to grow. A person who is a part of this board is the commodore. The commodore's main duty is to oversee the goals and businesses carried out by the team. This individual also helps to manage the executive board. The other leader is the intra-team leader, otherwise known as a team captain. The position of the team captain is to lead and guide a specific group of individuals designated by the leader of the organization. The captain of a team motivates other members and leads the team at competitions and practices. In order to choose the best people for these positions, you need to look at each individual and ask yourself, "Does this person have what it takes to lead our team?"
Now you might be thinking, what do I look for? What kind of traits and techniques will enable a person to be an efficient leader of our team? Every organization needs a leader they can rely on, so reliability is key. A leader needs to be confident and decisive. Organization is important for processing different business issues within the team. A person who can set goals and follow through with these goals is also a priority . Charisma and communication skills are also needed when interacting with other groups or organizations. The best way to learn how to draw a team's attention is to watch leaders of other organizations and learn from their tactics.
As a leader of a team, the most important thing to remember is you need to always be thinking about the team and not about yourself. When making decisions, you cannot decide based on what benefits YOU. As the leader, you decide on what is best for the TEAM. You want the team to continue to grow because without growth, an organization will fail. If an organization fails, you no longer are a member of anything. So remember: a team will always outlast any individual.
When someone succeeds in performing a good job in the business world, they receive cash bonuses for their success and hard work. For non-profit organizations such as the MCSA and individual teams, this is not so. Those who are able to succeed should be rewarded with certificates of excellence or a tee shirt. If not something material, a simple thanks tells that person that all the work they did truly was appreciated by the rest of the team. These people are also compensated with the leadership and organizational skills they are able to develop in themselves which will benefit them in any future endeavors.
After you have chosen a leader, they've held their position, and you thank them, the next thing to do is to chose a successor. Choosing a new leader is based on spending time with them and determining if they fit the position. The easiest way to pass information from one board to the next is to have a joint meeting with both boards so each new member can speak with their predecessor. This interaction enables the sharing of information to bring everyone up to speed as to what projects have been going on. This also develops a relationship between past and present members so that if questions arise, there is no hesitation to ask. Continuity and smooth change over are important to an efficiently run leadership.
St Mary's Regatta Report
The weekend of March 16th and 17th the Wisconsin Women's sailing team traveled to St Mary's City, Maryland to compete in the St Mary's Women's Spring Intersectional. They were accompanied by recent alum Brendan Keane who coached the women
The first day of sailing started with perfect weather, sunny and warm, with wind 10-12 mph. After two rotations the regatta went into postponement due to lack of wind. Women sailors from as far away as Hawaii, Florida, and Canada teamed up for ultimate Frisbee. At four, with no sign of wind, teams packed up for the day.
Sunday morning was rainy with overcast skies and 15-17 mph winds. Kaitlin Krause and Kari Sachs sailed on the A team for Wisconsin with Teresa Phillips and Jamie Gwidt in the B boat. Overall it was a good first regatta for the year and the Wisconsin women are looking forward to seeing all the other women sailors of the Midwest at the MCSA Women's Championship at Northwestern.
School A B TOT School A B TOT
1. St. Mary's College 41 36 77 10. Col. Of Charleston 79 98 177
2. Old Dominion 52 44 96 11. U. Hawaii 69 111 180
3. Brown University 84 33 117 12. US Naval Academy 99 95 194
4. Georgetown 54 70 124 13. Connecticut Coll. 102 95 197
5. Tufts University 77 63 140 14. UC Irvine 111 90 201
6. Hobart Wm/Smith 74 70 144 15. Southern California 80 132 212
7. Boston University 72 74 146 16. U. South Florida 94 145 239
8. Boston College 63 84 147 17. Queens University 152 90 242
9. Dartmouth 98 63 161 18. U. Wisconsin 138 148 286
A Division
17. U. Wisconsin 138 Kaitlin Krause 03 / Kari Sachs
B Division
18. U. Wisconsin 148 Teresa Phillips 05 / Jamie Gwidt 02
Develop a Winning Team
Diana Mack
As the season begins teams have a great opportunity to look forward and plan how to improve their racing and the level of their sailing. The spring is an especially good time to set goals, both long and short term, for each individual and the entire team. Goals should be realistic and appropriate for your team. For example, a smaller team could set a goal to participate in a certain number of regattas per semester. A larger team with more resources could set a goal of going to one out of district intersectional regatta per year or semester. A good goal for any team could be to attend a certain number of practices per week.
It is also helpful to have goals for each practice. They could be to improve starts, better roll tacks or mark rounding. If everyone is focused on the same goal practice becomes more cohesive.
Also crucial to team development are regular and efficient practices. A well-planned practice once a week can be more beneficial than three sloppy practices. In order to make practices more efficient, choose practice captains in advance, develop a set of drills that everyone knows (feel free to contact me for ideas!), and make a kit with everything that you will need to run a practice. The kit could include a packet of drills, a wind stick, and a whistle.
Developing a relationship with a coach is also very helpful. Although a lot of schools don't have the funding for a coach, there may be alunni or local sailors who can help your team with a couple of practices a month. Newsletters and informative websites can be a great way to get and maintain relationships with alunni and others in the sailing community. If help from the outside is unavailable, look within your team; you can coach each other by talking during and after practice. Have one person look out for specific problems on the water and have a little chalk talk after practice.
The ability to practice against other teams nearby can also be a good way to improve racing performance. If there are teams who are interested in practicing with nearby teams this spring or next fall send me an email (dmmack@students.wisc.edu) with your available weekends and how many interested individuals and I will organize small, two or three team mini-regattas between schools.
Conditions for MCSA Championships are Modified
Please mark this change on p.11 in your school's copies of the MCSA Policy Handbook so you will be able to refer to it during this year's Championships:
Sunday Time Limit--No "A" Division race shall be started on Sunday after 1:00 p.m. unless there is complete agreement by all the participants not later than 12:00 noon of that day, except for MCSA District Championships. For MCSA District Championships, if the scheduled races are not completed on Saturday, no race shall be started after 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. If you have any questions, please contact Gail Turluck.
Publicize Your Club
Katie Tripplet
I am eager to get started on making more people aware of the MCSA throughout the country. Gail Turluck and I have been working together to get numerous contacts aware of our achievements, not only as individual teams but also as the MCSA as a whole. The process is lengthy but coming along. While working on this project, I have come up with some ideas to help teams gain more publicity on a more personal level. Here are the following ideas I propose:
- I'm sure many teams might have difficulty gaining respect and recognition from their school newspapers because sailing is not a varsity sport. Here at Indiana, we have a section in our paper specifically for Intramural and Club Sports. My suggestion is to join with the other club teams at your school and talk to your Sports Editor about adding a section to the paper. Throughout the season I will be contacting school papers about team achievement and upcoming events, but it might also benefit your team if you contact the paper as well. They are more likely to listen to students rather than an outsider
- I'd like any team who is interested, to appoint a Publicity Secretary for their team. This member of the team will be responsible for collecting names and addresses of hometown newspapers from each of their teammates. As I will be contacting school newspapers about the success of the MCSA, the publicity secretary of each team will do the same for the hometown newspapers. I strongly believe this will allow the MCSA to be known on a wider basis and will possibly bring in more money for the teams by way of reaching alumni. Plus, moms and dads all over will love to see their children's faces in the local newspaper!
This idea will take some effort but I feel will really payoff in the end. This is not something that is required of each team, but if you are interested, please have the appointed member contact me and we'll work together to get the ball rolling! If anyone has questions about this process, please feel free to contact me. Until then, I'll look forward to hearing from you!
Special Interests
Tom Martin
First in the area of women’s sailing; we need to encourage the women that are currently in the MCSA to drive double-handed boats. This includes getting them ample time as skippers in practice and giving them a shot at driving during regattas. The only effective way to learn to drive is by getting time in the boat. Teams should try and recruit women who have driven before and to develop their women’s programs in order to encourage more women to join the team as drivers. Being able to drive early and often will help any driver’s confidence. The whole team needs to help and support any new driver, male or female, so that they can excel and help the team in regattas.
In the single-handed department, I think we need to find out who is interested in or who has had experience in sailing Lasers or any other single-handed boats. Teams should encourage members that own Lasers to bring them to school so that they can work on single-handed sailing and prepare for single-handed regattas. Having the US Single-handed Championships in our region next fall is a great opportunity to show the nation that we can compete and do well in single-handed boats.
As far as big boat and sloop regattas are concerned, see if there is interest on the team for these events. Sailing big boats is a fun and unique experience. To prepare for a big boat regatta, teams should try and contact local yacht clubs to see if they have big boats that they could borrow for practice (preferably the type that you’ll be sailing in the event). If this isn’t possible, go online to learn as much as possible about the boats you will be sailing. Most one-design classes have online tuning guides and tips on how to make the boat go fast. Also arrive early at the event and ask if there is any opportunity to practice before racing begins. Going to big boat regattas is a great experience and can encourage growth in your team.
Lastly, the Midwest Sloop Championships held at Detroit Yacht Club in the fall is a great event. This past year we had an excellent turnout with nine teams showing up. The event is sailed in Flying Scotts with spinnakers, which is nice because they are very much like big dinghies. We want to try and expand how many teams come to this event because the more teams that show up, the more teams we get for the Sloop North American Championship held next fall at New York Yacht Club. So if you have people on your team that have any big boat or large one-design dinghy experience, encourage them to sail this and other sloop and big boat events.
Team Racing 101
Pete Horsch
While team racing is new to many MCSA sailors, it's not beyond your team's reach, and provides a great way to increase team comaraderi and improve everyone's boat handling. There are two team race regattas in the District each spring (BIG 10 and MCSA Championships) and next fall there will be a team race clinic at Michigan in November. Basically there's no excuse not to try it. OK, so you're going to a team race. Now, how does it all work, and how can your team improve? First, make sure you understand the scoring of a team race. Just like a fleet race, boats finishing 1st 6th get 1 and 6 points respectively. Here's where the fun begins. Your team wins (or loses) if your three boats have fewer (or more) points than your opponent. Play around with different combinations, and you'll I see which ones win. Obviously 1-2-3 is a winner, but is 2-3-5? (That means your opponent has 1-4-6, remember.)
Once you've got the combinations figured out, it's warm and sunny, you're stoked to go practice team racing, but wait, we don't have 6 boats at practice! How can we practice team racing? No problem. If you have 3 boats, you can run a great drill called "pig in the middle". Basically, race around a course, and 1 st and 3rd are always on the same team, where it's 1st's job to get 3rd out of last place. 2nd's job is to stay out of last, since the other team has two boats. Once the order changes, switch the teams accordingly.
4 boats is even better, as you can sail 2-on-2, last boat loses. You can throw out the combinations for this practice, because the team that has a boat in last loses, no matter what else happens. Even if you're winning the race, if your teammate is in last, you have some work to do. While these are good drills, none of them are perfect substitutes for 3-on-3 team racing. Take Diana Mack up on her offer to schedule inter-team practices, and try to get six boats out for a practice, and then run a bunch of team races. If you want to learn some of the moves, want to confirm your math on the combinations, or just see some cool stuff going on in team racing, a few great resources are; www.ustra.org -the United States Team Racing Association's web site. Good moves, nomenclature, and other stuff. www.obyc.org -site for Gavin O'Hare's Contemporary Team Racing 2000 an interactive guide to team racing.
Good luck Hope to see you at Big 10, MCSA Championships, and especially the team race clinic next fall.
Notre Dame Freshman Icebreaker
March 23-24
The MCSA indistrict sailing season got started on a clear day with the winds whipping every which way on St. Joe's Lake in the middle of the Notre Dame campus. The wind was sufficient to cause white caps, something rarely seen in the past. John Carroll's A Division team Was the first of many to find that the temperature of the water was as cold as the air in the middle to high 30's. After many attempts, to get their turtled boat upright they came ashore to get warm. Senior Regatta Chairman Jack Gaither finally rescued the boat, one of many that he got back up during the day. Western Michigan's B team sat out most of the races because their clothing be came wet in a similar capsize incident. Despite the trying conditions the Race Committee clocked off 10 races in each Division.
Sunday turned out to be a gray cloudy day with not much wind. About 12 noon the Race Committee decided that further efforts would be futile and called the regatta after 12 races in each Division. Indiana's team did not participate on Sunday and returned home due to a death in one of the team members' family. George Griswold served as a Judge and heard one request for redress, and granted Wisconsin permission to withdraw after race 9B had finished.
Generally everyone had a good time. The regatta was a chance to get sailing after a long winter of getting caught up on their academic subjects. Thinking about how it would be to get back on the water, after some unusually warm days during the past winter, is now a thing of the past.
School A B TOT
1. Michigan 30 24 54
2. Notre Dame 1 36 26 62
3. Ohio 49 40 89
4. Michigan State 40 53 93
5. Notre Dame 2 84 69 153
6. Wisconsin 85 69 154
7. Western Michigan 51 118 169
8. John Carroll 109 77 186
9. Indiana 113 117 230
A Division TOT
1. Michigan 30 Michael Rohde 05 / Thomas Martin 05
2. Notre Dame 1 36 Nell Ryan 05 / Liz Ketterhagen 05
3. Michigan State 40 Mary Vorel 05 / Jamie Ziegler 04
4. Ohio 49 Karl Felger 06 /
Lauren Trolley 05 1-4,7-8,11-12,
Meaghan France 05
5. Western Michigan 51 Mark Singer 06 / Dave Brown 05
6. Notre Dame 2 84 Katie Brandes 05 / Katie Thomson 05
7. Wisconsin 85 Tom McGrath 04 /Jon McBride 05
8. John Carroll 109 Matt Rusk 05 /Andy Oswald 05 1-2,
Tim Lennox 05 11-14
9. Indiana 113 Matt Tate 04 / Nic Burneman 04 Erick Myers 02
B Division TOT
1. Michigan 24 Trevor Hartwell 05 /
Ben Vandum 05 1,2,5,6,9,10;
Lindsey Hart 05 3,4,7,8,11,12
2. Notre Dame 1 26 Kaho Wong 05 / Jon Kocarnik 05
3. Ohio 40 Mark Paisley 05 / Anna Rice 05,
Meaghan France 05 1,2
4. Michigan State 53 PJ Constantino 05, Josh Butler 04 11,12 /
Josh Butler 04, Glenn Ross 05 3,4,11,12
5. Wisconsin 69 Jason Strutz 05 / Tim Angle 03
6. Notre Dame 2 69 JR Garcia 05 / Hana Gilchrist 05
7. Jonn Carroll 77 B McKee 04 1,2,11,12; W Nordloh 04 /
P Feeley 05 1,2,11,12; B Hoelzle 04
8. Indiana 117 Erick Myers 02 / Josh Gregory 04
9. Western Michigan 118 Mitch Polgar 06 / John Kiener 02
The winning team from the University of Michigan
Treavor Hartwell, Lindsey Hart,
Tom Martin, Michael Rohde, Ben Vandam
Safety at Sea Seminar I
If you're not part of a team going to the MCSA Co-Ed Dinghy Championship, you may want to consider attending the West Marine/Cruising World/US SAILING Safety at Sea Seminar set to be held on May 4, 2002, at Chicago Yacht Club, Belmont Station, 300 West Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL. If you're planning to get onto a major ocean race's crew, be aware that more and more races are requiring this certification. The Seminar will be moderated by US SAILING expert John Bonds. This daylong seminar will cover safe seamanship, heavy-weather tactics and boat handling, boat preparation, safety-equipment demonstrations and man overboard recovery techniques. There will be a question and answer session to a panel of expert sailors. Tuition and fees vary, seating is limited, and reservations are required. Contact Brian Jackman, (847) 382-8817 , brian-j-jackman@netscape.net for further information.
Notes from the Executive Board
Gail Turluck
The MCSA Executive Board met at Notre Dame on March 23, 2002.
Web Site Committee is developing plans to upgrade the site so it is more user friendly. Bryon Thornburgh, John Carroll; Chris Metcalf, Michigan; Tom McGrath, Wisconsin; George Griswold, Treasurer and Gail Turluck, Secretary make-up the Committee
Goals for the year:
Increasing membership-The Board agreed that networking through our current schools' member's friends and utilizing contacts established by visits to our web site are the most successful methods for gaining member schools. George Griswold's member school development program of last year resulted in 30-40% reaction and would be worth pursuing further.
Work on developing more events by areas-Encourage practices and small regattas off or on the schedule, drawing teams that are less than 2-4 hours away. Encourage Team Racing practices. Encourage casual events on weekends or days when people have coordinating open holes in their schedules or with extra sailors, second or third squads.
Work on uniting the district-Work to encourage more schools to make the trip across the district whenever possible.
Coaching-Coaching is important for all but hard to arrange for some teams. Our teams need to have someone standing on the outside watching and identifying what needs improvement whenever they sail. Schools will be encouraged to work towards any coaching (including self-coaching) and help them to tap into their alumni. An effort will be made to find out who lives geographically nearby our school's sailing sites and try to have them come and help out.
Fundraising-John Carroll University's clubs are fundraising together to have a large number of participants to get a job done. Their clubs are also approaching athletic department as a means to maintain their visibility which is working. At Indiana, club sports can work the concession stands to raise funds. Ohio U. worked a parking lot to make $800 for 4 games. Minnesota has a booster club which is going well. They have also established an endowment fund, and got airline miles donated. Wisconsin has found that 2 newsletters a year are important. Bryon Thornburgh mentioned that it's important to go to boat shows with wearing clothing with your school's name on it.. Gail Turluck described how another college-age group made big money with a Monte Carlo fundraiser.
Officer updates:
Commodore - Email has been used to keep up regularly with what's going on. Vice Commodore - Packets were sent to St. Mary's University, but no reply has been received. Through email the following has been heard from prospective members: Chicago is doing well with 27 members and 8 FJ's. They are hoping to have funding early next season. Dayton is struggling a little, but hoping to get ready over summer and may be ready to apply in the fall. Oberlin was not allowed to accept the J-24 they had been donated after a meeting with the dean yesterday. More news is expected soon. SIU is doing well and getting ready to sail with COLSA, but is not ready for MCSA. Wisconsin-Lacrosse, is still building., They want to go to events in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minnesota-Duluth may be preparing an application. Anne needs to contact them. Otterbein College in Westerville, OH, outside of Columbus, has a contact person and wants to consider getting a program established.
Race Chairman - Everything going smoothly, people are communicating. There is a need to add statement on standard NOR for people to RSVP to both Host School and Race Chairman.
Publicity Secretary - Is working on establishing a publicity program for MCSA. Indiana's school paper has a section for publicity for club sports on a regular basis. Indiana's team has established a publicity person and other MCSA members will be encouraged to establish their own publicity person.
Graduate Treasurer - All of the Current Information Bulletins from 1954 to 2002 have been put on a single compact disk., The Tell Tales from 1966 to March 2002 have also been put on two compact disks to complement the one done previously from 1950-1965. The State of 2002 Budget was reviewed. It was pointed out that it will be important to keep expenses under control this year.
Intersectional Regatta Coordinator - There will be four out-of-district schools coming to Ohio State, so it is important enough boats are trailed to the event. Teams are not withdrawing from scheduled out-of-district intersectionals so far, which is good. So far all is going well.
Graduate Secretary - The final report from Miami about Midwinters was received. The MCSA payment has been sent to Miami to close out arrangements from Midwinters. The 2003 Afterguard Regatta at Detroit Yacht Club is nearing final approval. The Current Information Bulletin was compiled, published and distributed on time. The required Member School participation report was sent in to ICSA on time. The 2002 Afterguard Regatta in Hawaii is taking time. The University of Chicago is hoping to buy 6 new boats for 2003, but won't know until end of April. Not all schools completed their Boat Report at Midwinters. Telephone calls will be made to those who didn't complete the reports to clarify their intentions.
Inter-Team Practices - Minnesota and Wisconsin will be notified that they may not hold practices together, as each is hosting a district championship and practice at a championship site by other than the host school is prohibited.
2004-05 ICSA Singlehanded Championships - Schools are reminded that all bids for this event, to be held in Fall 2004, are due by April Board Meeting.
Freshmen are Important Also
Shannon Bonds
Getting freshmen involved in the sailing team is very important to the growth and development of the sailing team in the future. A few ways to get freshmen involved with the club is to advertise around campus. At Orientation, freshmen are looking for fun activities where they can meet lots of new people. Search your local yacht clubs for high school seniors that will be attending your school in the fall.
Once you have found several interested freshmen the key is to keep them coming back. Communication is very important. Make sure they are receiving emails from your club and also following up with a phone call never hurts.
Once you have a core group of freshmen for your team make sure you get them out sailing as much as possible. If they are new to sailing hold mini-clinics during practice to go over parts of the boat, rigging, and instruction in some of the fundamentals of sailing. If they understand what is going on they will have a better chance of sticking around. Don't just put them on the water.
Pair the freshmen up with people that have been on the team in the past and help them become familiar with the team. This doesn't just have to be done at practice. Encourage team members to develop new friendships with new freshmen. Make sure you get the freshmen to regattas.
Regattas give the teams a chance to bond and form close knit groups. If regattas aren't possible, get together with schools in your area and hold mini-regattas or practices. Getting everyone out racing and sailing is important to keep moral high.
Non-sailing activities are also important. Social gatherings where sailing is discussed are helpful in promoting racing. There are also team dinners where the freshmen get together to eat dinner.
Getting schools to attend regattas is also very important for the growth of the MCSA. If a regatta is run smoothly schools are more likely to want to sail at that location in the future. Similarly, if a team is well organized, freshmen will be more willing to come back. Getting members to come back in the fall is very important to keeping the team going. Before everyone leaves for summer make sure that they give you their phone number and email address. Contact them before school even starts to let them know what will be going on.
Keeping good records and passing them down to the individual who will be Commodore next year is essential to keeping things going.
The MCSA is also always looking for new member schools. If you or anyone on your team has friends that sail at a different school that would like help in starting a sailing club we can work with them to get the ball rolling. The more schools on the starting line the more fun racing can be for all of us. If you know of anyone interested in starting a team their school have them contact me or send me their name.
Sb290399@oak.cats.ohiou.edu
Photos