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2547
Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1151 |
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Topic: Mind the gap Posted: 26 Jul 13 at 8:20pm |
I was pondering that perhaps one of the challenge the sport faces is we are in the gap between moving from a volunteer based administration to a professional one that needs to be funded.
At both a club and a association level I have observed less & less people willing to volunteer to run stuff these days as peoples lifestyles seem to get ever more hectic ... that means either stuff gets dropped or that work load falls onto the broad shoulders of the remaining volunteers. In the interim it seems that those unwilling to volunteer have not yet got to the point where they are willing to fund professional sports administrators to do what they are not prepared to do as volunteers. Are we in a generation where this transition will occur? |
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sargesail
Really should get out more Joined: 14 Jan 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1459 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jul 13 at 8:22pm |
no
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gordon
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Sep 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1037 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jul 13 at 8:28pm |
Already happened on the other side of the Channel - one of the main roles of the professionals being to set up the event so that the volunteers that do still exist (race officials and their helpers) have every thing they need to work.
But then the French pay local taxes and expect councils to run things correctly, including employing staff to run sailing centres. The downside - mpossible to translate "club racing" in to words that a French sailor would understand. |
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Gordon
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sargesail
Really should get out more Joined: 14 Jan 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1459 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jul 13 at 9:43pm |
And the bureaucracy surrounding racing too Gordon.
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alstorer
Really should get out more Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jul 13 at 10:32pm |
I was just at a Worlds in France. Whilst the rescue crew etc were employed by the host sailing centre, the catering, bar and additional Committee boat crew (beyond the PRO- there was a pin end boat and a windward mark recorder too) were all local volunteers from what we were told. It is though a very different structure. Gordon's right that the concept of "club racing" is pretty much gone there. |
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Al |
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gordon
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Sep 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1037 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jul 13 at 11:25pm |
French bureaucracy is much exagerated -most of it is common sense. Like telling the harbour master that you are running a regatta!
Volunteers are still there, but their work is prepared and aided by professional staff. The concept of "club racing" is not "gone" because it never existed. |
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Gordon
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rodney
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Feb 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 915 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jul 13 at 11:14am |
In France most clubs run all of their events purely on a volunteer basis but some classes may choose to bring in their own PRO and, perhaps, their team to work with the local club members. Just back from Quiberon (French Finn Nationals) where they have the luxury of being able to run the event from L'Ecole Nationale de Voile (The National Sailing School) with many of their facilities available. They even had an after dinner firework display which was fantastic until they set Quiberon on fire.
There are a few clubs in France that run regular club racing but I have to admit it's very rare. Most French dinghy sailors use their local club for training and race only at Open meetings/National Champs etc. This tends to apply to most mainland Europe countries apart from Holland and Belgium where club racing seems to be on the cards but not every weekend like in the UK. |
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Rodney Cobb
Suntouched Sailboats Limited http://www.suntouched.co.uk [EMAIL=rodney@suntouched.co.uk">rodney@suntouched.co.uk |
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2547
Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1151 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 13 at 10:39am |
From that expansive response do I assume your club & class have a ready supply of volunteers? How do you achieve that?
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yellowwelly
Really should get out more Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 13 at 11:02am |
Here's my view- semi-professionals form the membership base are the answer.
I don't want to do duties or run sailing events.... I barely get to sail enough and dinghy sailing in a club is something I do outside of family time, not part of it. If it were more a family activity, then no doubt I'd put the time in to support my kids and their friends- I do in other facets of our lives, which actually impacts on my time on the water. But I'm not going to selfishly force my family to sit around any of the mozzie infested lakes in the midlands drinking crap tea.... a sea club, with a beach and/or nice town which is directly engaged with our social lives might be different. So when I go to the sailing club, I am prepared to pay for those services instead- through a levy on membership, or ideally a system which credits membership fees against renewal notices for those who do do the duties. I don't go to the gym and top the water bottle up or wash the bogs. I don't go to the cinema and roast my own popcorn or press 'play' when it's my turn to man to the reels. There are two target groups to get the resources needed- retired/semi retired and the student population- both these demographics of members would have people who would willingly to do an extra duty for £50 a day. If it needs 'offcialising' through employment contracts, then zero hour contracts could be created. It really is a no-brainer.... apart from getting the concept voted through the membership.... as it would ultimately be a vote in favour of increased subs, and in fairness it runs the very real risk of alienating the uncredited contribution.... why should someone get paid for sitting in the committee boat writing sail numbers down, but my admin time running the (insert class) class is done for free. |
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alstorer
Really should get out more Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 13 at 12:36pm |
ooh, and atual legitimate and moral use of zero hour contracts (unlike say employing most of the staff of a large chavwear chain on them)
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Al |
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