Wot no training for grown-ups?

   There's a big training/coaching structure in place for kids, with central funding etc- aimed pretty much at the Olympic squads.

There is, obviously, no such structure for adults.

There's much less central funding for it therefore, and there's much less "shared knowledge" on coaching for adults- the coaching for kids won't translate well to adults.

There's also less demand- the vast majority of club sailors are content to turn up on a Sunday, pootle round two or three races and pack up again. They don't see training as something that could be fun itself. This makes sailing a pretty odd sport- though perhaps most sunday league footballers spend little time training compared to time spent "competing"- as for many sports the main focus for time is really training/practice rather than competition.

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alstorer Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899	Post Options Post Reply Quote alstorer Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Wot no training for grown-ups? Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 11:39am
	There's a big training/coaching structure in place for kids, with central funding etc- aimed pretty much at the Olympic squads. There is, obviously, no such structure for adults. There's much less central funding for it therefore, and there's much less "shared knowledge" on coaching for adults- the coaching for kids won't translate well to adults. There's also less demand- the vast majority of club sailors are content to turn up on a Sunday, pootle round two or three races and pack up again. They don't see training as something that could be fun itself. This makes sailing a pretty odd sport- though perhaps most sunday league footballers spend little time training compared to time spent "competing"- as for many sports the main focus for time is really training/practice rather than competition.
	-_ Al

barclay174 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Newbie Joined: 15 Jul 11 Location: Brighton Online Status: Offline Posts: 18	Post Options Post Reply Quote barclay174 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 10:50am
	As there isn't a category for 'training', I'm putting it in the 'choosing a boat' in the hope that it might get a decent readership - apologies! Basically, my problem is that it just doesn't seem to be possible to get much in the way of regular training for adult sailors. I sail a Laser & enjoy club racing but feel (now that I've read & memorised every Laser book available) that I don't learn as much from it as I would from some decent training sessions. And my partner, who isn't up to club racing standard, would like some proper instruction to get there & then get better (he doesn't like losing). My sailing club in London does all the RYA courses, but once you've got past that there's not much more than a some 'group coaching' - which involves sailing around in circles for two hours with a very occasional word from (as often as not) a windsurf instructor - & a few race training days over the winter that are frequently cancelled due to bad weather or lack of attendance. I thought regular private tuition might be the answer, but all they could offer me was one date two months ahead that I couldn't make. This seems to be the case at the other sailing club near me, so I was starting to think it was normal. But my mum's recently joined a club in Dorset & they have loads of regular training sessions for women, Lasers etc with good, full-on instruction. So, to cut a long ramble short, what I want to know is: 1. Why adult training seems to be so hard to find unless you go on holiday to Minorca or some such; and 2. If anyone can recommend me a sailing club either in London (preferably west) or around the Solent that does have good training for adults; or 3. If anyone has any suggestions about how to arrange regular private tuition. Any help much appreciated. Thanks Lucy