New Olympic events.

Originally posted by L123456 How many women are on WS council ??? I bet it's pretty much an old boys club ... a bunch of old men getting all exited over gender equality ....

Originally posted by turnturtle I’d back that prediction too Matt... certainly from the snow sports and surfing things I’ve witnessed, early women’s only sessions seems to serve two purposes- 1) provide an environment for elite level athletes to rise to the top and 2) provide a bullsh*t free environment for young women to continue to practice the sport they love without necessarily dealing with the emotional and/or social pressures of engaging with the other sex during such a formative period of adolescence. I’d imagine the latter provides much needed headspace given the level of social media consumption in every other aspects of their lives

On the flipside, if in the elite arena, one generally improves by training with superior athletes. For the reasons stated before, ie vo2 max, muscle mass / strength, and also I believe spatial / motor skills, blokes in general are naturally better endowed in this regard than women. Thus elite women atheletes benefit from male training partners.
Lots of Olympic radial girls have employed male radial training partners.
I’ve done half marathons where the top ladies had male “domestiques”

It’s probably frowned upon to say these days, but hey ho, men and women (And boys an girls) ARE different and as such are motivated differently and respond to different (training) stimuli. This is born out by my experience as a coach, competitor, parent and friend.
So whilst say girls respond best to slightly different training approaches, I think it’s healthy and reasonable that younger sailors of both sexes should enjoy participating in an activity that they love with like minded members of the opposite sex. It’s an important healthy developmental thing to enjoy in life and is an avenue through which many have met partners and later enjoy as families. Certainly was a draw for me as a nipper and I know I’m not alone in that regard both amongst contemporary lads and lasses. Many of my strongest friendships were forged in youth sailing. I would have been somewhat less interested in an imposed gender apartheid as a young competitor. Especially as a nipper enjoyment is directly correlated to performance and retention. Also, there is no hashtagging smartphone nonsense when sailing!

Would be difficult for most Kite surfers to organise themselves, let alone a club or association, the majority of kite surfers I know have zero interest in any form of government, they are so laid back and enjoying life.

Originally posted by Daniel Holman Originally posted by turnturtle I’d back that prediction too Matt... certainly from the snow sports and surfing things I’ve witnessed, early women’s only sessions seems to serve two purposes- 1) provide an environment for elite level athletes to rise to the top and 2) provide a bullsh*t free environment for young women to continue to practice the sport they love without necessarily dealing with the emotional and/or social pressures of engaging with the other sex during such a formative period of adolescence. I’d imagine the latter provides much needed headspace given the level of social media consumption in every other aspects of their lives On the flipside, if in the elite arena, one generally improves by training with superior athletes. For the reasons stated before, ie vo2 max, muscle mass / strength, and also I believe spatial / motor skills, blokes in general are naturally better endowed in this regard than women. Thus elite women atheletes benefit from male training partners. Lots of Olympic radial girls have employed male radial training partners. I’ve done half marathons where the top ladies had male “domestiques” It’s probably frowned upon to say these days, but hey ho, men and women (And boys an girls) ARE different and as such are motivated differently and respond to different (training) stimuli. This is born out by my experience as a coach, competitor, parent and friend. So whilst say girls respond best to slightly different training approaches, I think it’s healthy and reasonable that younger sailors of both sexes should enjoy participating in an activity that they love with like minded members of the opposite sex. It’s an important healthy developmental thing to enjoy in life and is an avenue through which many have met partners and later enjoy as families. Certainly was a draw for me as a nipper and I know I’m not alone in that regard both amongst contemporary lads and lasses. Many of my strongest friendships were forged in youth sailing. I would have been somewhat less interested in an imposed gender apartheid as a young competitor. Especially as a nipper enjoyment is directly correlated to performance and retention. Also, there is no hashtagging smartphone nonsense when sailing!

Well what the Opis are doing seems to answer your points. Firstly they all race together but in squad qualification terms girls are selected against girls and boys against boys. The top 25 make Girls squad and boys squad. Off these the top 18 (but minimum 4 girls) become National squad. This year 2 girls were in the top 18 so the National squad is 20 strong. Thus girls squad is 21 and boys squad is 9. Then there is the IOCA development squad which is 9 boys this year. The squads are arranged so that there are almost always 2 squads at the venue and they seem to be doing some sailing together. Seems the best of both worlds?

By the way while the girls were heads shoulders knees and young the boys were warming up in a stereotypical fashion with some light scuffling. That night the girls boats were tidy and the boys boats were,well, everywhere. Yes they are different!

Originally posted by Daniel Holman Originally posted by turnturtle I’d back that prediction too Matt... certainly from the snow sports and surfing things I’ve witnessed, early women’s only sessions seems to serve two purposes- 1) provide an environment for elite level athletes to rise to the top and 2) provide a bullsh*t free environment for young women to continue to practice the sport they love without necessarily dealing with the emotional and/or social pressures of engaging with the other sex during such a formative period of adolescence. I’d imagine the latter provides much needed headspace given the level of social media consumption in every other aspects of their lives On the flipside, if in the elite arena, one generally improves by training with superior athletes. For the reasons stated before, ie vo2 max, muscle mass / strength, and also I believe spatial / motor skills, blokes in general are naturally better endowed in this regard than women. Thus elite women atheletes benefit from male training partners. Lots of Olympic radial girls have employed male radial training partners. I’ve done half marathons where the top ladies had male “domestiques” It’s probably frowned upon to say these days, but hey ho, men and women (And boys an girls) ARE different and as such are motivated differently and respond to different (training) stimuli. This is born out by my experience as a coach, competitor, parent and friend. So whilst say girls respond best to slightly different training approaches, I think it’s healthy and reasonable that younger sailors of both sexes should enjoy participating in an activity that they love with like minded members of the opposite sex. It’s an important healthy developmental thing to enjoy in life and is an avenue through which many have met partners and later enjoy as families. Certainly was a draw for me as a nipper and I know I’m not alone in that regard both amongst contemporary lads and lasses. Many of my strongest friendships were forged in youth sailing. I would have been somewhat less interested in an imposed gender apartheid as a young competitor. Especially as a nipper enjoyment is directly correlated to performance and retention. Also, there is no hashtagging smartphone nonsense when sailing!