 Poster: A snowHead
|
Received today:
Challenge & Redevelopment of Alpine Ski Racing in GBR
Why we are making the changes and selling this vision
• Safety
• Create more training time
• Improve quality of training and accelerate progress
• Increase longevity in the sport, reduce drop out
What we are going to be changing
• Provide best practice information to all from BSS
• Introduce changes to competition structure
• Incentivise racing community to follow
How we are planning to change this is being headed by changes to the competition structure, but has to be implemented by the coaches and the coaching system that we will be putting in place
• Advertise goals
• Align coach education
• Create new entry-level competition structure
• Short (stubby) gates for U14 SL
• Put in place limits on race entries
The rules and the details must follow the changes that are absolutely vital to the future of the sport in GBR
Step by step process
• Detail the changes
• Create the rules
• Test the product
• Alter as necessary
Injury prevention, and safety
We believe we would be irresponsible if we contribute in any way to delays in uptake and implementation of these changes.
The GBR Children’s Race Injury Record is now live.
We accept that these proposals will create challenges for coaches, and for race organisers, as well as for parents. Education will be key! Also crucial will be on-going monitoring and update of the changes and their effects.
Proposals:
1. Adopt new FIS age ranges and nomenclature for snow, indoor snow and artificial racing.
2. No slalom races on snow for U12; slalom with stubbies only on plastic for U12
3. Stubby gates for Slalom on snow for U14; also in ALL artificial/indoor snow races for U14, U12 and anyone below this age group* including all Schools events, qualifying races, Grand Prix races etc on artificial surfaces. *detailed reasons below
4. Offer multi-faceted events on snow for U12 and U14 (as with the Combi ‘agility’ race that was run for minis in Meribel). There are already comprehensive rules for Combi races in the children's section of the Alpine ICR. These races do not have to be complex, but can be set up simply on ‘normal’ slopes (obstacles etc!). Races on artificial surfaces can also include obstacles, etc.
5. Head-to-head races. Parallel events with GS or slalom turns (stubbies U14 if slalom)
Parallel format can be judged from start and finish and run like knockout tournament (no timing and less cost) - WC format is both racers timed...
Dual/Parallel format – how many runs?
Knockout tournament
6. A recommended limit of 6 snow race starts for U12, and a limit of 8 or 10 technical snow race starts for U14 (considering, for example, a Giant Slalom start as one, though actually 2 races). SG not to be included in the start limits. Say 10-12 snow race starts for U16, again exclusive of SG. Coaches to monitor.
7. A strong recommendation that the plastic season should follow the snow. At present, it starts long before kids have moved into the next FIS age category, even before the end of the snow season. We accept that this will take a year to implement.
8. When is Slalom introduced? Difficult to do just GS on artificial/indoor slopes
Parallel could be run with stubby gates or smaller GS panels
Course specification
Stubby gate distance between 6m and 8m and GS panel distance between 8m and 10m
*Slalom
With the introduction of rapid gates in the eighties, Slalom by definition became a contact discipline. To ski Slalom well, you ski through the gates not hit them – but you have to be a top skier to do this and you have to have the perfect line. The first problem for young children without the skills is that their perception is that they need to reach to hit the gates. The first and final challenge for all is to develop the perfect line.
Before rapid gates were introduced, the focus was on skiing around solid poles and therefore it was arguably easier for children to focus on sound technique.
Problems
1. Rapid gates can intimidate children; the focus for many is on the gate not on sound technique.
2. They ski defensively, lean in or use their arms as though they were conducting an orchestra.
It is clear that many of our young athletes go into Slalom competition when they are clearly not ready. Some come into the sport at a later age the first thing our competition structure does is put them into a discipline they are not ready for (Slalom).
3. Skiing rapid gates when young skiers are not ready encourages poor technique poor posture and can create long-term problems that are often compounded when a child is in a growth spurt. Even some of are best skiers who skied Slalom well before a growth spurt end up with major problems after they grow because they have continued to train and race Slalom.
4. As coaches we are not always in control of what are athletes are doing. There is a big schools programme, many have to ski for their schools in order to get the time off to compete with their clubs/academies. In these competitions they are often subjected to rapid gates. They went off skiing quite well and then come back with problems.
5. It is recognised that slalom has been the biggest single negative to long term child development, not because there is a problem with the discipline itself, but because many children are introduced to the long gate version too early on artificial slopes, indoor snow slopes and in snow competitions.
Summary
In other words kids need to learn to ski first before they are subjected to long gate slalom.
Have fun - ski powder, all terrain skiing, learn to jump, to play in the snow...
While the competition structure stays the same as it has been for the last thirty years, we will not produce the standard and quantity of athletes that can perform at the highest level. If we change the training and competition structures, there is no reason why we should not be able to compete against the best in the future, and in so doing will help to safeguard the health of our young racers.
And before anyone asks, I have no idea to whom comments on this should be addressed. That may be my first comment...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Can't see anything I would disagree with there, it matches the kind of training that I see taking place in France. Where did it come from ?
One thing to add is that this race series has been run with two courses for U12, two for U16 and two for O16 per day for several years now; it doesn't take all that long to reset between runs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Been thinking about this for a couple of weeks.
It all sounds fine in theory and generally there is pressure for coaches to "get the kids in the gates" as that is what parents expect. However; it's not the best thing for skills development. We (myself and one other coach) did an expirement last week with a group of moderatly able kids (10 to 15 yeas olds). ERSA seed points from 200 to 500 ish. They all skiied better lines thru "floppies" (soft pipe gates) than they did thru full heights.
But they all wanted to ski the full-height as soon as possible. (they did not know we were doing this exercise). "we like punching them".
So; I support the proposals; but we, as coaches, will need to educate the athletes and parents!
Some clubs (mine included) may have to alter the age splits for coaching sessions and this my present challenges to parents who then have to spend longer at our slopes.
Race days will be slightly extended and running order changed to accomodate course changes (but not long with a few people to change 10 to 30 poles).
One question I do have is what they define as "stubbies". I do not like or support using short hard gates. Much prefer "soft floppy" markers.
One thing; spoke to my 11 year old who has just returned to racing after 2 years off (unwell for 12 months and then easing back in) and after 3 months training (and introduction to full gates, plus the purchase of shin and pole guards) his attitiude has changed from hating full gates to loving them.
When asked about these proposals his answer was "that will be crap dad". We have some work to do on the athletes; but I am sure they will come round....
The main problem we have in the UK artificial slopes (snow or plastic) is the lack of "The whole mountain".
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
They are doing this at the Hem CN for U10 as a trial I see, two identically set courses one with stubbies and the other with full gates, one run on each.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| gatecrasher wrote: |
| They are doing this at the Hem CN for U10 as a trial I see, two identically set courses one with stubbies and the other with full gates, one run on each. |
i will be there so it will be very interesting to see how that goes
bring back rigid gates, see how much they like punching them then 
the parents are a lot of the problem and then there is the "convention" this is how it has always been type attitude
i remember years ago being pestered by a group of parents with the constant questioning of when are they going to ski gates, all the kids want to ski gates when are you going to do that etc etc etc. i can see why lesser coaches fall for it and just give the parents what they want to see, or management get so much hassle that they tell the coaches that they should do more gates and this is what people want
if something is not done soon there will be no future for ski racing in the UK
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
As the current proposal is for all U14 slaloms to be using stubbies, why aren't they trialling that at Hemel?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CEM, I agree and as a parent if I'm honest I've probably done a bit of it myself  when It seemed like every other kid and it's dog were skiing/blocking full gates.
If (all) competitions were changed to a stubby format for say U12 whatever, then there would be less pressure from parents on coaches to get their kids hitting gates so I'm all for it.
RobW, It would be interesting to see the whole start list run the stubby course also.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
one problem is that the kids do 2 hrs training a week, then race on snow, finish snow races then go back to 2 hrs training a week and nothing changes, their 2 hours is spent beating the living poo-poo out of gates when they should be out running around the park doing other types of fitness, maybe someone high up in the powers that be could creat a cross training program that club coaches could work to..yup it would involve some skiing but it might actually involve other agility exercises too
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
ive been doing this with my two for 6 years now!! technique over speed every time, still having trained in europe they werent allowed near the poles till they were 10!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CEM, You think they do no other training apart for skiing gates?
Dunno if he's typical, but apart from the ski training (mostly 2-3hrs per week, about half in gates), each week oski does at least 2-3 hrs football (training and matches) and 2-3hrs tennis - and swimming as well if he can fit it in. Maybe this cross-training is why he usually wins his group?
Skiing might be his primary sport, but ski coaches/administrators need to recognise that kids do other things as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
iskar, Whereabouts in Europe? In Austria this last season the "Bambini I" category covered those racers born in 2006/2007/2008 - meaning the youngest was at most 4 years old.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
RobW, I think it is a mistake to make generalizations about whole countries.
Where I ski in France I get to watch clubs from Albertville and Annecy train as well as the local club. The valley clubs do similar stuff to most British ones, wide spread of ages training together and lots of slalom. The proposals you posted are a close match to what the local club does. You can probably guess which group ends up getting World Cup starts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How does limiting the number of particpants per race secure the future of ski competition in the UK?
Presumably countered by having more races at different performance levels.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| fatbob wrote: |
| How does limiting the number of particpants per race secure the future of ski competition in the UK? |
I think they mean limit the number of races they do, not limit the numbers in each race. Actually races already have limits on participant numbers, but for UK based racing they aren't that often reached.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
rjs, At least I restricted my sweeping generaliaztion to a single country, not to whole continent:
| iskar wrote: |
| having trained in europe they werent allowed near the poles till they were 10!! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| RobW wrote: |
| As the current proposal is for all U14 slaloms to be using stubbies, why aren't they trialling that at Hemel? |
Presumably because U12 and U14 are seeded, and they therefore can't just change the format on a whim. Run it on a different format and they couldn't seed it. And they couldn't unilaterally change it to an unseeded race after they've already advertised it as a seeded event and accepted entries on that basis without having to offer the option to withdraw and refund to all those affected (probably around 1/3 of all the entrants).
As the U10's are not seeded they presumably feel they have more flexibility to change the race format for that part of the event.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Okanagan, Exactly.  Changing to the proposed system will mean a massive upheaval to those organising and running the current races.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
RobW, Hi , do you have a link to this document so i cant put it on our club website , or will all registered coaches have received a copy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
The proposals don't suggest that U14 racing through stubbies can't be seeded. The BASS system only has one seedlist even though there are very few races where U16s race against O16s.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| rjs wrote: |
| The proposals don't suggest that U14 racing through stubbies can't be seeded. |
But you can't really seed one racer against another in the same race when they're not skiing the same course. To do that would require rule changes which couldn't happen on a whim.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Okanagan, You can seed the U14s against each other.
What would it matter if the rules were changed ? The kids would still get timed runs through a course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scot_Ski, I've only received this by email via our regional secretary, who said that it had been sent to (all) Regional Chairs/Secretaries and Club Chairs/secretaries.
If you send me a PM with your email address, I'm quite happy to forward a copy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
rjs, Nobody is saying the rules can't be changed. But there are all sort of implications in changing them without any notice between accepting entries for a race and running that race.
Doing that would open up a whole can of worms - say someone had entered already the race, but wouldn't have done if the race wasn't seeded (or even if it was only going to be seeded against U14s, which for some of the higher rated racers U14 would virtually guarantee that a points reduction was impossible). It would be easy in the circumstances to argue that the race entry fee had been acquired by deception. I'm sure the organisers wouldn't want to get invovled in that sort of potential complication just for the sake of using the first possible opportunity to trial a new system.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
RobW, PM Sent , cheers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| RobW wrote: |
| As the current proposal is for all U14 slaloms to be using stubbies, why aren't they trialling that at Hemel? |
My understanding is that the proposed changes will not be effective for this coming season and still need ratifying... I am fully supportive and have been battling along with Philbo to implement Long Term Athlete Development for U12's at Hemel (I am the Head coach for U12's) and the proposed changes are exactly in line with what we have been striving for.
The Hemel committee is being forward looking in having a go at trying this out in advance of any formal changes by BSS. I for one was hugely frustrated that for the last two seasons SSE with the Fun for Minis programme "recommended" combi and stubby races for U11's but I didn't hear of any races run like that in the UK it was always full poles..
In a trial this week prior to the CN we ran some timed trial races, one set of runs with stubbies the other full gates and the National team athletes and strong juniors (who should be able to clear gates well) were fractionally slower through the full gates...
In addition to limiting snow race starts I would like to see a limit on Artificial race starts but that wont happen as lots of dry slopes rely on the race series..
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| CEM wrote: |
| one problem is that the kids do 2 hrs training a week, then race on snow, finish snow races then go back to 2 hrs training a week and nothing changes, their 2 hours is spent beating the living poo-poo out of gates when they should be out running around the park doing other types of fitness, maybe someone high up in the powers that be could creat a cross training program that club coaches could work to..yup it would involve some skiing but it might actually involve other agility exercises too |
We have tried to get "extra" activities going for U12's but there is little interest from Parents who expect to just ski every week in week out. I was hoping to run off snow sessions at least once a quarter on fitness, ski prep, stretching etc but couldnt get it going....
We did run off slope work directly after training on Sunday mornings at MK a few years back when Ross G was still involved and this went really well but having the kids stay on after 8pm at Hemel was a tough sell and replacing a skiing session with say fitness was even a harder sell (they do that at school in PE, they only need to do it if they are in a camp, that is the preserver of academies like BAS Ambition etc)
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
skimottaret, The British Indoor Grand Prix Series has mostly used stubbies for U11s. They were not combi races but were set to feel closer to GS than a slalom, the ones that I have set were 11 to 12m and seemed to work ok, we got a lot of complaints from parents at first.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
rjs, even at MK? I didnt think they did there, but I havent been up there for a while... I tend to set 10-12 even when training for the U11's good to hear thats common with you guys up north during races..
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| skimottaret wrote: |
| In addition to limiting snow race starts I would like to see a limit on Artificial race starts but that wont happen as lots of dry slopes rely on the race series.. |
It would also be pretty difficult to enforce as the necessary information infrastructure to collate starts/results from the plethora of different local/regional series races, fun races, schools races, club races, etc simply doesn't exist at the moment.
There could also be the likely but unintended consequence that if race opportunities were rationed the better racers would start avoiding the regional/schools/club races etc, driving down the standard in those. I happen to reckon it's good for the kids to train/race alongside better skiers and see what standard they're aspiring to achieve. If you take away the visual role model which the older racers provide - which for us would be inevitable in training as we don't have the luxury of enough space to run full pole training courses and stubby courses alongside each other - and then remove the better younger racers from the more entry level races too, you don't leave a lot for your developing racers to aim for.
Of course a lot of this stuff is great in theory - but it has to be recognised that ski racing doesn't exist in a bubble, and the chances are many of your promising racers are all-round athletes who could also choose to specialise in a number of other sports. If we start going too far down the "come and train every week and you can race four times a year" route, when there are plenty of other sports competing for the same kids and offering "join our football team/rugby/cricket team and you can play in a match every week" the keenest are likely to vote with their feet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| Okanagan wrote: |
| I happen to reckon it's good for the kids to train/race alongside better skiers and see what standard they're aspiring to achieve. If you take away the visual role model which the older racers provide - which for us would be inevitable in training as we don't have the luxury of enough space to run full pole training courses and stubby courses alongside each other - and then remove the better younger racers from the more entry level races too, you don't leave a lot for your developing racers to aim for. |
Your theory is the opposite of what the good Alpine clubs that I see are doing, their age groups all train at different times and the younger ones never see the older racers.
| Quote: |
| "join our football team/rugby/cricket team and you can play in a match every week" |
That is working really well to produce skillful football players isn't it.
The proposals could just be taken as a template, clubs that want to produce good racers could follow it, the rest could carry on doing what they do now. There would only need to be a few new style races organized during the summer if the plan is to cut down the number of race starts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
Okanagan, My comments are aimed at U12's and I would hope kids parents aren't specialising in one sport at such an early age
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| skimottaret wrote: |
We have tried to get "extra" activities going for U12's but there is little interest from Parents who expect to just ski every week in week out. I was hoping to run off snow sessions at least once a quarter on fitness, ski prep, stretching etc but couldnt get it going....
|
sounds like the parents do not want their little darlings to get the best coaching and development within the sport, these are the very same people who i see week in week out telling me how little jonny is the fastest in the race club and needs everyone and should be sponsored...maybe he is through 14 gates but how does he fair when the courses get longer and he needs a bit of general fitness???
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
CEM, I hear you brother ..
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| rjs wrote: |
| Your theory is the opposite of what the good Alpine clubs that I see are doing, their age groups all train at different times and the younger ones never see the older racers. |
But a "good alpine club" is a very different creature to the average UK dry slope club. They'll have a whole mountain to work with rather than 80m of Dendix which is only available to them for a few hours a week (which makes it an awful lot easier to disappear across the horizon and not see other groups!), and plenty of coaching resource to spread across different groups, not just one or two race coaches to cover all ages.
| rjs wrote: |
| That is working really well to produce skillful football players isn't it. |
Well it's probably working better than trying to discourage participation at all would! I've no doubt that if every local football club was to decide they weren't ever going to play matches, but would spend every training session doing non-stop drills they probably would produce *some* more skillful players. But they'd also produce a lot less players, because most kids are by nature competitive and if they're not allowed to compete they'll simply go elsewhere and find another way of doing it - quite likely outside of a club/coaching structure altogether.
Let me make it clear that I'm not saying "no change" - but to make an informed decision some thought has to be given to what the negative consequences could be as well as the hoped-for positive ones. To mix metaphors there's a bit of a danger of too many coaches spoiling the broth and "We'd like to do this with our coaching" (which is essentially what these proposals are) somehow getting translated into "this is what the kids want" - when perhaps it isn't! Get it wrong and current or potential racers could end up being driven away as a result. UK ski racing doesn't have a high enough participant base to to take that risk without making sure that the likely reactions of racers (and the parents who have to pay for and facilitate it, so need to be on board too) have been thoroughly considered.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Okanagan,
| Quote: |
this is what the kids want
|
or is it what the parents want ? ... If next year all the kids U14 skied stubby courses as a matter of course would they have less fun? would they still not finish a race and be desperate to know what time they got and if they won ? or is the fun of ski racing in the UK punching SL poles?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Okanagan, What does Roger C think ? He has been on the same courses as me where we went through the theory behind these proposals.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| skimottaret wrote: |
| If next year all the kids U14 skied stubby courses as a matter of course would they have less fun? |
Given that some of them at U14 level will have been skiing full pole courses for 6 or 7 years they'd certainly find it a bit odd, and some would no doubt find it demotivating to (as they might well see it) be told to take a backwards step and abandon techniques they've worked hard at developing. There would probably be less chance of triggering a drop in numbers if any such change was phased in over time so that you'd develop your younger racers without the expectation of having full poles, and then progressively increase the age groups to which this applied, rather than try to impose the change on the older ones.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| rjs wrote: |
| Okanagan, What does Roger C think ? He has been on the same courses as me where we went through the theory behind these proposals. |
I've never said I disagree with the theory behind it - but it's all coming from a coach's point of view and trying to look at it from other viewpoints too I can see lots of issues which could be triggered by a big bang implementation of it. As I was saying earlier - we've got the coaches perspective, but even leaving aside the racers and parents there are a lot more facets to it than that which haven't even been touched upon.
The race administrator's perspective - there are issues with having to allow for more course setting, and possibly extra periods of course inspection, if you've not got space for multiple courses to be set simultaneously. Are competitions like the inter-club relays to be restricted to U16's and above? Or would all ages have to do these events on stubbies courses? Do you do all runs of U14s and below and then all runs of older racers (or vice versa)? Or have to keep switching poles?
The club finance perspective - running races has a break even point; reduce the number of race starts allowed and you reduce entries; reduce entries and you are less likely to cover costs; don't cover costs and you don't run any more races; don't have the income from running races and you don't have the finance to plough back into racer and coach development, new equipment, etc.
The club resources perspective - when you've got limited slope time, a small slope and a small number of race coaches then the smaller clubs especially are going to have to make a lot of adjustments to accomodate splitting all their U14s out from their older racers. Inevitably if you change training times you're going to lose a proportion of your racers for whom a revised time isn't logistically possible.
Of all the races my son did last year could you guess which one meant the most to him? It didn't have a trophy, a title, or even a medal. It wasn't even a national level race. It was the day that he first beat Roger head-to-head in a parallel slalom competition. He was 9. Under these proposals he'd probably never have had the chance to do that - he'd have been restricted to stubbies, and to only racing the other children for several more years. It would be a shame to wipe out those "wow" moments - so to answer skimottaret's earlier question
| Quote: |
| "If next year all the kids U14 skied stubby courses as a matter of course would they have less fun?" |
the answer in his case would have to be "yes" if it also meant the demise of the chance to race head to head against the older racers.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Fri 18-05-12 7:53; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
Okanagan, so now the truth starts to emerge, you are a parent with a kid who races and will be affected by the changes, and have you by any chance done a coaching qualification or are you commenting as a parent alone.
hate to say it but if these changes are not made then british ski racing will step backwards further into the dark ages...... maybe if there is enough decent then the parents can set up a breakaway club at each venue, lets see then where the results come from
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| CEM wrote: |
| you are a parent with a kid who races and will be affected by the changes, and have you by any chance done a coaching qualification or are you commenting as a parent alone. |
I have lots of hats - parent, coach, club administrator amongst others.
I've never said I'm against making changes
| Okanagan wrote: |
| Let me make it clear that I'm not saying "no change" |
| Okanagan wrote: |
| I've never said I disagree with the theory behind it" |
just suggesting that it's better to at least think about the implications and try to manage it in a way that reduces the chance of there being an "Oops - where have all the racers gone" moment. Introduce it first at the lower age groups, and filter it up, with everyone being aware of what the timetable is and it will work fine. Try to introduce it instantly at the top end (at an age where participation drops away anyway) and it could just trigger an exodus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
