Steve(Wells),

Good idea, which will work to the degree that any of
us practice it. Bill McAndrew used to promote this
concept when he was with us. You've outlined it well.

Your concern about declining numbers, however, may be
a little contrary to reality. While The Great Cross
Sound numbers are down (this was discussed quite a bit
at the Annual Meeting) a brief study of race
participation in 1998 and 2004 revealed these numbers:


In 1998 556 boats carrying 702 human engines
participated in our 15 races. In 2004 736 boats
carried 1011 racers in 16 races. (the San Juan
Challenge is not included in these figures) Looks like
we're doing pretty well, but surely not enough to
preclude inclusion of more folks through mentoring.

Thanks for making us think.

Steve Bennett

As a postscript I'd like to add that this is my first
missive to the Sound Rowers news group, as I only
recently discovered it. I would like to encourage
those reading this to take a look at your Yahoo
profiles and include your real name. It is really
hard to identify the writers based on their user names
and it would be nice to.


--- SoundRowers@... wrote:

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~-->
Give the gift of life to a sick child.
Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's
'Thanks & Giving.'

http://us.click.yahoo.com/5iY7fA/6WnJAA/Y3ZIAA/d6TolB/TM

--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. mentoring
From: "evergreenrowing"
<steve@...>

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:54:26 -0000
From: "evergreenrowing"
<steve@...>
Subject: mentoring


In my daily work selling rowing shells I regularly
invite people who
are new to rowing to participate in Sound Rowers
events. The most
frequent response is "I'm doing this for exercise
and I'm not into
racing." In fact, only a few intrepid souls have
bought boats from
me and also become regulars at our events.
Meanwhile, the number of
boats in our races is smaller than in years past....
check the
numbers from GXS in 1982!

At Mercer Island I tried a new approach which seemed
to work well,
and I suggest more of us try this... mentoring. In
my case, the new
sculler was my wife, but I figure the approach would
help overcome
people's hesitancy to join the fun of S/R events.
Basically, I
agreed to stay with my wife the entire time so that
she need not
worrry about having to figure out what was going on.
The idea could
be extended to:
1. picking up the person and her/his boat
2. driving together to the race
3. setting up and checking in
4. travelling together while ensuring both
familiarity with the
course and safety
5. post-race celebration

That said, if anyone knows of someone new to rowing
at S/R events
who'd like a mentor, I volunteer. I invite others to
volunteer. If
this catches on, we could add a "Getting Started"
button on our web
site which tells newcomers how to match up with a
mentor.

What do you think?

-- Steve Wells

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links


SoundRowers-unsubscribe@...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250