3:30 AM Fri 23 Apr 2010 GMT
During the sailing season most young sailors are honing their skills to improve their performance and beat that one or five competitors in front of them. Unfortunately for some that last weekend of the sailing season comes and the sailor wanted to be that tiny bit better or go on the water a few more times with structured racing or training.
Yachting NSW has adopted a successful sailing program that has been run by Avalon Sailing Club and supported by the Flying 11 and other Pittwater based Clubs over the past two years. This program was an original approach to a large scale sailing program designed to benefit our youth. YNSW General Manager Peter Hemery said 'I am delighted that YNSW has adopted a successful program, and sees a great opportunity for the youth who participate to develop their skills. The subsequent ability to train and employ junior coaches creates a platform for the future in developing skilled coaches within NSW'.
The Yachting NSW Winter Training program runs over five days over multiple weeks through the winter months. It is aimed at ALL Youth sailors from ALL classes.
The Yachting NSW Winter Training is a participation initiative to keep our youth interested in the sport we all love and to tone those skills they had gained throughout the summer months.
David Price president of the Flying 11's commented 'We recognised that as the majority of our young sailors became more confident with their sport, they would more than likely remain in the sport longer. It was also imperative it remain fun. The 'off-season' presented the opportunity for the class to continue to use our own, more senior sailors at a number of venues across the broad areas we sailed to pass on their skill to the general fleet, not just the top end.'
'We also noticed our sailors learned more from their peers, certainly enjoyed the social interaction with the class jocks (boys and girls) and the popularity of the programs gained momentum from there. Our participation levels within the Flying Eleven class grew considerably over a relatively short period of time. We are now fortunate to be working in association with Andrew Cribb of YNSW to continue the successes of participation growth levels in all youth sailing classes in NSW and Australia - the 'Big Picture Project' we like to call it.'
At this stage Yachting NSW has identified four locations for this inaugural Yachting NSW Winter Training to take place. These venues are Belmont 16ft Sailing Skiff Club, Cronulla Sailing Club, Drummoyne Sailing Club and Woollahra Sailing Club. Please note that any youth sailor may attend any venue even if they are not members of the respective clubs.
Depending on the success of this coming Winter Training Program, Yachting NSW aims to grow this program further by promoting this program into regional areas.
For more information please go to
www.nsw.yachting.org.au/WinterTraining
by Daniel Williams
|
Manly, QLD
