One thing that has always confused me about club paddling is regatta season vs distance season. The first year I paddled, our Novice B crew did all the regatta races and all the distance races Maui had to offer. The confusing part was joining the club you paid dues and were able to race....regattas! When it came to distance each crew paid its own way. I believe alot of clubs in Hawaii put way too much emphasis on the regatta season and distance is kind of an after thought, or for the "hard-core" paddlers. The clubs that I have paddled for were structured for the regatta season with coaching structure, board , etc. Would it be more beneficial to have clubs that operate all year round with the distance as the priority, and the regatta season as the youth and novice builder? I know Luke had a thread that he used to voice his frustration over the season structure. To me, to be competitive, it takes commitment, dedication, and a vision of where you want to be. If Hawaii paddlers want to be the best in the distance races, does the season structure need to be changed? Can the clubs be dually structured to prepare for both seasons simultaneously?
Submitted by kicbacmaui on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 2:47pm
I feel that our club IS dually structured to prepare for both seasons simultaneously. Regatta season is the time to lay down the base and work on technique and drills. Distance season is so short it goes by in a flash and all you really have time to do is fine-tune your combinations and assess race performance of the paddlers.
In regards to dues. Not all clubs set them up the same way. Regatta dues are relatively straight forward and race costs are low enough that dues don't need to be outrageous. Distance races cost a LOT more to do. Many clubs do as you described, and pay as they race. Our club sets distance dues after we do our annual fundraiser and have an idea of how many paddlers plan to continue with us for the distance season. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. We often have a few paddlers that don't get to race every race and they grumble about having to pay the same amount as those that race every race. On the other hand, the combination of a good fundraiser shared by more paddlers and more paddlers paying set dues allows us each to pay less over all per race. Either way distance season will always take more commitment in terms of both time and money, so it will always be more for the "hard core" paddlers.
There may be better ways to structure the season. But that is easier said than done. Due to the efforts of many volunteers from many different organizations (HCRA, OHCRA, Hui Waa, PAA, Kanaka Ikaika, etc), we can now pretty much race all year long. It is up to us to train hard and work together as a team.
#1 Tue, 10/27/2009 - 4:58pm