Post
by Dee » Wed Feb 17, 2016 11:51 am
It's a long time since I had a son in Div 4, but the issue then was frequency and locality of Div 4s; in this respect little has changed.
Nearly 3 years ago, I ran a div 4 short course at Windsor; it was, I believe, a success with 70 entrants, many of whom subsequently attended the div 3/4 event at Shepperton 3 weeks later.
I haven't repeated it since, part of the reason as some will know is illness, BUT I did consider it this year and (apart from being wary of overdoing things) the main reasons I haven't decided to go for it are:
1) Insurance and BCU membership. In theory we should ask for all div 4 paddlers to either show a BCU card or pay for day membership, but I had a lot of paddlers saying they were covered by their club. The trouble is they had no proof of this and it depends on the type of membership the club holds. On the day I just crossed my fingers, but I won't knowingly go into this risk again.
2) I'm not confident of my own insurance cover running an event at a club of which I'm not a member (I'm not a member of the BCU)
3) The need for a Welfare Officer
4) The need for a Safety Officer
5) The need for a first aider
6) The need for three jury members (one of whom is independant from the club)
7) The lack of helpers (we coped, just, but most of the 70 paddlers had never attended a slalom before and those that had brought groups of youngsters and really did have their hands full)
So, on the basis that the original post was made on behalf of the slalom committee, what could be done to help
Points 1&2:
We need a blanket insurance to cover all div 4 events. This needs to be arranged centrally so that when a div 4 is accepted by a slalom committee representiative, all paddlers, helpers, organisers are automatically covered, whether or not the paddlers belong to the BCU.
Points 3,4,5:
There is an argument that these are even more important roles at a div 4 than any other event, but finding people to fill them is hard. I know that each slalom club should have someone, but I can't guarrantee that they will all be available on any given day, especially for events that aren't even at our club. So
Option 1) We have a timing team and a team of section judges who do a fantastic job at Prem/1 races. I wonder whether it would be possible to organise a Div 2/3/4 support team, such that everyone in the team would be trained for all three roles and CRB checked. It would then be possible for a div 4 organiser to request support from the team and know that these key roles would be covered. I do know here that I'm asking for yet another team of volunteers to be set up, but I think a central initiative here could possibly just work. If the team were all cross-trained it would only require one of them to attend an event.
Option 2) We have free training for organisers to cover at least roles for 3 and 4 in a single session (it is, to be fair, usually easier to find someone with first aid training) and the slalom committee takes on the role of CRB checking the organisers.
Point 6:
This is about simplifying the rules for lower division races. Does a div 4 short course event (or even a div 3) really need a full jury? Do we really need a jury member who does not belong to the club? Note that if we went with option 1 for points 3,4,5 then that support volunteer could also act as the jury.
Point 7:
A perennial problem and not one that the committee can help with. If I had the insurance and the specific support above, I'd be more likely to start twisting arms. (Oh, and I learnt something last time; if I know a big group is coming together I'd try and get them to commit to covering a judging position in advance in the hope that the team leader could just make it part of the day)
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!