February 11, 2011 Rice Creek Boat Club “State of the Club” One of the most exciting parts about starting up a new organization is watching it grow. By almost any measure, the RCBC has been a resounding success in achieving our mission of “introducing youth to flatwater canoe and kayak racing”. Over the past 3 years, we’ve had some growth in numbers - limited by our desire to keep things manageable, incredible success at the United States Canoe Association National Championships, and most recently recognition by USA Canoe/Kayak, the governing body for Olympic style racing in the US. And it’s all been a lot of fun for the athletes, their families, and the adults who work with the young athletes. As an organization, we’ve made a big jump this year, achieving IRS recognized “501(c)3” not-for-profit status, which allows us to accept tax-deductible donations from individuals and corporations, and to begin looking at growing more permanent roots in the community. With our USACK affiliation, it’s opened up the possibility that an RCBC member might join a Jr World team, or be able to compete for a spot on the Olympic team. As with any growth opportunity, there are challenges to be met, and hurdles to overcome. Recently, several questions have arisen regarding whether the RCBC would be dropping marathon style paddling and focusing solely on sprint. Nothing could be further from the truth! RCBC was founded to introduce marathon flatwater paddling (as opposed to whitewater or ocean paddling). All of the local and regional races we compete in are marathon flatwater races, and most importantly, all of our volunteer coaches and supporters are marathon canoe paddlers. Marathon paddling is intrinsic to who we are. As we’ve grown, it’s become possible to add sprint to the original mission, building on top of our marathon base. Doing so meant broadening our mission, but it does not change our basic methods or technique. During our fall meeting we affirmed our primary designation as a mararthon club and instituted some organizational changes to help plan our growth. During our fall meeting we also formed three committees: membership, operations, and fundraising. We had a few people sign up for one or more committees at our meeting. We will send out another sign-up list to make sure everyone who wants to get involved has an opportunity to do so. We are looking for help, so please join a committee of interest to you. The committees should help put the club on a stable financial, operational and recruiting footing for years to come. Another change we agreed upon at the fall meeting was the establishment of a “Performance Training Group”. This is a year around program built on top of (not in replacement of) the existing summertime marathon paddling program. The intent is to provide more structure, training and competition opportunities for those athletes who aspire to higher level competition, particularly in the sprint events, but also in marathon events. Athletes choosing to participate in the PTG will be expected to pay significantly higher dues, participate in a more strenuous in- and out-of-season workout program, plus take part in the normal Monday/Thursday practices with the rest of the club. Please contact Marsh if you would like more information about this group now. We will present this option at our March recruiting meeting as well. We’ve also upped the level of our coaching skills. Judy Mikolai is now a USACK certified coach, and Marsh Jones is certifying as a High Performance Coach for USACK. So what's changed for the 2011 season? First, Monday and Thursday nights (until Hoigaards starts) are still marathon canoe, Alll paddlers (including PTG) will be in canoes. It's important that everyone still paddle together, and that new kids will gain experience from the kids who did Nationals last year(s). Tuesdays will still be solo boat night, and the focus will initially be on learning to stay upright in C1s and K1s. We want as many kids as possible to train for the Barton Cup canoe race and compete in C1/K1 at Nationals. Weekend paddles at St Croix (Rum, etc) should remain about the same mix as before, although we may see more kids in kayak on those runs. Thursday nights are going to continue to be predominantly USCA C-2 races, with the 'kids night' being a Barton Cup qualifier. There will be occasional races where the kayakers may want to drag out a K-2, or K-1 and compete in those, but frankly Calhoun is so weedy, they won't do it more than once. The intent is still to send a _full_team_ to USCA Nationals in Newaygo and to Muscoda (most in canoes since that scores bigger points). We also want to send as many kids to Arkansas for the “Scout Race” too. That’s a great event in its own right. The club is also looking for a 40’ shipping container and location to store that, probably in the Northwest Quadrant, adjacent to Long Lake Park. The container would allow us to store most of the boats “on-site” during the competition year, instead of having to load and unload the trailer on a daily basis (not to mention towing it everywhere). The other new feature is Spring Camp. This year (and probably next) we are going to Tarpon Springs, Florida for a week of paddling. This trip is open to paddlers who have at least a year’s experience, and will an intensive week of paddling. We’ll be paddling 2 workouts a day of 2 hours or so, plus other activities like going out in an OC-6 (Hawaiian style outrigger canoe for 6 paddlers), a little sightseeing, and we might even play at the beach a bit. This trip is entirely paddler funded, so start saving your quarters for next year! And that’s pretty much where things are heading. Right now we have a pretty slim bank balance, are actively seeking outside donations, corporate matching gifts, and will be receiving dues shortly that will put us on a good financial base for the spring. We’ll need to do some ‘kid based’ fundraising - car wash, bagging groceries, selling coffee beans, t-shirts, etc. to fund travel to these great events this summer, but that won’t start for a few weeks. Jim and Marsh |