>From my friend Matt (ex Michigan Captain); A very good article that applies
to SEISA teams as well.
Cheers,
Blake
SEISA Graduate Director
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Matthew T. Vanderpool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sep 18, 2007 12:24 PM
Subject: [MCSA] The Column: Issue III (Visualize and Attack!)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hello all,
I'd like to add my two cents (although judging by the length of my email I'd
say it's about $1.50 in pennies) to Karl's column.
In any organization it is vital to set goals, subgoals, and milestones as a
way to develop your talent, continually make progress, and keep moral up.
This is extremely true in college sailing where every one's time is limited,
and even more so in the midwest where we are student run. Spending time
planning out a goal structure at team board meeting early in the season will
make all the other planning throughout the season easier.
How it works:
*1.) Pick a big goal:*
------>Example:Win team race qualifiers ('cause they're way cooler than
fleet race quals)
*2.) Assess your team (this is what Karl was talking about when he said be
honest with yourself)*
---- What team race skills do you currently have?
---- What do you lack?
---- Do you have anyone knowledgeable who can teach you more?
---- Do you have the necessary equipment?
---- etc.
Rank order these in importance to achieving your big goal.
-------->Example:
Let's say my team (team I heart cubes and corporate America) has: a senior
skipper who's been team racing since she was 3, but has really bad boat
handling; 3 freshman skippers with great speed, mediocre boat handling, and
no team race experience; 3 crews that have just joined the team and have
sailed sunflowers there whole life (a sunflower is a Styrofoam boat shaped
like a bathtub being pulled around by a sunfish sail with a big flower on
it); and one sophomore crew who has sailed with the senior skipper the last
two years.
Assessment: My team's got potential but not a lot of people. We need to
focus on boat handling because that is critical in team racing and we're not
so great at it. We also need to teach the freshman skippers how team racing
works, and teach our brand new crews how to sail. Then we need to get
everyone more experience team racing.
Rank order: a) Crews need to learn how to sail. (bad crew = slow sailing).
b.) Teach new skippers how team racing works (at least the basics) c.)
Improve teams boat handling. d.) Get experience team racing. e.) Find more
people to practice with so you can do 3 vs. 3 team racing
*3.) Set sub-goals: These sub-goals serve as steps towards achieving the big
goal. They provide constant direction during the year as well as giving you
yet another reason to celebrate when you achieve them which is vital to
keeping moral up when you really push things at practice.*
------>Example:
sub-goal 1: By first regatta crews should know points of sail, how to sit
and move in the boat, how to trim correctly, and how to do a halfway decent
roll tack.
sub-goal 2: By 3rd week of practice everyone should understand how team
racing works and be able to participate in the team race drills planned for
practice.
sub-goal 3: Halfway through fall season the teams boat handling should be
excellent. People should be accelerating out of every tack and gybe, able
to hold their boat at a mark or on the line for at least 3 minutes, stop and
start their boat at will, and turn up and down on a dime.
sub-goal 4: By end of fall season participate in or host an MCSA Team race
regatta and place in the top 4.
...etc...
*4.)* *Plan out how to achieve sub-goals: Plan practices, team meetings,
etc. to help accomplish one goal at a time. Doing this helps give reason to
the 30 tacks you're doing at practice, and having a list of goals helps
those planning practice to know what to focus on.*
------> Example: For sub-goal 1: By first regatta crews should know points
of sail, how to sit and move in the boat, how to trim correctly, and how to
do a halfway decent roll tack.
My team should spend the first practice familiarizing crews with the boats
and basic sailing theory:
a.) This is how you rig a boat.
b.) This is what the parts of the boat are called
c.) This is how you sit properly in the boat and why it is important to sit
this way
d.) This is how you trim the sail at this point of sail and why
e.) etc...
Then you might even consider having a quiz (this sounds lame, really lame in
fact but it's a good way to make people focus and think which will help them
remember and not mess up later)
Second practice:
My team will spend the first 1/4 of 2nd practice reviewing what was learned
in the first practice and then getting in the boats and sailing around a
course that lets the crews practice trimming at different points of sail,
tack, gybe, etc...
The crews should be focusing on getting these basics down: Sail trimmed
correctly, proper sitting position and movement in the boat, etc...
Third practice: Roll tacks, etc...
*5.) This is where you party, and have a grand old time when you accomplish
your sub-goals.*
**
I guarantee if you implement this sort of planning (Big Goal ---->
Sub-Goals/Milestone Regattas ---> Weekly meeting chalk talk topics and
Practice plans) you will have an easier time planning effective practices
and keeping your team motivated and focused. You will also have a lot of
fun because you've given everyone things to celebrate and milestones at
which to feel you've accomplished something along the way to your big, far
out, hard to reach goal.
Good luck and fair winds,
Vandy
Univ. Michigan '06
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