The Rhodes Fencing Club is looking for someone willing to impart their knowledge of the sport, for free. We are a "club sport", and therefore not entitled to all the benefits of the traditional team sports, and we can't get any money from the club allocations board to pay a coach. All we can offer is our gratitude and a community to fence with 3 times a week, or less, its up to you.
At this point we have about 15 people that regularly show up for practice, we fence foil and epee. We don't have any sabreurs, but we have a ton of sabre equipment and would like to learn.
If you're interested, or would like more info, email johhm@rhodes.edu
The Rhodes Fencing Club is looking for someone willing to impart their knowledge of the sport, for free.
Rhodes College should be embarrassed by this thread….and your staff advisor Joe Vari should also be embarrassed by your plea for help. I see he also does cricket and ultimate Frisbee.
I have seen this over and over again at colleges across America. They have a storage room full of fencing gear and they open it up to the students and just “let them go at it”. Then the club members invite anybody in to teach for free.
Do they think that Obi-Wan Kenobi is just walking the streets of Memphis?
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"...you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." Capt. Barbossa
Last edited by MdA; 09-29-2009 at 12:07 PM..
Reason: add qt
If anything, the club should be willing to do fund raisers and collect dues in order to offer the coach something for his time.
A 25 person club could ask for $50 a semester each. (Yes, I know you have 15. Start recruiting.) Add to that $500 in fund raising and you'll have $3000 a year. If you have practices for 30 weeks across the year, that's $100 a week to offer a coach. It isn't much, but could be enough to make the difference between begging for volunteers and hiring someone who'd put in effort for his pay.
The college should also keep in mind that advertisements like this are likely to attract any sort of "coach" who may or may not have the interests of the college at heart. Getting someone in the door to teach for free usually results in the credentials, honesty, or professionalism of the "coach" not being looked at too closely. This can be a disaster for the club.
…. Add to that $500 in fund raising and you'll have $3000 a year……
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allen Evans
…. Getting someone in the door to teach for free usually results in the credentials, honesty, or professionalism of the "coach" not being looked at too closely. This can be a disaster for the club.
Good points Paul and Allen,
Another idea is to stipulate that part of the $3000 a year will be spent on continuing education for the coach. Perhaps there is no money in rec sports for salaries but there might be money for training. You could send your coach to a USFCA Clinic or Coaches College….and maybe include your club President. You might even ask the USFCA for a scholarship for your coach if Rhodes College has no funds. At least you could have some assurance that you are attracting a person who is interested in professional development.
Don’t get me wrong. These college club programs can be great proving grounds for talented young coaches…as Brad points out…but your rec sports department has got to help you put the right incentives in place for a quality program.
Maybe I'm posting in the wrong section, no one expects a professional coach for no money. Our adviser has been extremely helpful and the college very generous in providing money to repair club equipment. I guess what we're really looking for is a community member with more experience than the rest of us. We can't charge club dues, and our recruitment at the beginning of the semester only yielded 15 beginners who regularly show up to practice. We've asked around at the few tournaments in the memphis area, to no avail, this post was a just a hail mary to see if there was someone we missed. Maybe our most experienced members can get to a coaches clinic or some other class one of these days.
Looking at the Rhodes College "Club Sports Handbook", it explicitly mentions how dues should be set. Not to mention a variety of other mechanisms for fund-raising.
pjsise: The Handbook also specifies that coaches are volunteers. There are a number of colleges which have such a requirement for club sports (including Temple). MdA's suggestion to provide compensation through non-financial means likely fits within the club sports regulations at Rhodes. Paying for training opportunities also has the benefit of increasing the knowledge and level of the coach.
-B
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Thanks for the info Brad. I'll agree that if direct compensation can't be made to the coach for his work then paying for training is a good option.
I'd also suggest that the club could also see to it that the volunteer coach need not use any of his own money to do his job. The club could purchase coaching equipment that it could own but the coach could use. If the coach snaps a blade the club should replace it. The club might also be able to pay for (or reimburse) any travel expenses associated with competitions.
Most of the people in this coaching section are professionals and come to fencing with a much more serious attitude about it.
I fenced at Mizzou in the late 70's / early 80's. We didn't have a paid coach either. We had a grad student who knew more than we did and he taught us what he could. We wanted to win and we trained hard but we understood we were not going to the Olympics. Still we had fun and learned about fencing and got to go on some road-trips.
I think if you keep getting the word out you can find someone who knows more than you guys and who is willing to coach just because it's fun. I coach a Scout team near St. Louis. I'm no real coach but our kids have fun with fencing and I have fun trying to coach.
Good luck and keep trying.
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Pearce
"God is a mathematician with an eye for art"
__________________
"...you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." Capt. Barbossa
Last edited by MdA; 09-30-2009 at 07:47 PM..
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