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wrote:

Informal settings are the best to promote and grow the sport. ( my
opinion only ) because there is no stress, no expectation and no money
changing hands.

Up to a point. I think it's impossible for you to say that there will
be "no expectation" from an informal session: people will, IME, expect
to be looked after, and quite often they will expect far more looking
after than they have any obvious right to expect, however informal the
session is *meant* to be. The looking after aspect in turn means that
there is a degree of stress for the more experienced folk helping out.
The no money changing hands aspect does actually feed in to the problems
I mentioned first: something along the lines of "I've paid my membership
fee, the club should be doing things for me". Not a universal attitude,
certainly, but one which certainly exists in some people.

In my club (Tayside Sea Kayak) we are currently in the rather unusual
position where we're practically beating off new members with a ****ty
stick (a few years ago sea kayaking in the UK was basically seen as for
Men With Beards), and we're having great trouble making sure people are
up to a decent speed before it's right to let them loose on a club
paddle where they can ruin it for others if they're Clue Free. People
who've joined to go sea kayaking, and being told they can't because the
people who had volunteered their own time to help get them started can't
actually spare it right now for very good reasons, are not Happy People.
It isn't anyone's fault, but that's how it is.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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