Junior Club

[isakswings]

Just curious... those of you who either belong to a skating club or have kids who belong to a skating club, what(if anything) do your junior club members participate in? Our junior club doesn't seem to exist other then when the kids all take a vote at the end of the season to pick one member to be the "Sportsperson of the Year".  I would like to see our club have more of it's junior members involved. Not only would there be an chance to develop excellent leadership skills, I also think it will give the kids a chance to get to know eachother better... off ice. All of our activities are at the rink or on the ice. I am curious what other clubs do to increase club unity and junior members involvement.  FWIW, this is a USFS club. However, I welcome feedback from everyone!

[Sk8tmum]

What'a  "junior" member?  Sorry, clueless.

[Kim to the Max]

My club has a "Junior Board" which consists of all of the kids and 2 advisors from the Board of Directors. They do a lot of different things, community service, rink service, social and fun events, competition send offs (usually a sign hung in the rink), they do fund raising for the "scholarships" they give to the seniors at the end of the year banquet, etc. I think the best things they do are the fun and social things as well as the community service because it does get the kids together so that they meet the other kids in the club. I know for our newest members of the club (coming out of skate school), it is a huge help for them to start to get comfortable and to make some new skating friends.

In the past they have done a snowman building contest, planted flowers outside the rink, done a car wash, Thanksgiving dinner, they have been selling snacks and coffee/cider during skate school, and other things.

[FigureSpins]

It's a membership category that skating clubs offer for skaters under 18.  Our club's description reads:

Junior with Parent Membership will consist of one Junior skater (under the age of eighteen (18) years of age and shall not vote nor hold office, nor be a Governor) and one Parent of the Junior skater. The Parent shall have voting rights.

Since they can't vote or hold office, many clubs organize other activities to get the younger skaters involved and help them make friends within the club.  It's especially important when a club doesn't have its own ice time - their skaters are scattered across the rink's various sessions, so this helps them get to know each other and provides a sense of "working together."

At our rink, most of the skaters are involved in Synchro, so they spend a lot of time together.  All skaters volunteer to help at fundraisers or club events (tests, competitions, shows) in different ways.

Last year, every skater (save one) on the beginner synchro team was either my student or my own child.  It's a great group of girls and parents; we really hit it off well.  We take turns hosting potluck get togethers at each others' houses.  One family is hosting a Halloween potluck this Saturday, in fact.

[Sk8tmum]

We've got 1,100 members from what I remember of the last count; generally, other than the bi-annual iceshow, there's not really anything club-y done. The kids tend to know each other from school or other activities ... so, they hang with their friends, and the odds of knowing someone in the club when you join is quite high.   But, we have our own rink ... that only we use, which means that everyone sees and knows everyone else.

If kids want volunteer hours, they can get them - with that many teenagers, it's not a problem for anyone who wants the hours to accumulate them.

[isakswings]

WOW! 1100 members? My daughter's club is very, very small. Most of the kids go to different schools. We have also have a home rink and many of them skate there daily but they can't really socialize when they are practicing, so having a junior club would encourage them to plan outside activities. I still can't get over that... 1100. LOL!

[isakswings]

My club has a "Junior Board" which consists of all of the kids and 2 advisors from the Board of Directors. They do a lot of different things, community service, rink service, social and fun events, competition send offs (usually a sign hung in the rink), they do fund raising for the "scholarships" they give to the seniors at the end of the year banquet, etc. I think the best things they do are the fun and social things as well as the community service because it does get the kids together so that they meet the other kids in the club. I know for our newest members of the club (coming out of skate school), it is a huge help for them to start to get comfortable and to make some new skating friends.

In the past they have done a snowman building contest, planted flowers outside the rink, done a car wash, Thanksgiving dinner, they have been selling snacks and coffee/cider during skate school, and other things.

Yep... this is what we are trying to re-establish. The kids in our club seem to be so divided... right now they tend to hang out with kids their coach, coaches. For newbies coming in, it can be intimidating. How can a club grow if you don't feel welcome when you join it? This is one of the reasons my own daughter nearly changed clubs a year ago. While I don't think a junior club committee would solve all the problems, I do feel it would start to bridge a gap that has been there for a long time now. We(myself and a couple of pthers) are getting thing going and attempting to create a junior club committee/board. I hope it helps!