alan bechard Posted December 28, 2003 Report Share Posted December 28, 2003 OK, this is aimed at the older guys who formed a club, or participated in the formation of a club, and developed it until it is now an "established" well organized self sustaining club. I have seen many groups (outside Trials) get going with one dynamic individual, but when that "spark plug" leaves, the clubs tend to die down and quit. What is the difference between them and the clubs that keep on going like NETA, STRA, ATA etc. etc.???? And anyones input is appreciated, but I am really looking for that first hand experience. And honestly, I am not sure that it matters if it is a "Trials" club. I think there are many correlations between clubs of all sorts that can be used as lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don t. Posted December 28, 2003 Report Share Posted December 28, 2003 Alan, Given my experience with the Huntsville Trials Club and the STRA, I'd have to say that the biggest difference is the larger geographical area that most of the clubs you mentioned as having good longevity have allows for a larger body of enthusiasm to draw from. When the members of HTC are enthusiastic about riding and their livelihood doesn't interfere with trials activities, we've got a great group that has a lot of fun and can organize nicely into a very efficient unit. The problem with this is as you stated before; one or more key members gets waylaid by other circumstances (or burned-out by their role) and the club goes into hibernation. With the larger region to pull members from, the STRA has a better chance of distributing the workload and the management of the club among the membership talent without running them off. That's not to say it hasn't happened even with the larger clubs; it just means that the likelihood of finding someone capable of replacing the key members is better because of the larger pool to draw from. I may be way off base here, but that's the way I see it from my admittedly limited experience in the trials community. That said, I hope that the HTC will be resurrected this year (if only in a limited manner) as a few of us start riding again. I know I'm looking forward to riding in more STRA events this year than I have since the 2000 season & am really enjoying playing around on my new Scorpa. Now if I can just get the endurance back up to decent levels so that I'm not having to be pushed along the loop to finish events (unlike last year)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan williams Posted January 3, 2004 Report Share Posted January 3, 2004 (edited) It's a good question. Starting a club takes a great deal of patience. It takes years to develop a core group which will be self sustaining and every club teeters on the brink when they first start. It doesn't hurt to have a plan to start with. Adopt a goal such as gaining 100 members or the ability to put on a national in 5 years. NETA is a little odd in that we are a club but we're also a sanctioning body. Essentially we make it possible for the smaller local clubs to operate within a common framework in the region. NETA doesn't put on events per se but a club wanting to put on an NETA sanctioned event gets a ready made regional ridership and rules. In the event the club is not AMA chartered NETA becomes the club for the day taking care of insurance and AMA paperwork and other details like having an NETA officer current with the AMA safety course. This allows very small clubs to hold events. This seeding strategy has worked well as the small clubs have grown and are starting to get their own AMA charters and established riderships in their local areas. All clubs wax and wane over the years. One of the biggest factors to remember is the pipeline gets filled from the bottom. It's very easy to get wrapped up in the whole debate about making riders better that the fundamental reason for a club, to have fun, is lost. Never lose sight of the fact the lower classes are there for recreation in the form of friendly competition. If the bug bites them to get better they will move up the classes but you cannot force it. Riders will just quit and the club will cease to exist. Another problem is accessability. If the people who are likely to be trials riders don't know when, where, and how they ride trials they won't. The beauty of the web is it's power to distribute information but most of the riders just starting out are still introduced the old fashioned way. Through one on one invitation. As politics go it is dangerous to put too much authority/responsibility on individuals. It's important everybody understand they own some responsibility for the future of the club. If you want to complain about the rules the place to do it is at the annual meeting. All riders have the right to be heard and the responsibility to listen. There are some who think that makes the NETA annual meeting too long but at our current membership levels I think it is a necessity. This includes every dues paying member. If a ten year old has a beef with something it is important to show the same respect for his opinion as for a fifty year old rider. Why? Three reasons, 1. The club belongs to its members. It is the membership's responsibility to determine the future direction of the club. Take away that feeling of ownership and you damage the group dynamic by removing responsibility riders have for each other. 2. Great care must be taken not to segment riders by "importance". One member one vote. Little Tyler on his GasGas 50 is as much (actually quite a bit better) of a trials rider as I am. We all have a narrow view of what the sport needs. Trialsmasters would like to make money. Experts are worried about sections that are too boring. Novices are worried about sections that are too scary. Seniors are worried about work the next day. Only as a group is it possible to see the whole picture. 3. You never know where the leaders for the future will come from. One thing for sure it isn't going to be us old guys. The best way to teach someone how to run the club is to make sure they have a hand in running it year in - year out. Yes that includes making sure the kids know their voices and votes are necessary for the health of the organization because....Psssst (whisper) in a few years they'll be running it. I did the NETA vice president thing for three years and president for two. The job mostly consists of troubleshooting. Chasing missing AMA paperwork, finding contact information, settling rules disputes. Even these are mostly handled by the membership. The missing paperwork...call the trialsmaster and have him dig through the box his event stuff got thrown into. Contact information...call the trialsmaster and tell him his number is going on the web unless he gives you a valid alternative. Let him go chase it. Rules dispute...If a protest isn't handled by the trialsmaster (which it usually is) then as a group (board of directors) make as fair a ruling as possible and stick to it. When it comes to making the rules the word of the membership is paramount. The only exception, and this had to be granted by the membership, is in extreme cases regarding safety to the riders, spectators or the organization, the board of directors can make a rule change without membership approval. Fortunately this hasn't happend yet. When you distill it down NETA is much like the US government (without the bloat) The membership is the legislature who pass the laws. The trialsmasters are the judiciary who interperet the laws with the vice president/scorekeeper the supreme court. The president is the executive branch who runs the annual meeting and tries to set a general course for the future of the organization. Er...and gets blamed for stuff. The advice I gave to next year's president is to trust the membership. They're a pretty bright bunch of people. Well taken as a group anyway. Hehehe. Dan Edited January 3, 2004 by Dan Williams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric23 Posted January 3, 2004 Report Share Posted January 3, 2004 Dan, I appaud you for taking the time to write such a well thought out reply. I couldn't agree with you more. Your advice and admonitons are the result of experience and being in the trenches. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronm Posted January 4, 2004 Report Share Posted January 4, 2004 Dan, That was a great post and right on the mark. It sounds like there are some similarities between NETA and the STRA. We also cover a broad area. We have been trying to encourage the formation of local clubs as well. In addition to the one Al is starting in the Clarksville Tennessee area, there are also clubs in Hunsville Alabama, and Chattanooga Tennessee. We have an interested group in the Georgia/east Alabama area, and there is some serious talk going on in South Carolina. Of these groups, only the Huntsville club is AMA sanctioned (at least I think they are). Like NETA, the STRA can provide sanctioning (including AMA and insurance), and an organizational backbone. Ideally, each local club should have at least 2 and preferably more event venues. If this gets going the way I would like to see it evolve, each club would host one or more STRA championship series event each year in addition to several other local club events. The local events would still be STRA sanctioned, but would not pay points toward the STRA championship. They would still be fairly high caliber events and would likely draw riders from other local clubs. In addition, It would be great to have a regional series that would consist of a couple of rounds hosted by each of the STRA, FTA, and Trials Inc. Possibly this would utilize the FTA Fun in the Sun, event, The STRA 58K event, and a 2 day event from TI. Such a series would probably draw at least half to two thirds of the national champ class riders and would definitely have the potential to grow into a series with national recognition. Barry Florin of the FTA brought this subject up. They are willing. We still need to toss it around some, but basically we would just need to get a committee together to figure out what to do about awards, etc. Is anybody from TI interested? A group of strong local clubs should really be a priority for us this next year. -Ron Milam STRA president 2002,2003,200? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofasttim Posted January 4, 2004 Report Share Posted January 4, 2004 (edited) Actually Al, I should say that this topic is way overdue, ditto for Diary of an event these subjects (IMO) should be archived by Andy. I will follow with great interest. Edited January 4, 2004 by TooFastTim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan bechard Posted January 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2004 Thanks Tim, They are subjects that I can learn a lot from, and folks like Ron and Dan taking the time to sit down and write it out make it happen. I think there is a wealth of experience and knowledge at our fingertips that all too often we fail to tap into. I doubt anyone will ever do things exactly the same as someone else, but learning from their mistakes and triumphs has got to be better than stumbling about blind and guessing. Thanks to those that are writing here, and to those that will come and add their 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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