Coming from the perspective of a club team that traveled to a lot of intersectionals, I have to come down as being very supportive of the team uniform concept. Although it may cost something in the short run, it has a long-run potential of making a club team more visible to its school community and may, in the end, result in increased funding. I know that at University of Florida we had to put a budget together each year-- if team uniforms/pinnies had been in the budget, we could have justified asking for more money-- it's as simple as that. Furthermore, you are talking about 4 pinnies for a grand total of $80 that is going to last you for 3-4 years. If you only use them at intersectionals, instead of all the time, they might last even longer that that. Here's an idea for some of the club team districts like SAISA, MCSA, PCIYRA & SEISA, why not pool together and have the entire district buy 20, 30 or 40 white pinnies and then each team can go down to their local student bookstore, buy a bunch of logo stickers and stick/glue them to the backs of the pinnies. We used to stick gator heads to our the backs of our lifejackets and they lasted for years. Otherwise, get someone with artistic talent to cut your school letters (i.e. UF, UCLA, etc) out of sail number material and stick them to the back of a pinnie. All said, don't make a mountain out of a molehill. In the grand scheme of what it takes monetarily to get to an intersectional, this is not a large expense. It might be highlighting the difference between the resources of club teams and varsity teams, but that's a problem for the ages. All told, I wouldn't have changed my club team experience for the world. Angela Garcia Kozlowski University of Florida '98 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 10:48 AM Subject: RE: [ICSA] New rule for team uniforms?
I think that the development funds will help, but it is not the answer. What is the long term answer for an organization that has Varsity and Club teams competing in the same Division? -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scott Ryan Grandt Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 7:52 AM To: Sam Wheeler Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ICSA] New rule for team uniforms? Hello Sam, One other thing, that has been mentioned before, but should be reiterated is that ICSA and the different districts have developmental funds for smaller teams for who this new rule may create an unnecessary burden. I am not sure of the process for acquiring this sort of funding but I imagine your District Secretary would have a good understanding of the process. Also keep in mind you only need as many pinnies as you will have sailors on the water at any given point. This could be as few as 4. Thanks again for your input and I would ask that you forward the emails you've recieved from smaller teams to me or another undergraduate rep (to my regular email as opposed to the listserve) so their views can be noted as well. -Scott - Scott Ryan Grandt Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Vice-President On 9/6/06, Sam Wheeler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks for the quick response Scott. I still think there a some > problems with this plan, and from the emails I have received in the > past hour or so apparently some of the other smaller teams feel the > same way. Just to take one smaller point, you suggest buying > undershirts and writing UCLA on the back if we're short on cash. > This demonstrates one of the downsides of the pinnies: they further > underscore the divide between large- and small-budget teams. If > we're competing in Sharpied undershirts, that definitely doesn't make > our team look good. > > Also, in our case, the biggest problem we have is not a lack of > understanding, it is a lack of money to go around in our club sports > program. Our school would love to give us more money, but the > money's not there. I don't think wearing jerseys is going to change > that, and I don't think we're alone in this scenario. I feel that in > a lot of cases when people are trying to start new teams, the biggest > problem is that schools do not want to commit to a team that is by > definition going to be relatively high maintenance. Adding more > costs only makes that harder. > > For $400 ($20x20 people) we could replace some of our standing > rigging so we don't have any more masts fall down this year, buy some > used sails, maybe even without any duct tape, pay for gas to an extra > regatta or two, or excuse a less wealthy member of our team from > paying dues so that s/he can continue to sail. All of these seem > more important to me than how easily spectators can identify us. For > the amount of money that would be saved if the ICSA didn't invest in > this, we could be sure that new and struggling teams have the > resources they need to compete. > > Since I have been at UCLA, my team has missed one district meeting of > any kind. It will not happen again. > > I appreciate your advice and taking the time to respond to me. And > my team will comply with this rule. But, as a member of the > currently shrinking Pacific Coast district, it seems misguided to me > to mandate increased costs for a hypothetical and intangible result > when there are concrete steps that could be taken to solve immediate > problems. > > Sam Wheeler > Captain > UCLA Sailing Team > > > On Sep 5, 2006, at 9:26 PM, Scott Ryan Grandt wrote: > > > Sam, > > > > As a small team leader I understand your concerns. As one of the > > team leaders at Cornell, I understand the constant struggle to have > > enough funds to support a club team. What you may not be aware of > > is often times bigger teams face the same struggles. In the case > > of the pinnie the cost/benefits were looked at very closely. The > > cost is very low, at the minimum you could go to Wallmart and buy > > some undershirts and write your team names on them, at most you are > > paying 20 dollars for a high quality custom pinnie. This is less > > than you will pay for any other piece of sailing gear from gloves > > to spray tops to a team hat. Now what is the sport gaining from > > this? There is lots to be gained. Including increased exposure. > > The biggest problem sailing teams run into with funding is that > > sports officials at universities do not understand the sport. > > Having a team "uniform" is one more way we make sailing more > > mainstream. If sailing were to become more mainstream than the > > likelihood of your club team receiving more funding or even > > changing status to varsity would likely increase. While the pinnie > > will not change things overnight, it is one step of many that ICSA > > is trying to take to improve the image and increase the > > similarities between college sailing and other college sports. > > > > Now if you still completely disagree with the pinnie etc than I > > offer you this suggestion, become more involved in your district's > > (Conference's) leadership. Go to your local meetins, talk with > > your reps, let them know what you think should happen with the > > sport. The attendence at these meetings can be low, so by becoming > > an elected rep you have can be presented with an opportunity to > > greatly impact the sport. > > > > If you are looking for a company to do your pinnies, Cornell also > > used the company that Joe Sullivan from Fordham mentioned, reliable > > racing, and were very pleased with the results. > > > > -Scott Grandt > > > > -- > > Scott Ryan Grandt > > > > Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) > > Vice-President > > > > > > > > > > > > Cell:562-754-1555 > > ________________________________________________ > icsa mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa > ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa ________________________________________________________________________ Check out AOL.com today. 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