Irish Sailing are excited for the summer season ahead and we hope you are too! We look forward to visiting your clubs across the next few months and we have some updates for you to be aware of heading into your summer courses...
Training Support Visits:
The Irish Sailing Training Team will be on the road during the Summer and looking forward to meeting your team and your instructors to support your delivery of training both off the water and on the water. We are aiming to have a 100% coverage of Training Centres in 2025, and hoping to engage as early in the summer as possible.
Top Feedback from our training visits in 2024:
- Wet First-Aid kits are no good when you need them – put them in a waterproof container and check regularly!
- Any Training Centre can organise Instructor Training in the schemes they are accredited in.
- Identify and communicate your evaluation criteria. In order to maintain quality, certificates must be for advancement of skills achieved, not attendance.
Important re-focus on quality outcomes.
Clubs & Centres have been giving Irish Sailing feedback and general problem statements relating to the quality of graduates and the resulting quality of instructors in our ecosystem. It is crucial for our safety and future of the sport for us to consider these and provide improved tools and recommendations in the summer of 2025 and beyond.
We are working on three short term elements for 2025:
- An updated paper Syllabus and Logbook booklet – with clearer pathways, syllabi and skills progression – so that participants, their parents and instructors can be clearer on what skills they need to master and they can then track this.
- A updated Instructor Handbook to match the syllabi, that provides KPIs to help the Instructor deliver and evaluate skills development.
- A practical guide for all JOs, Training Officers and Centre Principles on creating an effective training environment. That includes better ways to make use of the syllabi, build engagement and produce better equipped sailors, youth and adult alike.
We are developing these tools in conjunction with clubs/centres/trainers and coaches and hope to have them with you in mid-June, before the peak of the season.
We will then be working on a longer term strategy from 2026 onwards in order to bring better skill development, participant investment, and hopefully a life-long love of the sport, adult or child, racing or recreational. Feedback from our community over the coming weeks, months and years, will be essential in making this happen.