Well said. Thank you Matt. On 9/16/2011 9:59 PM, Matthewduggan wrote:
Good Evening,The most recent email from Andrew Sumpton has led me to suggest that this please be taken offline and dealt with in a different, more productive manner. The ICSA list serve, last time I checked, was not meant to be used as a means to take jabs at specific individuals or districts. Mitch Brindley, as well as the numerous individuals listed on the ICSA contacts page should be resourced for complaints regarding how the ICSA functions and how it can be improved in the future. Best Regards, Matt Duggan Sent from my iPhone On Sep 16, 2011, at 9:28 PM, Stewart Andrew Sumpton<[email protected]> wrote:It is exactly this sort of insular self-serving logic espoused by NEISA and MAISA representitives that ensures college sailing remains an exclusive nitch sport centered in the NE United States. Really, Ken's argument boils down to this: "schools in any regions other than NEISA and MAISA don't have enough good sailors, and are just too far apart to support good competition, so it is only right that NEISA and MAISA steal away the cream of their sailing talent, else those poor athletes are forced to languish in such terrible places to sail." It is great that NE'ers take so much pride in their venue, but this logic supports a self-sustaining status-quo that is to NESA and MAISA's benefit and everyone else's detriment. As long as NEISA and MAISA continue to steal away all the talent, their districts will be more attractive places to compete, and so by Ken's logic it is only right that they continue to steal away the talent. The inevitable conclusion is that NEISA and MAISA should have the most talent, the most teams, and the best competition forever. As I type this from my location in Tampa, FL, I can think of nine colleges and universities within a two hour drive from here (Eckerd, USF, UF, Rollins, UCF, NewCollege, SPC, StateCollegeFL, FGCU), all with excellent access to great sailing venues. No snow down here in FL. All we're missing are the sailors. So why is it ordained that the only place really suited to college sailing is the North East? I have a very simple suggestion on what ICSA can do to help College sailing in the United States at large: ICSA can vote to allow colleges and universities to offer sailing based financial scholarships to athletes. With this vote publically funded institutions will suddenly be able to attract talented freshman sailors who desperately need financial assistance to attend college, and additionally, financial scholarships will attract many new athletes to the sport! (As anyone who has coached youth sailing will attest: how many times have coaches been asked by potential new sailor-recruits if there are college scholarships for sailing, only to witness the recruit's disappointment and fading interest when we reply in the negative?) Sadly, ICSA voting is dominated by NESA and MAISA representatives, who, along with a scattering of representatives from privately funded schools in other regions, refuse to even entertain a vote on financial scholarships. And thereby perpetuate their dominance of the nitchy exclusive sport of college sailing. As was said earlier in this thread- despite NEISA and MAISA's overwhelming success at recruiting talent away from everywhere else in the country, this has not completely squelched the rise of college sailing in the rest of the United States. There will come the day when college sailing is popular enough in SEISA, SAISA, MCSA, NWICSA, and PCCSC, for ICSA to gain enough representatives from these regions to break the dominance of the North East on this truly great sport, and institute structural changes that will further the growth of college sailing in ALL regions of the United States. It is sad to see that NEISA and MAISA representatives continue to employ skewed logic that postpones this day, and resists the popularization of college sailing across the country.
Sincerely, Andrew Sumpton On Sep 16, 2011, at 12:42 PM, Legler, Ken wrote:I hear Blake's frustration which represents the feelings of many, I'm sure. I have a counter argument that Blake will probably not like. Perhaps the geographical polarization of college sailing to the coast and Northeast in particular is a good thing. We have at least as many good teams as we did before the Midwest talent was recruited East but they are closer together for shorter travel and more racing. While club teams in the Midwest have lost home state talent, many emerging teams in the East have gone from small club teams to powerhouses over the last twenty years. They include Georgetown, Hobart/WS, Roger Williams, Boston College. Then there are the more recent small Eastern teams which get unbelievable competition near home including UConn, Fordham, Columbia, Providence, Salve Regina, George Washington, etc, etc. Imagine if we were more spread out, say one powerhouse per state including Arizona, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, Oregon, etc. The Midwest and other conferences have had some great teams over the years and it is sad to see the nearby talent recruited away. But what is ISCA to do? Hire coaches for all club team conferences? Mandate very expensive travel for teams with limited travel budgets? That would eliminate far more sailing than it would create. The increased competition for our team here at Tufts means less trips to nationals, less conference championships, less trophies. At the same time we get fantastic competition even at the third string level at 18 NEISA venues with professional race management. In short college racing is at a higher level (more teams at minors and better teams in every regatta) than when it was more spread out. Ken Legler -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 12:09 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [ICSA] SW's College Sailing Rankings, September 15, 2011 I've followed (on an inconsistent basis) the regular college rankings lists in the past 15 or so years. I was one of the three coaches (along with Gary Bodie& Ken Legler) who did the rankings for Sailing World for about 7 years back in the late 80s to early 90s. The reason I wanted to lend some applause today is the inclusion of an MCSA team (Wisconsin) at 6th. Winning the Harry Anderson at Yale and the Fall Fury regatta at home on the same weekend clearly had a lot to do with that, so huge kudos to the Badgers for the big dual regatta victories! One of the biggest problems (to my eyes) with college sailing in recent years is the continued slide of competitive depth almost completely towards New England and Mid Atlantic. With the exception of a few select SA and PC teams, the rest of the country has been ignored, and the incentive for high school sailors who are serious about being involved at the highest levels has been diverted almost exclusively to the EAST coast only. Sometimes the first step is as simple as a small group of individual sailors from one team stepping up... and stepping on some toes. It's been a lot of years, but welcome to the latest example: Wisco! In my humble opinion, it's way past time for the entire ICSA to work on behalf of the greater good to help spread the wealth. The entire ICSA will grow healthier if we all work to grow together. What can the ICSA do to help the Midwest? The Northwest? The Southeast? I'll step down now off the soap box. Respectfully, Blake Middleton -----Original Message----- From: Meredith Powlison<[email protected]> To: icsa<[email protected]>; collegerankings<[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Sep 15, 2011 10:44 am Subject: [ICSA] SW's College Sailing Rankings, September 15, 2011 The latest Sailing World College Rankings, presented by Sperry Top-Sider, are now online at http://bit.ly/re2T49 The top five teams are: Coed Total Points 1. Yale [8] 359 2. Boston College [3] 338 3. Harvard [1] 326 4. Georgetown [3] 309 5. Roger Williams 292 Women¹s Total Points 1. Yale [7] 257 2. Boston College [4] 256 3. Brown [7] 210 4. Rhode Island [1] 188 5. Connecticut College 171 ---- Get the rankings when they are released by signing up as a fan of Sailing World¹s facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/sailingworld, or via twitter, http://twitter.com/sailingworldmag ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected] ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=sa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected] ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected]________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected]________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected]
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