The grass roots development is the start of the every sport. The local clubs form a region, witch then goes to national level. The national governing body of sailing is the royal yachting association. They oversee and organize many sailing competitions throughout the year. The NGB have a youth scheme that targets the under 16’s. To join the program a candidate must be part of a local club and taking part in racing regularly. The local club for the st Edmunds bury area is the st Edmunds bury sailing and canoeing association, Lackford Lake, near bury st Edmunds. From here the candidate should be encouraged to take part in open training sessions at the club.
They should then move onto racing at other clubs that are more recognisable for their racing calendar, such as Alton water which is situated at Sutton in Suffolk. The coaches and trainers at the center will them recommend the candidate to join the program if they have the following: natural ability, talent and potential for RYA zone training. If they get through the next stage they will become part of the area team.
At club level the funding comes mainly from the cost of mooring and storing the boats at the club or from courses that the club instructors offer. The courses run at the centre include RYA level 1 & 2 sailing, and also the five modules. These are seamanship, spinnakers, performance, racing and day sailing. The modules mean that the sailor that holds them can then take control of any boat in any circumstance. The seamanship module teaches the sailor to resolve problems afloat, enabling the sailor to become more confident and self-sufficient afloat. The performance sailing module helps the sailor to improve their boat handling and confidence in faster boats; it is an opportunity to practice helming and crewing, and to work on a smooth sailing performance.
The main funding comes from the clubs themselves, but some of it comes from sponsorship. The sponsorship comes from a variety of people. These include Holt, Volvo, gul, Skandia and UK sport. Provision for/pathways for elite performers There are of course many different pathways through the programmes and sailors have made it through to the highest level by taking a wide variety of routes. Nevertheless, sailors wanting to make the most of the opportunities available within each squad programme should try to stick to the pathway that will give them the best chance of being successful in the long term. To get to the Olympic level a performer must start at the bottom and work their way up.
The performer should start at a level that is suitable for their skill and progress up accordingly. A pathway would go something like this; local club, regional’s, then onto zone squad training and then finally national level. From the national level the RYA coaches would pick the Olympic team. This picture shows the pathway which a youth sailor could take to get to the national team. Additional agencies and bodies