Homeschoolers Not Welcome at Spur MTB League

[Escapee..]

Hey Shaun, given the Spur Series purpose as a schools' league, their objective is understandable, however, not necessary acceptable. But don't despair, there are MANY alternatives. At Gauteng North Cycling (GNC) we have developed a "pipeline" for XCO development and our XCO Dev Strat goes far beyond only one series. Furthermore, our dev plan offers development from ages 8 - 80 and not only from 12 - 18! I attach the document that briefly explains the model. Please feel free to contact me for more detailed information inclusive of practical guidance on when & where to start. It kicked off in 2017 and is a "rolling" strategy, riders can jump in at any time ... some of the riders that started from scratch in Jan 2017 are top-5 in the current SA XCO Cup Series and kick butt on the said schools series!

 

GNC Mtb Commissioner

2018_19 XCO DevelopmentPlan01.pdf

 

Enticement!!!

 

Did you and the Sheriff have that race???

Man oh man that was a great thread

[Shaun Green]

I posted something a few days ago that was misconstrued and not 'fonted' properly so let me clarify.

 

As a coach, one of the most frustrating things if all. Is the intractability of parents. I have just gone through a ridiculous set of circumstances where a national level event was mostly ruined by a parent who was unable to understand that the WANTS of an individual cannot interfere with the NEEDS of the team, or that the parent wasn't wrong about a specific circumstance.

 

I have no comment at all about the merits of home-schooling one way or the other. Separate that out straight away.

 

I am only going to use logic here.

 

1) in any competition, the rules are structured in a way to benefit the majority and to provide a safe environment for optimal performance. In Aus hey have actually just stopped up to 13year old boys from competing nationally to prevent long-term performance issues. They have also banned performance kit for all 12 amd unders to keep the ongoing war for minimal performance improvements at massive cost down to a reasonable age.

 

But 13 year old girls can compete still as they are 'more mature' than boys. Physically, yes, but to bitter experience, emotionally no (see above)

 

The point is 'wanting' someone to compete is not the same as 'needing' them.

 

In this home-school situation, in the specific situation, which Meurant did put succinctly, it does not appear that the child needs to compete. There are other alternatives, and any exclusion is for the enhancement of the sport in a team environment, and the parent has decided to exclude the child from a team. The 'I want her to be part of a team' is not the organisers issue, it is the parent's.

 

2) the Exclusion/Prejudice angle

 

The second principal is whether or not their is prejudice to home schools in Gauteng, and whether the treatment of home-schoolers by other provinces is even relevant to the discussion.

 

If the issue is numbers in Gauteng, then there is NO discussion. Every single league in every sport has category adjustments if the numbers are too large. English Premier League, Super 15,whatever. It isn't good enough to say 'My son wants to play for XYZ' when you have deliberately chosen to live in the area of PQR.

 

BUT: if the child is good enough, as this young lady appears to be, and could play for Man U, the parent can't complain if they only want to play for Anonymous United.

 

3) Now that is a team sport environment, which is slightly different I know, so let's take athlwtics. At the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, the World Student Games, the South African Champs - somewhere down that spectrum the numbers become small enough that the teams themselves become representative of the full talent base.

 

By that I mean there can be 10 Americans all faster than the first Kazakh, or whatever. So they have restricted access - at the Olympics to 2/3, at Commonwealth to 4, etc. At some point the numbers are few enough that there may be just a time based qualification and as many who qualify can compete. But you cannot complain if you want to get to the final and there are 4 Aussies in your way at the Comm Games and you are in a team of one, and don't meet the qualifying criteria (even if that criteria is not performance based, like you are from Kazakhstan)

 

I guess what I am saying is life ain't fair.

 

But now, number 4:

 

And this is the only where I may turn to defend the participation of this young lady:

- I do not know the full numbers issue, Meurant does say there are concerns in Gauteng

- I do not know if they limit current competing school team sizes (eg do the top Gauteng schools have to have a team of 4, say, or can any number of kids from that school compete?)

- do the schools themselves provide assistance to the infrastructure of the series in terms of capital/officials/development/sustainability/representivity, especially in South Africa. This may be controversial but, EVEN IN MY EXPERIENCE HERE, it is the more weathly, private school parents who give less of a sh=t about the team and social requirements and more about their own darling child, to the detriment to the sport AND their own child's development. Home schoolers may be very nice people, but unless they, as a group abide with the social requirements they will cause issues.

I will take a minor bet that a 'team' of individuals with personal agendas will be a disaster, and that is why 'ghost riding' is more logical, if possible.

 

 

My summary is that most arguments on this thread have been black and white. Under certain conditions, in situations where the participation numberscan be controlled (for now) I would say there is no harm for this young lady to participate. But that may not be the case, or may not become the case. I hope Mr Green is flexible enough to understand the organiser's intent with the series and not to try force a round peg. The wants of his SPECIFIC child do not outweigh the list of needs for the sport in Gauteng. But he does have a right to have had that explained to him, and if a solution can be mutually found, good luck.

 

What I do not get though, through all of this is how the hell are people that stupid that they go after the sponsor especially when the issue is not as simple as it appears? What a bunch of total, utter morons.

 

It must be the education system.

 

Thank you Thor for you well-considered reasonably balanced response.

 

Just a few comments on your points above:

1. The organiser seems to be willing to entertain proposals. We intend to frame two of these as "team opportunities” rather than “ïssues”. Some of us are hopeful; let’s see how it goes.
2. The numbers issue in Gauteng appears to have been remedied by splitting the province into three regions.
3. Agreed.
4. This is why simply joining a school team might still be the most effective way of contributing. No-one is asking for a free ride (pun intended  ).

It is no longer about my daughter. This was the last year that she could still have ridden in this  league. Sadly she missed the first regional race this Saturday past. Lord-willing, she will still continue to participate in other smaller XCO races, and some of the bigger Marathon Races. Hopefully other budding MTB riders will still benefit from the positive results of the debate. Our daughter does have younger brothers and sisters. They all ride.

[Jewbacca]

Lets hope the grass is Greener for her younger siblings..... (sorry)

[Patchelicious]

Thank you Thor for you well-considered reasonably balanced response.

 

Just a few comments on your points above:

• The organiser seems to be willing to entertain proposals. We intend to frame two of these as "team opportunities” rather than “ïssues”. Some of us are hopeful; let’s see how it goes.
• The numbers issue in Gauteng appears to have been remedied by splitting the province into three regions.
• Agreed.
• This is why simply joining a school team might still be the most effective way of contributing. No-one is asking for a free ride (pun intended ).

It is no longer about my daughter. This was the last year that she could still have ridden in this league. Sadly she missed the first regional race this Saturday past. Lord-willing, she will still continue to participate in other smaller XCO races, and some of the bigger Marathon Races. Hopefully other budding MTB riders will still benefit from the positive results of the debate. Our daughter does have younger brothers and sisters. They all ride.

Good to hear that the organizers are more reasonable than some of the Hubbers “defending” them.

[Shaun Green]

Hey Shaun, given the Spur Series purpose as a schools' league, their objective is understandable, however, not necessary acceptable. But don't despair, there are MANY alternatives. At Gauteng North Cycling (GNC) we have developed a "pipeline" for XCO development and our XCO Dev Strat goes far beyond only one series. Furthermore, our dev plan offers development from ages 8 - 80 and not only from 12 - 18! I attach the document that briefly explains the model. Please feel free to contact me for more detailed information inclusive of practical guidance on when & where to start. It kicked off in 2017 and is a "rolling" strategy, riders can jump in at any time ... some of the riders that started from scratch in Jan 2017 are top-5 in the current SA XCO Cup Series and kick butt on the said schools series!

 

GNC Mtb Commissioner

2018_19 XCO DevelopmentPlan01.pdf

Thank you!

[Dicky DQ]

I am sure there would be one or two other sponsors who would take up the chance to sponsor such a league.

 

It would be short sighted to say without Spur the league comes to an end. Might be tricky for a while and things might change, but another sponsor could be found. The league as a brand has built a good reputation.

 

#couldbewrong

#youarewrong

 

Once a sponsor leaves due to bad publicity not many will follow in the footsteps. Especially if the organizers then also leave as the they are now also forced to change the reason for their being. 

 

Hopefully you read the reasons for the league and expected outcome. Now this storm is wanting to change this planned outcome. So why would the organizers still be interested? 

 

Get the HS crew to take it over and woo the potential sponsors as well as get cycling established in the mainstream schools (the main focus of the league). Hmmm maybe that will not be high on the priority list for the HS brigade, but here's hoping.

 

The Spur Schools League was never intended to entertain the HS crowd and now the HS crowd do this. 

 

Sounds like the typical SA mentality, I want something that was not intended for me so now I kick up a stink and destroy everything. Lekker  boys lekker!

[Slowbee]

#youarewrong

[ChrisF]

  (or should that be a  )

 

We visited our local NAVAHO SPUR in Brackenfell on Tuesday night.

 

 

No burger special, just a normal night.

 

 

Food - good, frankly better than I have had at more expensive places

 

Service - good 

 

Price - very good !  Supper and drinks was cheaper than lunch at a coffee shop a few days back.

 

By the time we left there were people standing in line waiting for tables.     So clearly we are not the only people enjoying our local SPUR

 

 

 

 

But then again, NAVAHO SPUR is active in our community.  They even have school kids that shadow the waiters.  The kids get some life experience, and get the opportunity to earn some money towards sport-trips.

 

So despite some "social media comments", clearly some SPUR outlets ARE still relevant, and DO provide a good experience. 

 

 

 

PS - and the kids were out on the trails on Saturday from many different schools practicing for the SPUR League event coming up.