This year, Australian Sailing (AS) has invested in building Club Participation Pathways in order to facilitate growing member participation, focusing on retaining and developing sailors, coaches, and volunteers at clubs. 

A National Club Pathway Working Group (NCPWG) was established to guide the participation pathways, deliver club-focused insightful direction and provide accuracy on the resources that are required to develop and grow club participation pathways, by: 

• Informing the key participation priorities needed from Australia Sailing for clubs and coaches. 

• Guiding the future club coaching program structure by providing direction in program design to ensure they are adaptable for all abilities, disciplines and classes. This includes amending Green Fleet (to be suitable for all ages), introducing Intermediate fleet and an advanced Peak level of coaching program for clubs. 

• Advising and developing resources for clubs to better support sailors, parents, volunteers, and coaches. 

• Implementing club training initiatives with coaches and instructors and providing feedback for improvement. 

• Guiding the communication strategies for AS to support clubs to grow participation and retain sailors and members. 

• Listening to youth guests and encouraging them to share their experiences, and their voice on how to grow young member participation. 

Additionally, some clubs will be piloting the Coaching programs this summer which will ultimately provide invaluable feedback for improving delivery of these programs to all sailing clubs in 2022.  

The volunteer NCPWG has covered a substantial amount of content, has committed to testing programs, training instructors and coaches, utilising test resources and providing feedback. Thank you to each person who has contributed to date. Club Pathways is in great hands, with input from around the country.  

Above image: Coach Coordinator & Training Centre Principle Chelsea Hall delivering (and testing) the ‘Coach and Instructor Training’ club resource. Image supplied by RFBYC

Thank you to the following clubs and individuals for contributing to the National Club Pathway Working Group conversations, direction, and decisions in 2021: 

 
WA: 

Georgraphe Bay Yacht Club: Anton Mann 

Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club: Chelsea Hall 

VICTORIA: 
Chelsea Yacht Club: Andrew Ford and Stephan Fankhause 
Mordialloc Sailing Club: Dale Collings 

Mount Martha Yacht Club: Lisa Gould and Denny Kerr 
 
TASMANIA: 

Lauderdale Yacht Club: Martin Sullivan and Emma Sullivan
Tamar Yacht Club: Ryan Moreton 
 
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 

Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia: Dale Geddes and David Royle 

QUEENSLAND: 

Royal Queensland Sailing Club: Greg Kemp 

Keppel Bay Sailing Club: Conrad Byrt 

NEW SOUTH WALES: 

Connells Point Sailing Club: Jonathan Branch 

Lake Jindabyne Sailing Club: Youth Committee 
Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club: Niall Powers 

Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron: Joshua Chant and Karyn Gojnich 

ACT: 

YMCA ACT: Orla Gray 

Sarah Ogilvie, National Club Pathway Lead  
sarah.ogilvie@sailing.org.au