Want to be more involved in your club? 

Do you have great ideas that could improve your sailing club but feel that no one is listening. Why not see if you can sit on the Club’s Youth Committee?  

Joining a Youth committee provides you with the opportunity to have your say in club life, develop your leadership skills, provides a chance for you to meet new people, as well as have fun and organise the events that you want.  

If your club does not have a Youth Committee, why not suggest to the Club’s Commodore or the Sailing Manager that it would be great if the club set one up.  

Australian Sailing has published a suite of resources to help you and your club when setting up a Youth Committee for the first time.  

These include a guide on ‘How to Start a Youth committee at your Sailing Club’, including tips on how to get started, recommended committee sizes, meeting times, and providing a mentor. Other resources include a template on what a Terms of Reference for the Youth Committee should cover, so everyone knows early on what is expected, how often to meet and what is expected in terms of behaviour at meetings.  

There is also a useful guide for you which explains the various roles and responsibilities of Sailing Club Office Bearers and Committee members to help you understand committee structures and the various roles within a club. Guide to roles and responsibilities. 

If your club does not want to set up a formal Youth Committee yet, there are many other ways that you can get involved at your club. Some of these actions are listed in the Quick wins checklist which provides actions you can implement quickly and easily at minimum cost and features an editable page for clubs to identify what actions can be undertaken quickly and simply at your club.   

The quick wins include speaking at events or at a presentation night, placing a youth section in the club newsletter where you can celebrate the achievements of a young member each week. Other quick wins include taking over the club’s social media pages for the day.  

If your club has successfully involved you and other young people and you would like to share this with others, please tell us HERE. 

All the Youth resources listed in the article: How to Start a Youth Committee at Your Club, Terms of Reference Template, How to Mentor and Support Youth Committees and Roles and Responsibilities of Sailing Club Office Bearers can be found on the Australian Sailing website under the new Participation hub and at the following link HERE. 

Should you require any further assistance with planning or developing a Youth Committee or getting involved at your club, please contact your local Club Support Officer.