"Kelly, Katie" <kkelly@spss.com> writes:
> First, next spring the VCMC Motorsport Club in Vancouver, BC, will be
> holding a women's only autox school. I know this is popular down in
> SoCal. I've always had mixed emotions about it, but after a positive
> women's only bike racing clinic, I've had a change of heart. Any
> possibilities of this ever happening in the Bay Area? I'm thinking it
> could be open to ANYONE, SCCA member or not, and as in Vancouver, it
> could be called a Car Control Clinic. This could be something directed
> at the general community.
We've been having womens-only schools and practices up here in the
Seattle area for years and they have been very popular with 25-35
entrants on average. The instructors are usually both men and women
since it's not always easy to get enough female instructors but that
has never been a problem.
Why have a separate ladies-only practice? Well for one thing is that
women seem to be more sensitive than men about being embarrassed in
public their first time out. In fact one of the key things in our
ladies practices is that no times are displayed or announced on the PA!
The times are recorded and the ladies can go look at them but that way
there is a lot less pressure at a time when you really should be
focusing on technique anyhow. You may think that this is unnecessary
but it's been very well received and we've been told more than once
that someone would not have even come out if she had known that times
would be announced. Besides that however the school is not that much
different than our regular schools. Usually 2-3 students per
instructor, 4-5 runs per session (3-4 sessions per day), hour lunch
break with an included boxed lunch, etc.
It's been a very successful way for us to get more women involved in
the sport and I highly recommend the idea to SFR, I think you will be
very pleased with the results.
So Katie, does this mean that you will volunteer to be the chair for
the school? :-)
- Alan Dahl
NWR region
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Alan Dahl home:
adahl@eskimo.com
Federal Way, WA, USA work:
alan.dahl@capitalone.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~adahl ICQ 52688023
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