Round table or "Huddle"

 Well.... I went to my first round table as the new Team Coach of Team 7465. Our meetings are actually called Huddles to keep with the team theme of the program. These places are excellent to know what is going on in the district and council and helps give additional training to help you in your positions. When I was called to be a coach the first time, I went to Huddle and the Huddle commissioner and one of his committee members helped mentor me. I learned a lot from those two men and they helped me a lot. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them and they helped keep the Varsity fire alive in me.

But this Huddle was different. This is where I begin to struggle. I grew up in the Great Salt Lake Council. This is one of the biggest councils (youth wise) in the BSA. There is a certain perception about this council that has both good and bad qualities. I would be glad to discuss them later but lets just say that the council has a "Good Ole Boys" perception.

My wife and I bought our first home in the Trapper Trails Council. I grew to love that council and was heavily involved and various committee's. I was able to serve on two Wood Badge Staffs. I was on the council Varsity Committee. I was my districts Varsity LST trainer. My father was a district chairman and he and I would have conversations regarding the things he learned during his meetings in the GSLC. This is where I noticed a difference between TTC & GSLC. When my wife and I decided to move, I was scared because that would mean I would be back in the GSLC, the same ward & district I grew up in. I talked to my close friend Jeremy who works for the TTC and we discussed how this will be a good thing that I could help change this perception.

To make a long story short, the Huddle was interesting. There were only four of us in the room. The commissioner was talking about awards both the adult and youth can earn. He did bring up that there have been some changes regarding the varsity letter. Normally I am one of the first to know about these changes because of my research and fact finding, but this person was bringing things up that I had no clue existed. I finally found out where he was referencing and became a little uneasy. There are web sites like www.meritbadge.org or www.usscouts.org that can be very helpful. When it comes to requirements to like the Varsity Letter or the Denali Award, I trust the official sources of the BSA.

Here's an example: In order to earn the Denali Award, you must have as Board of Review with a representative from the District. This requirement changed in 2012 and the official announcement came from the Scouting Magazine published by the BSA. Whether you are a commissioner or a unit leader, please be careful where you receive your information from. Unless it comes from the BSA officially, always refer to the Varsity Scout Guide Book. There are even some errors in there, but always obtain your info from offical documents, not on third party/opinion sites.

Pizza Party!!!

The day I was looking forward too came and went. I think any time you entice a young man with food, they will come. I had 3 of 4 boys come tonight and I invited a young man that will be turning 14 in January to this meeting for two reasons: #1- I wanted to know what he wanted to do. #2- His troop had nothing to do that night.

When we got started and started to eat, I talked to the young men about Varsity Scouting and  explained it as "Boy Scouting on Steroids." I showed them some of the activities they could do and we came up with a white board full of activities. I simply asked them what they wanted to do and told them there is no wrong answer (this will lead into a teaching point later on the Guide to Safe Scouting and activities they approve on). I could see their excitement. Some were disappointed because they will be leaving for Venturing in the next couple of months.

Our next goal is to narrow these down to 4. I am wanting to have a major Varsity event/activity each quarter and tie in the 5 Fields of Emphasis around these big activities. Our council has a Varsity Turkey Shoot in November. Since most of these boys have never had to plan for any activity (most have been done by the leaders or no plan at all), I am using this activity to show them how to make a three month calendar with this major even as the focus. There are some things that fell into place that allows us to make this happen. My boys worked on the Communications Merit Badge at camp and everyone receive a partial. They have two requirements left:

#4- Interview someone you know fairly well, like, or respect because of his or her position, talent, career or life experiences. Listen actively to learn as much as you can about the person. Then prepare and deliver to your counselor an introduction of the person as though this person were to be a guest speaker, and include reasons why the audience would want to hear this person speak. Show how you would call to invite this person to speak.

#5- Attend a public meeting (city council, school board, debate) approved by your counselor where several points of view are given on a single issue. Practice active listening skills and take careful notes of each point of view. Prepare an objective report that includes all points of view that were expressed, and share this with your counselor

This will tie in perfectly into out three month calender along with the other fields of emphasis. We should get 2-3 Scout nights out of this to finish the merit badge. It will all come into place, especially since I'll be using the E.D.G.E. method on this.

Summer Is Almost Over

I apologize for not writing sooner. The month of July was crazy with the boys getting ready for camp. It seemed like every Wednesday was about camp. Because it was planned that the Varsity Scouts go with the Boy Scouts to camp, I had to sit back and wait till August when camp was over.

Last Wednesday I was really excited about my first official team meeting. Because there was no functioning team before, I found a Varsity Team Star-up packet  online and looked over it. I liked what I saw and changed a couple of things for our first meeting. My goal was to get them working and thinking as a team so I planned some team building activities.

Well, when when it was time to start, the Scoutmaster wanted to clean the trailer and air out the tents. I was a little upset because I had plans and one of my boys left because he didn't want to help. We went along with it because the tents were put away wet because it was raining up at camp.

I am a firm believer that if a plan doesn't follow through, there must be a reason and I found out why.Having an assistant team coach on the same page is key to a successful team. Sure a coach could do it all by themselves, but they are pronged to burn out. My assistant and I had a nice conversation about our goals and vision. He was the coach before and was having a hard time implementing and keeping the varsity program alive. He eventually burned out. I shared with him my vision and plan and he offered his input and support. Eventually we came up with an idea for this Wednesday to help get the boys excited. He then got excited and right then and there, I knew that scout night was not a waste.

Wednesday, we are having a pizza planning party where we get our main activities planned for the upcoming year. We'll still do some team building activities and some other things. But now that I have an assistant on board, things are looking up.

Now I just need to jump start the committee. We have boys that need advancements. I have three that should have been Star Scouts months ago. I'll keep you posted on what happens on Wednesday.

Transitions

As most people know, changes can be both good and bad. The same happens when new leaders come into scouting units. There is a sense of the unknown from both the boys as well as the new leader. Last Wednesday was no different at my first team meeting, if you can call it a meeting.

I was pretty excited about Wednesday and being with the young men again. I knew going into the position that it was going to take a lot of work, but I was having some anxiety attacks trying to get things together so the boys have a good experience. When I got to the church, I had only two boys and they were not in uniform. Not a problem yet because I haven't told them of my expectations for them yet. My goal was to get to know the young men better and to catch them up on their advancements. One boy was not registered in my unit and had some merit badges missing from his record (due to him not being registered in our unit) and the other had no rank advancements recorded.

Our Troop is getting ready for their week long summer camp in a couple of weeks and i have three boys going with them and so what was supposed to be my first team meeting became a info dump on camp that should have been done a couple of months ago. The scoutmaster and my assistant team coach really had no clue what was going on and it made me upset. I eventually talked to both of my young men and got their records fixed.

Word of advice: Please record advancements in a young man's book and some form of back-up. If it wasn't for a young man's book and his former scoutmaster's signatures in the book, I don't think his record would have been corrected.

Even though I had a plan and I was a little upset during the meeting, I left thinking that any leader could take that experience and have it set the tone for the rest of their tenure. Days like this will happen to anyone. Sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture. I have three boys going on this summer camp. It was important for them and for me to know what they will be doing and to help them prepare for camp. I also accomplished what I wanted that night and was actually surprised how excited the boys were knowing how close they were in advancing. I was able (I hope) to build that relationship of trust. I also had one of the boys parents show up and i was able to talk to him and I was able to build his trust also.

So, we've decided that the month of July we'll take it easy due to camp and youth conference. In August, we will start on our program and get things rockin'.  

Training

When I was in church yesterday, one of my good friends came up to me and told me about this article that is in the Ensign, produced by the LDS church.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/07/scout-training-was-the-answer?lang=eng

When I was a troop guide on my first wood badge course staff, this thought came into my mind as I listened to a training given by another staffer. When I was a Unit Commissioner, I emphasized this thought: "How can we expect the boys to do their best if we as leaders don't give our best?" When we lift our arm to the square with the scout sign, we say "On my honor, I will do my best..." does the scout oath only apply to the boys? You can only answer this personally, but I hope it's no.

Scouting, especially in the LDS church has certain tenancies. Cub Scout Programs are very strong, Boy Scout programs are strong, but when a young man enters Varsity or Venturing, the programs are almost non existent? Is there a reason for this? Yes. When someone gets called into Varsity or Venturing, the leaders feel like they know everything and won't get trained. The thought is scouting is scouting when Varsity & Venturing are totally different.

Usually about the time a young man enters Varsity & Venturing, they are getting interested in what I call the four "P's": perfume, petro & paycheck. It's hard to compete with these things when a program is not existent. Leaders get frustrated trying to do everything themselves and eventually give up.

If a leader commits to get trained and receive all the training that is available to them, miracles will happen. These young men need to know that you can be trusted and will be there for them. The young men are at a vulnerable time in their lives at this age and we as leaders could make the distance. If there are Varsity and Venturing programs running when a young man turns 14 & 16, they will not have anything to replace their mutual nights. If they know that their leaders are men of faith and live it, they will look to you as an example of how man of God lives and will strive the same for their lives.

The blessings are there for the taking. Are we willing to do everything we can to make a difference in these young men's lives? Is a couple hours on a weekend a sacrifice enough to make the difference in a young man? I'm pretty sure we all have a leader, a teacher or someone that has influenced us because they were interested in who we were and could see our potential. Can we be that same person?

A New Journey...

Well, I felt the need to make a new blog. I don't know who will be reading this and if it will be any use to some people, but this will be a way for me to share my experiences as a Scout Leader in my new unit.

But first, I must say a little about me. My family is really into Scouting. My father has been a leader since he and my mother got married. Naturally when I turned 8, I became a Cub Scout and started getting scout fever. I joined my first troop when I was 11 and was active till I was 18. I received my Eagle rank when I was 15 and consider it one of my greatest achievements.

My wife and I were married in 2006 and in our new ward, I was called to be a Cub Master. Little did I know that this would become my addiction back into Scouting. I immediately when took all the online training, took leader specific training and then at the Scout-O-Rama, I signed up for Wood Badge due to the persistence of my father. My father was anti- Wood Badge for the longest time but until I saw him change, I decided to make the change also and had a life changing experience.

My wife and I moved to Ogden and I was called as the first counselor in the Young Men's presidency. That means Varsity Scouting. I knew nothing about this program, but slowly got hooked. Then, a couple years later I was called as the Coach (even though I was already doing the job). Two years later, I was released and then called to serve in the Stake Young Men's presidency which included being a Unit Commissioner. During this span, I served on two Wood Badge Staffs

Last October, my wife and moved to West Valley City in the ward I grew up in. Last week I sustained and set apart as the Varsity Team Coach and will be starting a program from scratch. From what I've seen, it has been overwhelming because of records which haven't been kept or are non-existent. I have three boys right now that I need to help motivate and get excited about Varsity Scouting.

As I post about my experiences and challenges, please feel free to comment and give suggestions. Like in  Wood Badge, "Feedback is a Gift".