Greetings all,
sorry for the delay, but finally here are the notes from the youth policy
meeting at gold chain event. i was happy to see some new faces and meet some
new people and we were honoured by the presence of Their Royal Highnesses
and Sir Tristan, the Earl Marshal. I think with the support we have been
getting throughout the kingdom AEthelmearc will have one of the finest youth
programs in no time at all.
Copies of these notes will alos be posted to the Youth Combat website.

1. 16+ rattan to be implemented at events only to begin with, rather than at
every local practice.

This will give us an opportunity to see how many 16-17's are interested
as well as establishing the new style of marshaling before the practice in
wide spread. it was discussed that this might be a more practical way to
approach the new program to establish conventions in the training rather
than 125 local groups individually saying "woohoo! lets fight"

2. It was agreed that we understand that some of the youth are being trained
"off the SCA radar" by their parents or adult friends. when the 16+ program
is underway we would like it to be understood that the people training in
rattan are honour bound not to go back to the local groups and practice with
the PVC.

It was brought up that not only is the calibration different between
the forms but that also the muscle motion and memory are very different and
that it would be unwise to mix the forms. we have had some first hand
reports of young people who have face some serious injuries by doing so.
that is not to say that some young people are able to do it quite well, but
to begin with we choose to err on the side of caution.

3. It was discussed that training the 16+ group would have to be a
cooperative effort between youth warranted marshals and adult heavy
warranted marshals. Also that we will need to include a roster of rattan
fighters in each region that are approved to train/spar with the young
people that dont technically need to be warranted in either venue or be
required to have the background check.

Strangely, at this point sir aengus turned to speak to the gentle to his
left and while he was looking the other way his hand slowly raised itself up
into the air and thus he volunteered to be in charge of this section of the
program :0)

4. a second meeting has been scheduled for the storming the castle even tin
rhydderich hael on saturday 11/15.

5. i have contacted the autocrat of college of 3 ravens event to request a
full day track of classes and practice sessions for the youth martial
academy. this will be our first chance to have an actual training session
for the 16+ with rattan. so if anyone has ideas for classes in boffer or
youth rapier please start formulating it into a class and let me know what
you're thinking. i will post details from the autocrat when i have them.

6. a topic that was discussed for the youth combat program as a whole is the
significance of division 2 fighters. it has often been noted that in
division 1 the kids are just joyful and happy to be swinging a stick with
permission! in division 3 there is much talk of calibration and
manners...one is too high the other too low. The way i see it the obvious
time for "intervention" is division 2. the kids here still have the joy but
are becoming bigger and stronger and yes virginia, just a little more
willful. another significant delema in division 2 is that this is the age
for growth spurts. the height/weight range between the kids is extremely
spread out in this group. On the positive side though they are also the most
adaptable to fighting up to 3 or fighting down to 1. it is also where most
kids decide why they are in the program and if they want to stay in and go
on to adult heavy.

So basically we should begin some new discussion on how to make the
most of our division 2. please feel free to post you ideas, concerns,
questions, comments, observations.

finally thank to all who have participated in this process and all the
autocrats who have made time and space for us. i hope to see many of you at
storming the castle.

thank you for your support :0)

i do remain
jenna



Carole Goranson (THL Jenna MacPherson of Lion's Tower)
Amherst, NY (Barony of the Rhydderich Hael, Æthelmearc)

"The problems of the world can't be solved in meters." - Arlo Guthrie