From: Dr. Bob Klein (drbob@troop111.org)
Date: Fri Jan 31 2003 - 20:05:16 CST
On question #2, remember that the selection of the Crew Chief is
supposed to be done by the Scouts, not appointed by the adults. And if
the Scouts pick the Advisor's son, and he's willing, so be it. There's
no reason it can't work out quite well, unless past experience with the
proposed pairs has indicated oil and vinegar compatibility. On the
latter point, remember the many past comments on this list that
emphasize how problems at home almost invariably turn into big problems
on the trail.
From past observations of other Crews, I would say that in those
instances where having a father-son / Advisor-Crew Chief pair turned out
less than favorably, the problems were as often with the father as with
the son. But in my experience, most of the time it worked out OK.
On Crew division, first you need to determine if everyone wants to stay
together. With two Crews per itinerary, it is possible for both of your
Crews to do Philmont as sister Crews on the same trek. I have done
this, and it worked out well (for us, anyway).
If the Crews want to do separate treks, generally they will
"more-or-less" divide into two groups based on how tough an itinerary
they want to do, with one group wanting to do something more challenging
than the second group. Buddy pairs and triplets will try to stick
together, sometimes against common sense - but that's the nature of the
beast. If you're lucky, this will result in a 50/50 split. If not,
then your work is cut out for you. As a suggestion, you want to get
buddy pairs or triplets (not single Scouts) to shift from the larger to
the smaller group; that's much easier than arm-twisting friends apart.
If this turns out to be impossible in a classroom setting, then postpone
it til after your first shakedown - and make that one a challenging one.
After that, you may find that some buddy pairs or triplets who were
previously suffering from an overdose of machismo have seen the light,
and will make the switch much more readily. If no one is willing, then
maybe you have to go back to the combined, sister Crew proposal and hit
a trek that's somewhere between the two original degree of difficulty
choices.
If this causes some griping among the tough guys, you can alleviate that
by suggesting side hikes to enhance the difficulty of the trek for those
so inclined. When my diary comes out, (if you read it) you will see
that one of the NCAC Crews that travelled with us this past summer had
about half their Crew side-hike "The Wall" and also Black Mountain "for
fun". (Some fun!!!) And they may have done even more than that, those
are just the two they did in my presence (we were on separate but
oft-crossing treks). It is also often possible to pick two sets of
trails between your starting and ending camp, one of which is more
challenging. With all the adults you have, it shouldn't be too
difficult to keep in line with 2-deep leadership for subgroups.
Hope these suggestions give you some ideas.
- Dr. Bob
Diane Mikulis wrote:
> A new thread, but right now we are struggling with how to break up our
> group of 24 into two crews. For those who know, what are the pros and
> cons of having the crew leader be the son of the advisor? We'll actually
> have 4 adults in each crew, but the way things are lining up, we could
> have this father-son thing in both crews.
>
>
>
> Diane Mikulis
>
> Troop 757
>
> Glenwood, MD
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