[philmont] When to say No

Interesting topic this one is.

So who gets to say no ... really ... I can only see two places where this can happen ... By a physician during the physical and during the medical re-check. Beyond that who really has the authority or right to deny participation to a participant that has paid their money and trained with their crew. Even in the case of where the training commitment has been less than complete, who feels that they have the authority to do this? And just how is it implemented?

If its the lead Advisor, then what if the lead advisor is the problem? Even then, having been a lead advisor, I'm not sure how I would go about doing this without enything short of an intervention. This is the stuff that blows units up.

In the case of of a council contingent, who then?

In my (limited) experience I believe that it is best to help the individual come to the conclusion themselves that this isn't for them and offer them a graceful exit, one way is to create training moments with situations that present significant enough challenges tha "learning can occur" and the participant gets the message as a result. Then, its up to them to either step up or step back.

I've arguably been the most out of shape individual on the Philmont Treks I've taken as an adult, passed the physical fine but I'm happy to admit that Phillips is a hump as is Urraca Mesa, Fowler's; Shaffer's and a bunch of other places I'm sure. Point being, as a crew in both of these instances we've had the mountain top experience, we got program, we did the trek .... perhaps not as fast as others but the experience was what is is supposed to be. Having had shared the experience with my sons makes this that much more difficult, most adults attend with their sons, so by denying an adult you deny that experience which may be necessary but you may end up denying the son as well.

Truth be told I've had more problems with less than completely honest parents than with out of shape adults .... I must admit that when I saw AED in the original title I read ADHD and though .. been there, done that thank you very much. Even in this case, while it was most definately problematic and caused some stress within the crew, all twelve completed the trek without incident.

This topic comes up every year within our council contingent. Folks sign up for Philmont for a variety of reasons many having no real idea what the expereince is or the challenges will be. Many think of it as a summer camp experience with hiking, many have little or no backpacking experience. What an opportunity. I believe my role, and that of our HA committee is one of education and coaching but not that of a gatekeeper.

Jim Thompson
HA Chair
Chester County Council
www.troop6bsa.org?cmd=philsearch

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Received on Fri May 18 14:49:28 2007