[Philmont]: Pre training

The pre training hikes are for us. not the youth! <LOL>
But seriously, I had never backpacked seriously before our first P'mont
trek and was astounded at the benefit of the pre-training hikes. I was
also astounded at the ease with which my doctor would sign off on the
various medical forms that I would present through the course of a
scouting year.
I was on a training regimen at home (treadmill, dietary) and the monthly
pre training activity was a great way to determine if that was
beneficial and sufficient. On the pre treks I was very careful about
adding a little more weight to my day pack then eventually the frame
backpack until I had it up to sufficient bulk and weight to prove to
Myself that I could do it.
 
The youth did indeed benefit from the crew building that resulted from
these activities but we were also able to see where some boys had
weaknesses. In some cases it was easy to encourage further exercise or
gear revisions, but in others, like a very skinny light weight boy, we
had ample time to plan and practice how we would divide gear etc so that
he didn't have to have a backpack at 40% of his weight.
 
I also believe that a very matter of fact meeting with the potential
crew advisors is essential up front. Way up front. Don't pull any
punches. Make sure they know that being an advisor is hard, that it is a
lot of work and that it will impose on many other aspects of their
scouting and family life. And most important is that 7-11 others are
absolutely dependent on their commitment to preparation. With that
message sent, then those advisors should be able to help encourage a
very high level of pre trek participation from their crews.
 
Mike Barnhill
'02, '04, '07????

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Received on Fri Sep 9 07:54:34 2005