Sailing team seeks school support
With the wind whipping past their face, adrenaline pumping through their veins, and the finish line in sight that sailing team looks for victory, but that is not the only thing they are looking for. The sailing team operated by The St. Croix Sailing School in Hudson, Wis. is looking for support.
The team currently consists of 13 members, but are looking to expand. To do this they need money, and the publicity to be recognized. With support from the school they can accomplish both these goals.
“It’d be great if we got support, we could upgrade a few of the things on the boats like parts that are overused,” said freshman Brian Olson.
Currently the team is more of a club instead of just a school supported team. SCSS currently provides the boats and the most the fees that come with this team, but if they want to expand they need more money.
“If we had support from the school we would many more opportunities to get money for ourselves,” said Olson, “It is a really fun sport, and think that more people should have the opportunity to join.”
The team is limited right now to the races that they can compete in. Currently they are members of the Midwest Interscholastic Sailing Association or MISSA, which provides them with events to compete in, but not enough to satisfy them.
“If we could get support of the school it would allow to grow, leave MISSA, and be able to compete in more high level competitions throughout the Midwest. We have so many lakes, so we have so many opportunities to compete in races and feel the thrill of winning,” said Coach Chris Donnelly.
The team is looking to expand by adding more members, and the process to do so is simple.
If we had support from the school we would many more opportunities to get money for ourselves,” said Olson, “It is a really fun sport, and think that more people should have the opportunity to join
— freshman Brian Olsen
“We accept anyone from seventh to twelfth grade,” said Donnelly “We accept people from experienced sailors to people with no knowledge about sailing. We really just want kids to join and take part in such a great experience.”
To broaden their reach even more the team advertises the amount of fun that is involved, preaching how it is not a huge time commitment, and how it is more focused on having fun and learning more instead of a highly competitive environment.
“The team is really relaxed and nobody really cares how well they do compared to the other teams. I think it would be great to have more people join,” said senior Story Schwantes.
Some who are on the fence about deciding to join or not should be concerned about the time commitment as it is minimal, and should not interfere with other activities.
“We practice two days a week,” said Senior Summer Thompson “It is not a huge time commitment, but even if it was I would still do it because I have so much fun.”
The team has a lot of optimisim and positivity surrounding them as hope to expand in the near future.
“Our biggest goal is to get support of from the school,” said Thompson, “with that we would be able to expand, and give others a chance to experience this great opportunity.”
Parker Estenson is currently a junior at SAHS. Parker lives in Stillwater with his parents Pat and Amy and three younger siblings. Throughout spring, summer,...
parkeoli000 • Jun 1, 2015 at 1:33 am
I never knew that there was a sailing team at the school until reading this article. It was an interesting article to read about the other extracurricular activities outside of the normal sports and theatre activities!
Dan Justesen • May 31, 2015 at 8:45 pm
Great job giving light to the sailing team! It is good to step out of the main sports and give publicity to some that are less known about. The quotes really help and show what the team is looking for and how they would like to improve. Good informative article!
Clay Knoll • May 31, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Great article! Very descriptive and colorful use of language.