WOODWARD EAST: cutting down on weeks

[RyanTimms]

woodward east has cut out the first few weeks of their program, i posted something about it in my up and coming topic and figured this deserved its ownnnn topic to discuss this craziness.


after i posted what i did on the first page of my up and comers topic (link here http://www.be-mag.com/msgboard/showthread.php/34094-Up-and-Coming-Ryan-Timms )

mike bennett sent me a message, ill copy and paste it here.

Subject "Woodward - Weeks"


Ryan,

Hey man, Just wanted to chat about the cut in weeks real quick. I haven't seen a lot of people really bummed out so to speak, but i do expect to hear some of those responses coming up here shortly as people start finding out about it. Your help, as you frequent these messageboards would be awesome.

The choice to cut down the weeks was asked of me, from the owner. Not for dis-like of the sport, etc etc.. To be specific, a camper bed is a camper bed, inline, skateboard, bmx, etc.. (they all cost the same)

The ultimate reason for cutting down the weeks was simple. Weeks 1, 2, 3 last year some weeks had under 5 inline campers. I can't imagine how much more fun those kids would have had if they went for a week where there was 30 -40 kids. Ultimately, my job is to make sure that every camper has the best possible time at camp, and with numbers like that. It will be hard.

I would rather bunch the kids together, let them have a way better time at camp, and have the sport, and inline program grow as a whole, because the camp experience is better! When numbers get to the point we have a ton of kids every week, we can add weeks! It is always easier to add weeks rather then take them away.

So, there you have it. Cutting weeks was actually to help inline grow, and also to help each inline campers have more fun, and in return want to come back even more!

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Bennett





does this suck? yes. extremely, but i knowwwww bennett will always do whats best for rollerblading and for woodward. his plan is good, but im sure it has flaws, as with anything..but i trust mike with this, and i agree that sort of "forcing" those few kids to come during the weeks when there are tons of other inline campers willll increase their experience, some of those kids CANT come any other weeks, orrr they cant afford it (the earlier weeks were the discounted ones). so a fewww kids will get screwed, but i understand bennett's point by saying it can increse the experience of the ones that end up changing weeks. so idk, ill just let you guys speculate about all of this.

[greg is cool]

that sounds reasonable to me. 5 inliners in 1 week would suck, esp if they were all different skill levels and had to always skate together. it makes sense, but its also a sad sing for our sport.

[Red Rider]

I understand his logic, and I'm not going to pretend to be a Woodward expert, but I guess I just approach everything with a little bit of skepticism. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like 2-3 years down the line, we will be looking back at this as what was the start of the end at Woodward. I think the only thing keeping it around is their relationships with guys like Bennet. I understand that a camper bed is a camper bed, rollerbladers pay just as much, etc, but as you said, allow me to just speculate about this and what Woodward would stand to gain by dropping rollerblading.

1. The shop. When I was there they still had a skateshop. I think the national trend is most shops have dropped rollerblading. It's simply easier to carry more of products that are more likely to sell (skateboarding) than products less likely to sell (rollerblading). That's just business. Plus it would be easier since you aren't dealing with more suppliers, so they could even save on shipping.

2. The Woodward video. I don't know if it's done by campers or what, but anybody who is seeing any kind of financial compensation for doing the rollerblading section could be eliminated, thus his salary. Skateboarders and bikers could get more clips if they want (which they probably do that just don't make the cut, just like any video).

3. All the events they sponsor, AIL events, etc, gone. Money saved.

4. Visiting pros. I don't know what they get paid or whatever, but say at any given time there are two rollerblading pros there. I would think it would be easier to just ask a skateboarding pro to stay longer or ask just one more skateboarding pro to come to accommodate the extra skateboarders. This is kind of in general the staff. Say for every 2 rollerblade only staffers you fire, the skateboarding program can absorb the work from the extra 30-40 kids they are getting by taking on extra work and only hiring 1 extra staffer. It just seems like more job diversity (skating, rollerblading, biking) requires more jobs than a less diverse work environment (just skating, biking). I can't think of a good analogy right now, but hopefully you get what I mean.

Again, this is all just speculation and I hope I'm wrong, I just have a bad feeling.

[DanielBreuer]

It sucks, but at the same time I understand the reasoning. Its not really Woodward, Mike Bennett's, or anyone else's fault except the economy; cost of the camp, and the number of younger rollerbladers in the U.S. especially, but of those young kids with the economic means to attend a summer camp at all, let alone Camp Woodward.

Get more people blading and we can change this. Until then, weeks with more rollerbladers so there is a session in general is a good idea. This summer will be a blast regardless.


What about getting more sponsors this year Mike? With consolidated weeks I feel like this would give them more of an incentive to send product since the overall exposure should be more.

[RyanTimms]

What about getting more sponsors this year Mike? With consolidated weeks I feel like this would give them more of an incentive to send product since the overall exposure should be more.


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[rocknroller]

We need to start a fund to raise money for kids that can't afford to go.

[rocknroller]

Most of us have jobs here and can afford to spare a few bucks, i think. I'd be willing to put down $100 if there was some interest in this.

[MBennett]

Hey guys, I guess i should try to keep on top of this thread, i will do my best.

To answer some questions and comments...:

1. The shop. When I was there they still had a skateshop. I think the national trend is most shops have dropped rollerblading. It's simply easier to carry more of products that are more likely to sell (skateboarding) than products less likely to sell (rollerblading). That's just business. Plus it would be easier since you aren't dealing with more suppliers, so they could even save on shipping.

- I order EVERYTHING for the shop, BMX, INLINE, SKATEBOARD, ETC... The amount of things in the shop inline related is small, but for obvious reasons, the inventory will be directly related to the amount of kids enrolling in camp per sport. As far as saving on shipping... Yea, maybe.. a couple bucks here or there, but seriously, not a reason to stop carrying stuff. In turn, i must admit that we order things in our shop to keep skateboarders, bikers, inliners, up and running while they are at camp. We don't carry complete skates, bikes, etc.. We want our campers to support their local shops. After all, keeping local shops in biz gives us a place to market camp, and keep the local seen alive and growing. (This is for ALL SPORTS)

2. The Woodward video. I don't know if it's done by campers or what, but anybody who is seeing any kind of financial compensation for doing the rollerblading section could be eliminated, thus his salary. Skateboarders and bikers could get more clips if they want (which they probably do that just don't make the cut, just like any video).

-The Woodward video is created by the Woodward Digital Media Program at camp... Enough people come to camp with cameras and everyone films. (there is no saving of money by scratching inline.. - Just simply not true)

3. All the events they sponsor, AIL events, etc, gone. Money saved.

- AIL will always be a passion of Richie and Pam and living at Woodward West will make it an obvious place to hold contests. Woodward has supported contests all over, and will continue to do so. Simple.

4. Visiting pros. I don't know what they get paid or whatever, but say at any given time there are two rollerblading pros there. I would think it would be easier to just ask a skateboarding pro to stay longer or ask just one more skateboarding pro to come to accommodate the extra skateboarders. This is kind of in general the staff. Say for every 2 rollerblade only staffers you fire, the skateboarding program can absorb the work from the extra 30-40 kids they are getting by taking on extra work and only hiring 1 extra staffer. It just seems like more job diversity (skating, rollerblading, biking) requires more jobs than a less diverse work environment (just skating, biking). I can't think of a good analogy right now, but hopefully you get what I mean.

Visiting pros, I must admit that the pros use to be more plentiful at camp when we had 200 rollerbladers every week. OBVIOUSLY.. You get a budget to bring in special guests for all sports by taking a percentage of campers that actually come to camp. Obviously a skateboard visiting pro budget is going to be bigger then the budget for inline if there is 350 skateboarders a week and only 5 rollerbladers. With that being said, condensing the weeks, and having more kids come together means more kids, more of a budget for that week. Simple.. This is a WIN WIN.

This is also a win for the inline companies that sponsor contests during those weeks. They have less cost in supplying goods for a contest each week, while still promoting their companies to the same amount of kids.



-A few other points i read in there.. Yes, the beginning weeks did cost a little bit less, which to be honest only really helped our campers coming from the south. 95% of the kids that come from neighboring states are all still in school in the beginning of june and can't come anyway. (which has made those weeks a little harder for rollerbladers to sign up for)
-As you would assume, most of our campers come from bordering states.

- Some have asked about staffing... Does this mean we will hire less staff? Answer is simple. NO. The staff will still be a percentage equally represented to the amount of rollerbladers that sign up. In fact, this will be BETTER for our staff as well because we will have more of them TOGETHER on the same weeks, better sessions, just BETTER in general.

As said before. My goal is to make sure EVERY kid that comes to camp has the best possible camp experience, and simply put, if there is 3 rollerbladers week 1 in the middle of 250 skateboarders. They just aren't going to have the same experience as they would if they came in a week where there was 80 kids. I would also hope that since, these three kids had a better time at camp, they will now return, and tell their friends how good camp was, and inline as a whole will grow at camp and in general!

I'm looking forward to a great summer! (hope this ankle is good to roll on by then)

Feel free to email me with any questions.

[email protected]

[jakeordie]

Thank you Woodward, for still believing in us and having guys like Mike & Richie in position to make moves in the best interests of rollerblading.

Love your work.

[MBennett]

We need to start a fund to raise money for kids that can't afford to go.


Great idea, and is and has been being done for years. The Woodward Camp Scholarship Fund has been open for all sports for a number of years. Money goes out in full and partial scholarships based on household financial needs, and outstanding situations. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been given away EACH YEAR thanks to many people like you, and our corporate sponsors. (Red Bull, Target, Fuel TV, Vitamin Water, Matador, California Skateparks.)

[rocknroller]

Great idea, and is and has been being done for years. The Woodward Camp Scholarship Fund has been open for all sports for a number of years. Money goes out in full and partial scholarships based on household financial needs, and outstanding situations. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been given away EACH YEAR thanks to many people like you, and our corporate sponsors. (Red Bull, Target, Fuel TV, Vitamin Water, Matador, California Skateparks.)

How do you get involved?

[MBennett]

How do you get involved?

Well, The scholarship form and updated information should be uploaded to the site (by me) in the next 2 weeks. www.campwoodward.com Under the parents section. This donation is in a mass fund, that is given to people of all sports.

If you and a group of friends (Be-Mag) were honestly interested in sponsoring a week at camp for a deserving child (inline), i would love to work with you in making that happen! I could get you guys a really good rate, and we could decide some way to pick the deserving winner.

[MBennett]

How do you get involved?

Plus Rep BTW

[rocknroller]

I guess i need to get on it.

[Mudhut Jollyrancher]

pay for me to go to woodward i was raised by a four loko kthxbai

[MyGlockGoPopPopPop]

As long as Woodward doesn't start advertising "blader free weeks" than I am ok with this. Honestly though I think there are a lot of boarders/bmxers who would be stoked to sign up for a week when there are no rollerbalders.

[RyanTimms]

As long as Woodward doesn't start advertising "blader free weeks" than I am ok with this. Honestly though I think there are a lot of boarders/bmxers who would be stoked to sign up for a week when there are no rollerbalders.


yeah but like mike said, a lot of kids arnt even out of school those early weeks. so i dont think its giong to be like "HEY OMG NO BLADERS LETS GO DAT WEEK YO" i would find it hard to believe that rollerblading is THAT BIG OF A DEALLLLL that little douchey skateboard kids would go out of their way to do this. and like you said as long as woodward doesnt advertise this, theres not a good way of them to find out other than checking the blading section of the site

[coldzombie]

pay for me to go to woodward i was raised by a four loko kthxbai
someone that will skate the ramps not the walks LOL :L

[AJ Pow]

I support everything that's been said in this thread. At first thought it seems like less inline weeks = bad, but more campers concentrated into fewer weeks seems to be the best option.

My main concern right now is being able to get my job back, now than Alan has retired. Who knows, maybe I'll have to switch over to the dark side of inline staff 8)


Edit: Also, let's say I did work the first few weeks. As staff, I could still blade, right? It may be weird being the only one on rollerblades in camp, but something to keep in mind.

[mitchdchapman]

I like sliding down the rainy mega ramp at west... you should make a slip and slide that large. just and idea.

[MBennett]

I support everything that's been said in this thread. At first thought it seems like less inline weeks = bad, but more campers concentrated into fewer weeks seems to be the best option.

My main concern right now is being able to get my job back, now than Alan has retired. Who knows, maybe I'll have to switch over to the dark side of inline staff 8)


Edit: Also, let's say I did work the first few weeks. As staff, I could still blade, right? It may be weird being the only one on rollerblades in camp, but something to keep in mind.


Yea, of course! There is still a few of us that live here. Eric Schadel, Jimmy Hake, Thumper, Myself.