Meeting Recap - November 10, 2015

Posted by Todd Kruse 
on Nov 10, 2015
 
Today's Rotary Club meeting was opened by the ringing of the bell by Jim O'Brien who led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Jim also announced that the club did not have any guests today and called on Padre Nils Friberg to offer our Invocation.   
 
PRESIDENT'S ANNOUNCEMENTS and UPCOMING EVENTS 
 
  • President Dana Rebelein commented that the November 7th Foundation Dinner was very worthwhile and educational.    President Dana also highlighted that Cindy Carlson gave an excellent presentation on the Niger water project the club supports and that our club should consider Cindy for a future presentation at a regular club meeting.   President Dana completed her remarks by noting our club was awarded an "EREY banner" for Every Rotarian Every Year donating to the Rotary Foundation.  
  • The club's Technology Committee will meet on November 13th at 11:30 am at DD's Cafe to learn how to leverage social media to promote the club via a presentation by Risdall Marketing.   Dana will also explore how to email all club members the District Governor's Newsletter. 
  • December 10 reminder of the Holiday Charity Lunch for which the club is collaborating with the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce at the New Brighton Community Center.   Rotary will have an information booth onsite to promote the club and recruit new members and Amy Wakem will coordinate the club's traditional November food drive among local businesses to support this December 10 lunch event. 
  • January 29 to 30, 2016 Rotary's District Conference will be held at the Radisson Hotel in Roseville.
  • April 1, 2016 has been set as the club's annual Gold Plate Dinner being held at the Mermaid Event Center in Mounds View.
 
PUBLIC RELATIONS 
 
Linda LaFond reported that the CEAP check presentation by Dr. Jeff Benson was published in The Bulletin newspaper.  
 
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
  • Gerry Tietz noted that club member Char Samuelson was hospitalized due to a fall and head injury -   the club will send her a get well card and flowers.
  • Gerry Tietz presented President-elect Paul Fornier with another Paul Harris Fellow gem for his financial support of the Rotary Foundation. 
 
 
HAPPY FINES VIA THE FINEMASTER 
 
Jim Kadechka flew solo today as Finemaster but he rose to the occasion but assessing fines to most of the attendees!  Happy fines offered by club members included - 
 
  • Mark Beisswenger celebrating a Vikings win and a Packers loss to which several members noted should cost $2.00!!
  • NEW ROTARIAN - Winie Bradford contributed a dollar to celebrate being a new club member and to note the great club atmosphere she has already experienced. 
  • Dana and Glenna noted the success and value of the recent Foundation Dinner including the excellent meal!
  • Gerry Tietz was thankful for his wife's improved health.
  • Cor Wilson promoted the Century Link franchise discussion at tonight's New Brighton City Council meeting.
  • World traveler Paul Fornier celebrated his recent trip (first time ever!) to Fargo, North Dakota which he enjoyed.
  • Gerry Tietz highlighted and gave thanks for John Ordway's skills as club treasurer -  Editor's Note:  we should all watch for our invoices via email from John
  • Linda La Fond recognized and thanked all the veterans in the club -  happy Veterans Day and thank you on November 11.
  • Geoff Holliman noted that Winie and her husband were a lot of fun to meet with during the Foundation Dinner.
  • Todd Kruse was thankful for having attended the Iowa State University Navy/Marine ROTC Annual Ball this past weekend to hear his fraternity brother serve as the keynote speaker.    
GUEST SPEAKER
 
Today's guest speaker was Marsh Jones, Olympic Sprint Coach,  with the Rice Creek Boat Club (RCBC) whose Power Point presentation opened with a slide focused on "Youth Obesity and the Internet Age"  which led to a presentation on youth sports trends and the work of the RCBC.    Mr. Jones offered the following statistics - 
 
  • By age 17 at least 59% of youth have participated in some organized sport
  • By age 15 at least 70% of kids have dropped out of all sports
 
Why? 
 
Parental pressure, financial burden, burn out from being single sport centric,  "total victory" mindset,  etc.  
 
Maybe "video games" are not the cause of children dropping out of sports but instead the cause could be Parents? 
 
 
Mr. Jones noted that the "Long Term Development Model" (LTDM) should be used with young athletes where at the youngest ages children play a wide variety of sports where "fun" is the focus,  then as they age children "learn to compete",  and towards the end of high school these athletes develop goals for their athletic involvement.
 
History of the RCBC
 
Jones noted the club was started to provide cross-training opportunities for cross country skiers via three programs - 
 
  1. Marathon
  2. Sprint I
  3. Sprint II
In 2016 the RCBC will celebrate its 10th Anniversary and today they own 40 boats including both canoes and kayaks.   Club members are involved in two groups 1.) Introduction and 2.) Competition. 
 
The RCBC travels several times each year in the USA and internationally for various tournaments thus the club is launching a fundraising drive to defer travel costs and to purchase requisite equipment.     
 
Each athlete is expected to purchase their own paddle which typically cost nearly $500 each but last for several years and retain nearly all of their resale value -  unlike several stocks this Bulletin editor purchased over the years!!!      Nearly 90% of the club's members return on a year to year basis  prior to aging out to college, etc. 
 
A pending project that was noted was that the RCBC is working with Ramsey County to build a boat house for the club's equipment but the RCBC would benefit greatly from any volunteers in the Rotary Club network who could provide assistance with grant writing to help raise funds for the club.  
 
President Dana presented Mr. Marsh with a Rotary coffee mug so he can bail out their boats and  closed the meeting by having club members recite Rotary's Four Way Test. 
 
 
 
Submitted by:  Todd A. Kruse, Club Secretary in the place of our regular Bulletin Editor, Dr. Jeff Benson whose writing skills are greatly missed due to his travel schedule.