Membership idea

Living in an area with no history of rowing our small, new club is alwayslooking for ways to gain exposure to those who may be serious aboutmembership.  Here's something that seems to be working:I noticed that at a couple of local gyms folks would try rowing (yes,they have Concept II's) for their CV exercise.  I talked to the gym'smanagement and offered to come in and give a "rowing clinic" to showproper technique, talk about erg races, etc.  One gym accepted--anotheris thinking about it.I made up some announcements, including a USRowing brochure, for thegym to put up around their facility to get the word out.The clinic was held yesterday and WOW! -- what a response!  It was heldduring lunch and some people made it a point to come by and talk on aday when they weren't working out!We now have several GOOD, SOLID prospects for membership.  All thoseinterested are in quite good shape, love rowing the ergs, and can'twait for a row on the water.One guy had, one day about two weeks ago, rowed over 8,200 meters inthirty minutes.  He described his piece this way:        "My goal was to go over 8,000m in thirty minutes.  I felt        like I could do it without too much problem.  So I rowed        hard for five minutes, easy for five minutes, and so on.        I reached 8,000m in 28 minutes so I just coasted the last        two minutes."What a find!  He's excited about being invited to join us in the boat.He's a dynamo and knows nothing about rowing -- refers to a coxswainas a "coxman" and sculling as "sculting" -- but a really neat, enthusiasticguy.  He competes with another fellow on the ergs and he, too, isthrilled about getting in the shell.(Geez...I've got a lot of working out to do...)Needless to say, we're gonna' continue these rowing clinics.I've printed up a seven-page handout for everyone who comes to theclinic.  If you think a clinic like this might benefit your club,I'll be happy to send you a copy via either e-mail (it's a MS Worddocument) or snail mail.         Hope your weather improves soon,                Jim Locke                jlocke@wsnet.com                Montgomery Rowing Club                http://wsnet.com:80/~jiml/mrc/mrc.html