John Pearce, US Sailing Youth Director, hosted a virtual meeting on October 21, 2020 that was sponsored by the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound.

John demonstrated how the Skill Up digital instruction platform can enhance the effectiveness of sailing-skills instruction through a mobile app for instructors and students, and a web dashboard for program directors.

Following his prepared remarks, John answered a wide variety of questions from meeting participants about how Skill Up gives a junior sailing program access to skill tracking, instructional videos, lesson plans, and program management resources.

Here are some resources from the October meeting, and other background resources about Skill Up:
• View the Oct 21 meeting video recording
• View and download a Skill Up one page information flyer
• Learn how to get onboard as a sailing program using Skill Up

Some junior sailing programs located on Long Island Sound have already been testing Skill Up, with favorable results.

• Program Leader Benefit Example: the New York Athletic Club in Pelham NY has been using Skill Up during the past two summers. NYAC’s junior sailing program leader, Alex Helfand, said, “As program chair, Skill Up allowed me to monitor the progress and attendance of our sailors by session, and this past season by pod. Skill Up also provided insight into staff effectiveness. When I saw differences in progress, I could ask questions and advise on changes that might be needed.” Read more comments from Alex and view screen images he provided from the Skill Up mobile app to illustrate class roster and attendance, with skills assessment and progression, on the JSA website.

• Coach Benefit Examples:
      -Kevin Broome, sailing director at American Yacht Club in Rye NY, said, “Skill Up allows sailors, parents and coaches to be engaged on the same page. The transparent checklists in the app take some of the mystery out of what happens on the water. Everyone needs a few new ideas to shake up the learning process.”
      -Henry Millette, head coach at Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich CT, commented, “The best way to keep sailors fully engaged during eight weeks of training sessions is to present them with a large variety of drills. I love being able to simply select a drill on Skill Up and show it to my sailors during a briefing, because the app displays the drill diagram better than I’d ever be able to do on a white board.”
      -Read more comments from Kevin and Henry, and view screen images from the Skill Up mobile app that illustrate the variety of high-quality drills available, on the JSA website.