Idaho Sentinels (Boise)

[Jake Norwood]

On the subject of charging...don't think of it as charging, especially if you're worried about the monetary value of your own lessons. Call them club dues instead, and put it all toward equipment for the club, or space rental, or webspace, or HEMA Alliance affiliation/insurance, etc. Our monthly dues are $40, but I don't keep a dime of it. Instead, we have lots of quality loaner gear and a fantastic training venue.

Welcome, by the way!

Jake

[Michael-Forest]

Hello.
I have spoken with my wife and we can try to put Reno on the list of awaited visits. It would be wonderful to train with you, but tell me, what's the best time of year to make such a trip? Is it too hot for someone from misty Wales there? Idaho summer heat nearly killed me last year, the one and only ren fair here was attended by yours truly in a suit of transitional plate mail and I was not far away from heatstroke. It took me about 30 minutes to get cooled down. How can anyone wear armour in such weather I don't know...I think I know what those crusaders felt like in the middle east. Not good. We would be driving down, and we'd need to avoid bad weather, and there's a lot of bad weather these days. Don't suppose it's armour wearing weather down there?

I'm rather jealous of groups with hardcore memberships. We have had a score of people come through training here but they've all run off to do other things, there's been no core members to keep it running, though we are rebuilding well. We have scheduled a number of training sessions in the local park, lots of visibility and potential for showing off. So my hopes remain high. I made some flyers, got a web page up, advertised on Craigslist, local classifieds...must keep it up. At least two thirds of our meetup list are newbies, so it's back to basics (again) but it's always great to see new people try it out...with luck, they may get bitten by the bug...

And our modest home is in turn open to fighters who would like visit and train with us. HEMA scholars are the best of all people to hang out with. But I would say that, right? LOL.

Early Spring, generally, but it really depends (might still be snowing then...) July highs are often in the 90's, but we really get a ton of variation.

[Odysseus G Osborne]

Hello Guys!
I've been wondering what steps to make to turn the Sentinels Study Group into a "Club". Are there any benefits and should we bother? Is a study group a club anyway (but without the bureaucracy?)

Suggestions are very welcome on this matter.

[Jake Norwood]

I assume you mean affiliating as an Alliance club? Or just officially calling your study group a club?

[Odysseus G Osborne]

Jake,
You have immediately and accurately gotten right to my concern, that is, "what is the difference anyway?" Someone mentioned that a club isn't "owned", it is shared and even has it's own existence, for instance, people come and go, the entity of club goes on. At the moment, without myself and my wife, it wouldn't survive as an entity independent of us. I wish it had the dedicated numbers to be that way...I was also under the impression that a club needed a separate treasurer and a division of certain roles. At the moment, all the roles are done by just myself, because members of the study group have only just started showing an interest in doing some role sharing for the group. The equipment being used by the group is in a "group bag" and this is owned by myself, not the group.

About HEMA Alliance affiliation, myself and my wife have joined as individuals, three others in the group say they will be joining over the next few weeks. That would give us affiliate status I hope. I'm not sure how this would change our standing with the alliance.

Thanks for discussing this Jake.

[Jake Norwood]

Hey O.

Most clubs, mine included, rely on one or two people to stay afloat. Moving from an informal study group to an informal club is a pure matter of word choice.

Moving to a more formal club is an actual decision…one that you’ll need to make eventually if you plan on growing as a group, I’d wager. In that case, you’ll need someone to handle business for the club, most of which will be scheduling locations/times, scheduling training content, keeping up with all of your members (and tracking prospective ones), and collecting/spending dues, if any.

I recommend it. A club, with dues, is more likely to engender some sort of “loyalty” or at least increase participation by folks other than you and your wife. Dues will let you buy loaner equipment, rent a better place to train, etc. T-shirts or other “gear” gives you a group identity which increases the club’s longevity. People usually get out of something what they put into it, and people tend to put more into clubs than study groups.

That’s a pretty wide generalization, but it seems right in my anecdotal experience.

The con is that clubs require more work, more time, and more effort from the lynchpins, at least initially. Later on they’re actually easier, because the workload is distributed across more shoulders.

Club affiliation with the Alliance is another matter. If you and your wife are both members, and there’s no one else in your club, I suppose technically you’re already affiliated as soon as you apply for it. Adding people to the club at that point costs a little bit, but gets you a few benefits that are worth a lot more than the fee (like the insurance and nonprofit status).

Does that help? Am I missing the mark on your question?

Jake

[Odysseus G Osborne]

Hello Jake,
Thank you for your wisdoms on this. Yes, a member or two have expressed the desire to be in a fully formatted club, with a "brand" name, identity etc. And it seems to offer more of a sense of belonging, continuity perhaps. It might even foster some team spirit.

I've just had a box of cards made, some flyers, very nice stuff...and whatever we end up as, study group or club, we have to grow this thing! We are going to be down in Utah next month to go to that Ogden Renfair, 20th May I believe. Hopefully we will also get the chance to meet some of the local HEMA guys and train together...I can't wait. We have been so deprived of competition here...

[Ben Smith]

Hello Odysseus, I thought I ought to introduce myself personally. I'm Ben Smith, I live in the Pullman/Moscow area going to grad school right now, but see the thing is I make regular trips to Boise three or four times a year. I may even be down about time for the Ren Fair this year.

Anyway, I would love to train with you guys, I'll check your meetup site and message you when I have a chance to come down.

Ben Smith

[Odysseus G Osborne]

Hey, anyone keeping the flag flying there in Boise?

It seems like no one is responding to e-mails from new potential members. It must be horrid to decide "HEMA IS AWESOME AND MY THING!" and then find out the nearest club is Yakima and Ogden.

Blessings
OGO