Sometimes in Winter
[02/27/2007] [Ursus Bear]As I begin this, snow seems to be a solid wall outside my eighth-story apartment’s windows. Where I can usually see a gorgeous view of Lake Ontario under a blue sky, I can’t even see the water tower that’s less than a football field away through the bluster. It’s only Thursday, but last time I saw weather like this it was Sunday – and when I got to field, in -30C weather (that’s -22F for most of you), we still had double-digits ready to ditch, quest and battlegame. For a Shire who hit double-digits less than a year ago for the first time, I was quite impressed with the dedication. What have we been doing, I ask myself, to encourage people to keep playing through the winter? Winter for outdoor activities tends to be a harsh time. Sports often move their practices indoors, sometimes even their full games; at the very least, equipment is adapted for winter, and that’s their season. Hobbies like winter camping have extremely specialized equipment, especially up here in the Great White. But when it comes to Amtgard, the only difference I see on our local fields is garb. Our first major change that we make during winter months is to institute the winter garb rule. Coats, boots, hats and gloves don’t make for great garb, so the only requirement we continue to hold is the visible sash. We want to know what class you’re playing, but you don’t have to be out there in a tabard if you don’t have one warm enough to last the day without your hands turning black. When we realized that Daylight Savings Time would mean that starting fighter practice at 6 PM would put us past sundown, we switched to a weekly A&S night instead. It hasn’t been a perfect experiment – there have been nights were only one or two people showed, nights that were outright cancelled, nights where nothing got done but a few dozen games of Bomberman on the Wii – but there’s definitely been experience and wisdom gained that can be passed along to other groups with faltering winter attendance: Give them something to do. It doesn’t have to be a weekly A&S night, but give them something to do inside, where it’s warm, where there are chairs, so that friendships don’t rust. Camaraderie can be improved tenfold over a winter if careful attention is paid to making sure that the group gets together, even in smaller groups, once a week outside of field. Don’t be a hardass. Especially when it comes to activities that are only happening because you wanted them to. Weekly A&S nights are great in theory, but that’s a lot of A&S. When people run out of things to do, let them play video games, chat, or go into the backyard to ditch. It’s not ruining your A&S night, it’s meaning they’ll come back for another one. Give them somewhere to go after field. Whether it’s a player’s home or a local restaurant, somewhere warm that your players can go when they’ve gotten too cold but don’t want to break up the meet just yet will mean that it’s still worth it for those players who have to travel half an hour to get to field every week. If they don’t have to worry about only being there for an hour and having nothing to do afterwards, it’ll be much more worth it for them to make the effort. Bring blankets, and, if you have the facility, warm drinks. If you can, move field to somewhere with open washrooms if your field doesn’t already have some, because that bush off to the far side of the field isn’t so appealing anymore. Warming packs are a must-have for first-aid kits. Winter Amtgard doesn’t have to mean a sharp decline in numbers, even in the most Northern of groups. With care and a bit of coddling, winter attendance can flourish just as well as any other.
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