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I've never met an adult or youth who've complained about physical injuries haunting them later in life resulting from scouting activities. I have met a multitude of people facing knee and shoulder injuries due to baseball and football. There is a relationship between sports injuries and prescription drug addictions. In many locales, there is a toxic drug culture to be found in HS football culture.

I agree, so our pack chose to rebel a bit to build community spirit. We bough custom unit patches like this (that's not our Pack/location though). The kids like them, and parents love them since their easier to sew than 3 separate numbers & veteran bar (and including the Established year instead of the veteran bar means they don't expire every 5 years).

Sports teams usually have a much closer identification with their towns and schools than scout units have with their Chartered Organizations. As a result, the towns and schools come out to support the teams. This often makes kids feel like they are playing for the honor of their town or school. I think it was a big mistake for scouting to replace the name of the community (on the uniform) with the council patch.

The best patrol names are those selected without any adult input whatsoever (and avoiding anything crude and inappropriate of course). But remember: if they choose a funny name that's a "joke", and love it, and use it, well, that IS the patrol method in action. That's not making a mockery of the patrol method - that's having the freedom to embrace it fully. That's EXACTLY what it means to have "pride in their patrols." That's what you want! A "good name" is a name the Scouts love and stick to. We have to let go of our adult points of view, and consider things from their perspective. Oftti

In some ways, scouts is a very solitary pursuit and not at all team oriented. My scouts biggest complaint when they crossed over from cubs to scouts is that they lost that sense of shared adventure with their den. I know it's supposed to morph into a patrol model, but when you are in an area where parents are pushing their kids to tear their way up the Eagle Trail, it becomes very individual and fragmented. We can tell ourselves that it's a winning vs. service mentality, but in reality, I think it's more about the shared experience. Win or lose, if kids feel like they are more part of a team

I think the difference between scouting and sports is fairly simple. At the most basic level, when scouts and sports are both done right, scouting is about learning to put others before self, gracefully, and sports is about learning to win, gracefully. Some parents see more value in one over the other. Some see value in both.

I would suggest each troop have an ASPL for TG. If you have half of your TG as first-timers, the ASPL may need to step in and devote additional time with those patrols/mentoring the TG. It would be spreading them very thin if they had to oversee two troops. My $.02.

WB is lots to digest for a new scouter. Seeing model patrol method at work was really helpful...more than what was taught. Forming/Storming/Norming/Performing...certainly started to see this at work the next camping season, so this was useful. Struggling to remember the rest, so I may have to serve a course or two for a refresher. Tickets was most important part, which helped me grow as a scoutmaster. I had a district related ticket, that got me involved at the district level. If I didn't put anything I learned into practice via tickets, I would not have learned much. Go Owls.

Fair enough regarding the "professional" (white collar?) vs. trades professions. However, plenty of trades (most?) don't require a degree; the apprenticeship path is still the way to go. For those that do, a 2 year certificate/degree from a vocational school is still a fraction of the cost of even the lowest in-state University. I'd disagree on 2 points. The first is that nursing isn't a trade profession. Besides, I think it's all in our best interest that health care providers have a bit of formal schooling and education. Secondly, most vocational trade professions have absolut

My post was an explanation for why youth choose sports over scouts. Not an opinion of what has more value. My point, not very clear, is that youth will go where they want to go and if sports is a better choice, than likely the scout program isn't keeping their interest. Barry

Waddaya got against Bacon Ninjas?

Apples and oranges. Anyone can advance in Scouting to the top award, not so in sports. There is nothing in Scouting that compares to that championship season after years of losing seasons, double practices, injuries, losing key players and coaches, bad calls,...Imagine if there was competition for Eagle slots at Council, say only 20 scouts "win" Eagle each year. I know I'm dreaming since patrol competition is all but gone. Instant gratification sometimes takes years. My $0.02,

OK, I'll speak up for sports here. I don't like when we try and pit disciplines against each other. I think the benefits of scouts vs. sports depends in many ways on the parents and what they want for their kids. Almost all the things we criticize sports parents for I have seen in scout parents, it's just not as overt. Whether it's the win at all costs or make it to Eagle at all costs mentality, some parents are just programmed to push their kids that way. I will say that while sports parents can harass the referee, there is a limit to how far things can be contested. In scouts, however, if a

Cautious reminder that many of the advertisements on the benefits (and not discounting there are positive aspects) of youth sports are driven in many cases by groups that will benefit financially from youth sports Sporting goods stores and manufacturers that sell equipment Coaches who are paid and need customers Associations that run the "exclusive" tournaments and need the revenue Private coaching and instructional academies that need customers Groups running sports camps that need attendees Parks and rec groups that have fields that see leagues as rental c

The troop committee does not have the authority to replace you as scoutmaster. That is not their job. Officially only the COR has this authority. That being said my advice is as follows: GET OUT!!!!!! I may have missed it but I don't see your son's age and rank. They would have to be nearly done for me to say that you might as well stay. This sounds like a very toxic place. You might discuss the issue with your COR (the person really in charge). If they are supportive of you continuing to develop the troop then they need to inform the committee that they don't have the authority

I'm with you on this. WB is not about running program for scouts (though it used to be). Now it is basically billed as a management course and the "ticket" items may help program for scouts/youth. Note that ticket items may be unrelated to actually assisting in program. Billed as the pinnacle of BSA Adult training, but not sure that it what the results may actually be. But...apparently you get a neat pink neckerchief, you can culturally appropriate kilts if you desire, you can freely join the WB cult and drink the kool aid, you get the beads (by the way, Q - how many WB beads does a 1