care and feeding of a venture patrol

[Lisabob 13]

Our nascent VP has a planning meeting for next year coming up and I've been giving it some thought. A couple of questions for those of you who have experience:

 

1) How do you keep the size of your venture patrol manageable? Right now there are 6 boys in the group, all 1st Cl+ and mostly 13 years old starting their 4th year in boy scouts (plus one 17 year old who will be graduating high school in a couple weeks). Incidentally they include all of the PLs from the troop except for the troop's NSPs.

 

One of the things I'm seeing that I like is that this is a small group. They have begun to bond with each other after their first backpacking experience, which is great. That's something I think they miss out on in our much larger troop. But because the VP is not a separate patrol (all of the boys have membership in "regular" patrols as well), there is a question of who can join? Fully half of the 58 boys in the troop are 13+ and 1st CL+. If all of them join, it would be like having a separate troop rather than a patrol. If the age or rank requirements are set higher, most of the boys who started this VP would be ineligible to remain.

 

2) How do you ensure that the boys in the VP are committed to doing the work that goes with big adventures, and not just to coming along on the "fun stuff" without putting in the leg work to make it happen? For example, since it isn't tied to rank advancement, can there be an attendance requirement as a condition of VP membership? Can participation in smaller hikes, VP fundraisers, etc., be tied to eligibility for big trips like Philmont or Boundary Waters?

 

I have a bag full of other questions but I'll save them for later.

 

Thanks!

[kb6jra 10]

Wow Lisabob, lots of good questions.

 

We have an experienced scout patrol, which could be argued to be a venture patrol. The boys are generally 14+ and experienced campers and hikers. We plan grander high adventure trips for them during the summer and allow them to do more difficult monthly hikes and outings.

 

Since most high adventure activities in Scouting are limited to those 14 years and older, that seems to be the typical age limit. That's not to say that a 13 year old can't do a 50 mile backpack, it would depend on the boy's condition and mindset, but generally speaking 14 year olds are physically and usually mentally able to handle a more aggressive program.

 

Our older boys plan a high adventure trek in the summer, and to round out their numbers invite "qualified" individuals in the troop to join them. By qualified, I mean that they are allowed to participate if they can complete the practice and conditioning hikes/outings and they are at least 1st class. Oddly the rank is a bigger stumbling block than the ability, but if a boy is 1st class, there's a good argument that he's been active in the unit and "deserves" consideration to be on the trek.

 

The sub-unit you're alluding to here sounds more like our PLC, where the leaders of the troop are members and do special outings together. When your troop leadership are a high functioning team the planets align and the Great Master smiles upon us all.

 

In our troop we encourage each patrol to have program away from troop outings. We want them to make the patrol outings exciting and fun, and try to make the other patrols jealous so they'll do the same. Our boys have had more fun doing this lately, but it does take a lot of extra adult effort to make it happen.

 

Good luck with your program, and have fun with it too.

 

 

[Eagledad 2779]

Hi Lisabob

 

The answer to your first question is you will find that many of the scouts wont want to do all that stuff. One year when we had about 35 fourteen and older scouts, I polled them to find out how many actually wanted to do high adventure. Twelve! Of course some wanted to do some high adventure, but not enough to join a patrol just for those activities. If you encourage the scouts to create and plan the trips, I think you will find that they come up with enough trips to keep the crews managble. But, lets say you do get a large crew, divide them up into a couple of smaller groups with a leader for each group. Typically our Snow Skiing crews were the largest and we would divide them up. The leaders of the groups are basically someone that the main crew leader can contact for communication to the rest of the crew.

 

Commitment really depends on what you want from it. We required scouts attend a minimum number of trainings so that they would know what they were getting into, and so we would know their limitations. But commitment for a snow ski trip was different than a commitment for a back packing trip. We usually tried to have enough training activities so if a scout couldn't make one, they still could make the minimum.

 

We required a crew leader for every trip and that person was required to get planning done for both the trip and training. What that means is he either could do the planning and communication himself, or delegate the task to other scouts and adults and over see that they got done. We had some good leaders and some not so good. But the adults assigned to that activity knew how to motivate the scout if the other scouts didnt get the job done, which they usually did.

 

90% of the time the scouts did a great job of planning because most wanted to be there. And there is a maturity curve as well. Older scouts with planning experience took on a lot more of the task than younger scouts with lesser experience. I had one 17 year old SPL who also planned a 10 day backpacking trip in Montana. He wouldnt let anyone else help because he enjoyed it so much. I think the adults of that trip wished they had given a few tips as far as where to stop for breaks while driving, but that crew had a great time. He did good.

 

One thing you will observe quickly by their attitude however are the scouts who dont really want to be there. Usually they are there because they are being pushed by parents or adult leaders or they just want to be part of the cool older guys. We learned that if a scouts wasnt excited about the trip, it was better to leave him at home because they are just as much of a struggle in the back county. I had the job of explaining that to the parents.

 

You guys are going to have a great time.

 

Barry

 

[anarchist 10]

Lisabob,

 

I too, like small units (patrols and troops for that matter)if they are committed. Hows this for an Idea...multiple High adventure patrols! If your patrols generally stick together from NSP on it is very possible that as members of a patrol hit 13 or 14...nearly all of them will soon be "there" in the same scout year.

 

I can see nothing wrong with several small patrols of older boys planning extra activities that interest them. You might find one goup want lots of water time...kayak/canoe trips, white water rafting, fishing, etc. While another group wants long distance hiking or caving or all of it...nothing says one group of scouts can't head for the boundary waters while another heads to a trail head for a fifty miler or to a mountian bike trail...is there? Sounds too cool to me!

 

Our last Scoutmaster started a patrol centric plan that required each patrol to plan several "patrol only" activities each year...even the NSP. The "troop planning calendar" even made room for these weekends. The boys decide upon, plan and execute these events (under the gentle guidance and nagging of the SM and or their assigned ASMs), and they are all about "what the patrol is interested in doing" not what the troop or even the PLC wants to do.

 

Some activities have included small boat/powerboat skills, sailing (we have our own 16 ft day sailer), kayaking, rafting, shotgun shooting, caving, rapelling, white water canoe training, canoe weekends, bike hikes and AT treks all the way "down" to pizza parties, ballgame trips, museum 'hikes' and bird watching.

 

If your 13 year olds can find age/skill appropriate activities they want to do...let them do it in their regular patrols! You don't need to have a 23 person venture patrol activity. We have been known to put two separate groups of 6 to eight scouts on a 100 mile canoe trip that our older boys love to do each year with the appropriate adult support but except for the put in and take out they never see each other....the "paddlers" blow down river and the "fishers" poke along...both groups have their own tales to tell and both have different (but equally) fun times!

 

try it it might work for you!

 

anarchist