Zone 

The RYA Zone Programme explained.

The purpose of the RYA Zone/Home Country Squad Programme is to feed talented sailors into the RYA National Junior Squad Programme at the appropriate age and ability to enable them to succeed at World and European Championships at Junior and Youth level.

The Zone/Home Country Squads deliver a comprehensive range of coaching, training, off-water workshops and competition guidance to over 350 selected sailors, alongside the class open training programme and each sailor's individual club programme. The English High Performance Managers oversee the squad programmes, working closely with their team of Zone/Home Country Coaches.

In 2012 invitations to participate will be issued in October (on completion of the RYA Zone/Home Country Championships) and the squad programme will begin in November with training support being provided, concluding with the RYA Eric Twiname Championships in May, subject to satisfactory progress being achieved.

Each sailors progress is continually assessed by the Zone/Home Country Coaching Team at set Zone/Home Country and national events and the most talented sailors are encouraged to attend the National Selection Events to win selection to the National Junior Squads.

Fees

The RYA requires sailors to contribute towards the cost of all coaching programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The Zone/Home Country Squads are very heavily subsidized by the RYA and offer exceptional value for money in terms of the quality of coaching and coach to sailor ratios.

The fees for the 2012-2013 programme are:

Single-handers: Optimist and Topper £250 per sailor

Windsurfers: £340
Double-handers: RS Feva XL £180 per sailor (Please note that new for this year crews of double handers will both need to apply separately and therefore pay £180 each)

How to qualify

To be eligible for selection, a sailor must normally meet the following age criteria. Sailors who are marginally outside the age criteria are invited to apply. In certain circumstances older sailors can be included in the squad, for example, where they are late developers, new to the class, show future potential or would help to improve the overall standard of the squad.

• Optimists normally under 13 at December 31 st 2012
• RS Fevas normally under 14 at December 31 st 2012
• Toppers normally under 14 at December 31 st 2012
• Windsurfers normally under 15 at December 31 st 2012  

These age limits are set to enable the sailor to progress into the National Junior Squad at the optimum age and subsequent Youth Squads in order to go on to achieve at international level.

Selection Procedure

To be selected for an RYA Zone/Home Country Squad, sailors should complete the online application though the link above - www.ryaracingevents.org.uk

As a guideline of the selection process for 2012-13 sailors should compete in their local RYA Zone/Home Country Championships on the 29 & 30 September 2012. In addition the results of an area traveller event in each region in September is likely to be used as an indicator event as well as the Class Association Regional Open Race Training in the autumn.

The results of the Class Area Traveller Series may also be taken into consideration though will not be a formal part of the selection process.

 Further information can be obtained from your local RYA High Performance Manager. Sailors should be members of the RYA and their relevant Class Association.  

The RYA publishes a separate Selection Notice for each zone which covers both the dinghy and windsurfing squads it runs within each zone/Home Country - these can be found on the Zone/Home Country championship website (see link above).

Squad Sizes

Normally the RYA will invite between 6 and 18 boats/ windsurfers within each class to attend Zone/Home Country Squad training. Final numbers invited will depend upon the standard of sailors attending the Class Open Training weekends and RYA Zone/Home Country Championships in each zone.

Selection Criteria

RYA Selectors attend a number of the Open Training sessions and the RYA Zone/Home Country Championships, they may use one or more of the following criteria to select the squad:

• Performance at the nominated Class Regatta in September- Mandatory
• Performance at the RYA Zone/Home Country Championships- Mandatory
• Performance at the Open Training sessions- Mandatory
• Age and future potential
•  Height and weight
•  Factors affecting results
•  Class ranking lists/regional results
•  Goals and aspirations
•  Attitude and behaviour at the events and during training
•  Other factors the selectors consider appropriate
•  Sailors wishing to be considered should complete an online application via the link above (www.ryaracingevent.org.uk)