Español

Manual de Lanzado
Sección de Carlos
The Downloads

Falsecast

Monday: Paul Arden
Tuesday: Harps
Wednesday: Bernd Ziesche
Thursday: Mr T.
Friday: Ray
Saturday: Viking Lars
Sunday: Bruce Richards

Ronan's report

I seem to be constantly locking horns with FFF Board of Governors and their committees: Definitions committee (now defunct), Master committee (doesn't work), International committee. I have to fight every inch of the way to keep costs down for International candidates in weaker economies. Isn't this all about an association of professional flyfishing instructors? Isn't that our goal? It's not - or shouldn't be - about making money for river restoration projects in the US. It's about us, as instructors, working together to have a world-wide professional standard. What is so difficult about that?

And yes, examiners need paying; they also need trained and tested. A professional body of instructors can only have professional examiners if it is to be consistent. Exams improve over the years to reflect the fact that we improve as instructors; our knowledge expands and our abilities increase. If an exam is examined to the same level as it was 15 years ago, then this is obviously unacceptable. It follows therefore that examiners need to be reassessed on a regular basis to ensure that they are current. It's not difficult. Seems logical. But very frightening for some members. But you know, if they're frightened of being retested regularly then they shouldn't be examining in the first place.

And the whole FFF Certification Programme Board of Governors is archaic. In order to become a BOG, you get elected... by who? By instructors? No. By Board of Governors! And then these guys who are elected by themselves are then accountable to the FFF - ie our professional body is accountable to not us, but instead a river restoration programme in the USA. I don't know about you, but I expect - indeed demand - a vote. I'm an instructor member, I demand a vote over how the FFFCP is run, independent of the FFF.

Phew, try changing that! You certainly can't make those changes behind closed doors, and maybe not at all.

So I'm a bit stuck with these guys at the moment. Many of them are great people of course, but they have an annoying habit of ignoring difficult questions. They appear quite happy with the situation they are in. There is no desire to improve our exams. Most aren't professional and indeed consider themselves volunteers (I cannot tell you how many times I've heard the "we're only volunteers" excuse). And maybe the FFF is the wrong horse; an association of volunteers does not represent professionals. And I know that Internationally most of us have all joined this association in order to be professional.

That's a problem.

Cheers,
Paul

Pic Of Day