Varsity Scouting?

[Herms]

Looking for some input from "the knowledge base". What is the Varsity program all about? Are these members of a troop, but doing high-adventure kind of like a (dare I say it) troop "Venture Patrol" or is it a seperate program altogether. Is anyone using it or a variation of it?

[Oak Tree]

It is conceptually a separate program, just as a Venturing Crew is a separate program. However, the couple units I've known who used Varsity Scouting did so within a troop, kind of like a Venture Patrol. That's what our troop is doing.

 

I think you could achieve some of the same results by doing a Venture patrol, or a Venturing crew, or a Varsity team. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages. If you do it within a troop, then a Varsity team is very similar to a Venture Patrol in terms of what you can do - typically you might encourage three or four separate "high-adventure" activities in a given year. Varsity does start at 14, which is one year older than the venture patrol. In my experience, that's a plus, as it gives the older Scouts a little more separation from the younger ones.

[infoscouter]

Varsity teams are supposed to be units chartered separately from troops. I believe the Varsity option w/in the troop has been phased out.

 

See:

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/threewaysvarsity.aspx

 

[John-in-KC]

http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-923.aspx

 

Here's the Fast Start package. Note it's note part of MyScouting and the online training:

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/videos/varsityleader.aspx

 

Yes, we talked about it in Wood Badge.

 

Yes, I think it has a brand identity problem. It uses the same fundamental member items as the Boy Scout program (Oath, Law, HB, advancement pattern). It also has membership overlap with Boy Scouting and Venturing (14-18).

 

It has a couple different awards than Boy Scouting.. the letter and the Denali. If you look at the letter, it's kinda sorta designed to support Scouting within a HS or club team that already exists. It pings on the sports season as a program device...

 

BTW, the letter still has an explicit attendance requirement! (What about that conversation, folks???)...

 

Frankly, I'd be surprised if there are 10 Teams chartered outside LDS-specific units in my entire Council, and we are "not quite" a humongous council.

[emb021]

Varsity Scouting still exists. Today the LDS Church mainly uses it.

 

The idea of using 'varsity scouting' within a troop was only around for a short time, and was merged into Venture Patrols. This is why today, Venture Patrols can do both High Adventure (which is what they were solely for) or Sports (which was the in-troop Varsity Team for). So its incorrect to say you can use Varsity Scouting in a troop. And who claim they do so are behind the times (by, oh, 15 years or so).

 

John-in-KC gave the link to the Varsity Scout Fact Sheet. Should answer all your questions.

[Oak Tree]

"It is incorrect to say that you can use Varsity Scouting in a troop."

 

Well, technically that's true. And technically you can't do Venturing in a troop, either. But lots of units do so in practice. Oh, the Scouts are officially dual-registered (or triply-registered) and there are officially two separate units, but for all practical purposes, the team or crew is treated like a venture patrol within a troop.

 

The numbers of Varsity Scouts are relatively small, and, I suspect, overwhelmingly LDS. I did talk with one LDS unit here that used the program, and they used it within their troop program and dual-registered all of their boys.

[Lisabob]

Not to get too far off track Oak Tree, but if it looks like a venture patrol and it acts like a venture patrol, why not just call it a venture patrol?

 

The only units I'm familiar with who have Varsity Teams are LDS units - and there, I've noticed that the smaller LDS troops treat the Team as a special group within the troop too, but mainly because if they didn't, they would hardly have any boys (LDS is not very big where I live). In their case I believe they only bother with using Teams at all because they've been told to do so by their CO.

 

 

[Oak Tree]

That's a good question, Lisabob. We debated this some. The venture patrol would certainly be a simpler approach.

 

I can tell you some of the reasons we've found a team is different from a venture patrol. For one simple point, the boys get to wear distinctive shoulder loops. As small as this is, it sets them apart from the younger boys, and the orange loops have been a big hit. Another advantage, in my mind, is that Varsity starts at 14, whereas the venture patrols start at 13. I know you could do the venture patrol at 14, but the book actually says 13. In our troop, that made for a more effective age differentiation.

 

I've observed that some venture patrols that overlay the ordinary patrol structure end up not doing much. By adding a bit more distinctiveness to the group, I hope to use that as encouragement to get them to plan more activities. Seems to be working ok so far. This is a subjective thing, I know, but there are little subtle things all along that set the Varsity Scouts just a small bit apart from the rest of the Scouts. They have a few of their own awards. They have another strip on their uniform, and a "V" on their merit badge sash (after they earn the "V"). There's an adult leader with orange shoulder loops who works primarily with the Varsity team.

 

Some points I'm not sure matter too much, but are still some potential differences: They can hold their own OA election. They can have more positions of responsibility that count towards advancement. They can, I think, make a separate submission for a Philmont lottery. They can have their own unit flag, and earn their own unit awards (quality unit, national camping awards, etc).

 

The DE is happy that we started a new unit.

 

The team also has the theoretical option of splitting more apart from the troop if it somehow turned out that looked like a good option, whereas a venture patrol can't really do that. Not that that's a likely scenario, but who knows?

 

Anyway, I realize that most troops go for the venture patrol option. The second most common choice around here is to have a Venturing crew that's dual-registered. Some of the bigger troops in our district have done that. Maybe I just like being different.

[Lisabob]

All pretty reasonable answers! Thanks for giving me something to think about, Oak Tree.

 

 

[jmwalston]

"By adding a bit more distinctiveness to the group, I hope to use that as encouragement to get them to plan more activities."

 

Are you referring to chartering a Varsity Team or forming a patrol? I've worked with VS and there are more fundamental differences than what you've laid out. With a VS Team, the members take a program and assign a team member to 1 of 5 development areas of it for leadership. A typical program takes about 3-6 months. This is in addition to the basic Boy Scout program and the annual high adventure outing.

[Beavah]

 

I love it when I learn a new, creative option. Thanks Oak Tree! I had never considered marketing Varsity Scouting to troops as a way of capturin' that older scout/high adventure element. As yeh mention, BSA has mostly targeted Venturing at that age group, but there's definite interest in the distinctive but troop-affiliated approach that used to be Venture Patrols.

 

That to my mind has always been the beauty of Scoutin'. It provides program materials and resources that can be picked up and adapted by CO's to meet their individual youth ministry and service needs.

 

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[Knight]

Varsity Scouts are virtually non-existent around here.