One of my other kids is a bowler, and at tournaments, the top 5 or 10 kids would get a prizes in the form of scholarship money for college. This was so the kids got prizes, but it was also to keep an amateur status because they weren’t receiving a cash prize. The kids would register an account with the bowling congress, and then the congress would keep tabs on the account and depositing winnings. When the youth registers for college, they can request funds from their account be paid to the school. The funds are good until they turn 21 or up to 8 years in higher education. The system for bowling, SMART, was created specifically for bowling. The prizes are only awarded at tournaments, and not league or club levels. Thought it may give a small incentive for parents to get their kids into racing, so they get a little something back, financially, for the money, time, and effort they put in. I think the kids would dig it too, because they are winning “Money”, and get a prize “Check.” Thoughts?
Sorta torn on this. The ncaa appears to be making bank off of student athletes for a long time, and it’s odd that these kids don’t see anything from it unless they go pro. Certainly as a parent I’d love help with school tuition, so if I had a kid that was seriously competitive, I’d find this helpful. Would suck if mom and dad got carried away by prizes tho.
Jorge @ OGP has been doing this for his series Champions for a few years now
Us parents are certainly not trustworthy enough to handle the money. We’d just buy more tires. Sounds like a good idea.
Pretty neat concept. The issue is karting’s complete and utter lack of a true national sanctioning body that could be trusted with the program. The beauty of these things too is that you can buy scholarships forward at a reduced rate so in reality you can actually award even more for the same level of investment.
It could exist independently of organizations.
Not quite along the same lines, but I’ve pondered a badge reward type system based on certain skills a young driver has acquired. Kinda like Scouts. Aligned with various values the sport offers beyond merely winning or even just driving. Gamify the process if you like.
Hold a presentation at school about karting.
Learn to set your tire pressures.
Show sports(person)ship.
Hand make something for your kart
Etc etc. I sense people will have better ideas for badges than me.
I kind of love this gamification of things. I remember as a kid in yurup you got bronze, silver or gold lapel ski pins to wear as you progressed in your skiing ability.
Car games kinda do this too and it what makes em fun. People like progress!
So, I decided to do some digging. I contacted the organization that handles the accounts for the youth bowlers. After discussing it it with her, she said if I could get a proposal together, she would bring it to her board and discuss it with them. I figured this would be the easiest route since they already have the connections and the process figured out. Like someone mentioned earlier, the issue may be the lack of a common sanctioning body for all of karting…any ideas? Lol
I don’t think it needs to be part of sanctioning perse.
If it’s a good idea that’s workable and adds value for tracks/clubs and racers, then they will adopt it.
You could include the orgs in some discussions in developing it, perhaps get their buy-in for advocacy.
But otherwise I don’t see having different orgs as being a major obstacle if the idea is followed through and made happen. When you get to that stage, I can help
Slight rant… I hear the complaint about having too many orgs come up often. I also hear people complain about monopolies that some feel certain orgs have…
Here’s the thing…having multiple orgs is never going to change. It’s not something we can even control. That’s the nature of the beast, capitalism, humans, self interest, America.
What we CAN do, is figure out ways to navigate around this and help others in doing so. Building things of universal appeal. Example Briggs 206.
I’m not saying having multiple orgs is not a problem, but again it’s not something anyone can actually control, manage or change.
When if someone came along and bought every sanctioning body up to consolidate them, you’ll have people complain about a monopoly… new sanctioning bodies will appear and the cycle starts over again.