What do you need to get across your high ropes course?

The teenager looked at it me through tears streaming down her face. Her helmet sat cockeyed on her head and she looked pink from a day on the river earlier. It was Day #4 of her wilderness adventure experience. She had climbed a 40-foot tower and now shook and cried while hanging on to a set of ropes that she needed in order to get over to the other side of the high ropes course at this wilderness adventure setting in the Ozarks of Missouri.

“Barb, I can’t do this. I can’t do it,” she sobbed.

Meanwhile, I found myself – someone who is afraid of heights, mind you – standing on a cable 40 feet above ground, about 10 feet away from her. I inched my way back to the platform. She kept falling apart. The only answer it appeared, and the guides waited to see if this needed to be done, was to get the rescue rope and team and take her down from the course if she decided not to do it.

I tried all the pep talks I knew in the world. You know: “Sure you can do it. You made it up to the stand, right?” And, “Aw come on, it’s fun out here!”

She wasn’t buying it.

Finally, the mom-of-four, the long-distance athlete in me from high school track and the wife of a former military guy who was never home and left me with teenage boys to raise said, “OK. Now, look at me, look at me. I want you to reach down in that pit inside you and pull up whatever it was that got you up here in the first place. Use that to step down here to me and I’ll help you across.”

Two hours later, and after a long rest on the middle platform taking deep breaths (her, not me – by this time I was spotting the water tower in the nearby town and thinking about what it would be like to be a turkey vulture), we zip lined down to the ground. She was smiling, and my biggest reward came when she looked at me, all dry-eyed on the ground, and said, “Thanks, Barb.”

That makes me think that this Women’s Outdoor Media Association is like a big high ropes course. There are lots of ways to achieve your goals and some of us have different methods than others, but all of us working together can help each other get through it and maybe even fly down the zip line of life to experience the joy of success. For too long, it’s been too intimidating for many women in the outdoor media – and not only because of some men who think that women should not be allowed in the good ole boys’ club, but also because some women out there clawed their way to the top or were born into the business, and are not inclined to help others.

Take a look at the links section here. If you’re not in there, why not? Do you have a website or blog yet?

Find other members and reach out to them. You’ll be surprised at the caliber of men and women in our ranks with the mission to focus on what’s being done for and about women in the outdoors.

Also, remember, within our ranks are some prestigious athletes who would skip across the ropes course of life, and they are accessible to you as members of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association. Fly fishing guides, Olympic athletes, professional shooters, a videographer, photographers, writers, editors and the list goes on and there’s a reason they’re here: they understand the mission.

If you’re standing on the platform up high and need someone to help you across the course, let us know. That’s why we started this association and we’re not to the zip line yet.

Women outpace men in hunting numbers

More women than men took up hunting last year, according to new net figures from the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA).

While the total number of hunters in the United States decreased slightly (.05 percent) between 2008 and 2009, the number of female hunters increased by 5.4 percent, netting 163,000 new participants. Growth areas for women included muzzleloading (up 134.6 percent), bowhunting (up 30.7 percent), and hunting with firearms (up 3.5 percent).

Data also shows that women outpaced men among net newcomers to target shooting with a rifle, where female participation grew by 4.1 percent.

Participation statistics are from the NSGA report, “Sports Participation in 2009-Shooting Sports.”

Unsurprised at the number of female hunters and shooters are the women Olympians of the USA Shooting Team, whose ever-increasing visibility has made them effective ambassadors, role models and recruiters of women to traditional outdoor sports.

“Shooting is one of the most fun and empowering things you can teach a young girl or a grown woman,” said Corey Cogdell, 23, a lifelong hunter and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in trap shooting. “Most men are surprised to find out that I am an avid outdoors woman and are often intrigued to learn how they can get females in their own lives involved in hunting and shooting.”

Connie Smotek, 45, a two-time Olympic skeet shooter, bronze medalist in the 2009 World Cup, and an avid bird and big-game hunter, added, “Shooting and hunting are activities which a woman can enjoy for a lifetime.”

Cogdell and Smotek are among the many USA Shooting Team members who parlayed early interests in hunting into international success in shooting sports—an opportunity that didn’t exist for women until relatively recently. Women’s shooting wasn’t officially added as an Olympic sport until 1984 (although U.S. rifle shooter Margaret Murdock won a medal competing against men in the 1976 games). Since then, U.S. women have won 10 Olympic medals in shooting.

Four of those 10 medals were won in the past four Olympics by Kim Rhode, a double-trap and skeet shooter now among the most elite and enduring athletes in all of sports. Rhode has embraced her Olympic success as a platform to encourage new shooters, including many young women. She has appeared at NRA’s International Youth Hunter Education Challenge, where she has signed autographs, posed for pictures, and given the young participants the thrill of holding her Olympic medals.

NRA programs have played a key role in making it easier for women to break into hunting and shooting. Since its start in the year 2000, NRA’s Women On Target program has introduced almost 52,000 women to the shooting sports through women-only instructional shooting clinics. The number of clinics has increased substantially over that time, from 13 clinics reaching 496 women in 2000 to 290 clinics reaching 9,014 women in 2009. NRA has already scheduled 295 instructional clinics for 2010.

In addition, NRA’s Women’s Programs offers a slate of women’s hunting excursions each year that allow women of all skill levels to hunt and enjoy the outdoors in the company of other women. Ten women’s hunts are on the books for 2010 and early 2011, including hunts for black bears in Alaska, ducks in Michigan, pheasants in Nebraska, and deer in Texas.

Spots still remain for several of NRA’s 2010 women’s hunts. To view the full schedule and sign-up for a hunt, visit www.nrahq.org/women/hunting/index.asp or contact Ann Marie Foster, NRA Women’s Hunting Programs coordinator, at 703-267-1413 or womenontargethunts@nrahq.org.

To find a Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinic near you, visit www.nrahq.org/women/isc/clinics.asp.

*Pictured is WOMA member Marti Davis, active on many pro staffs and an avid hunter from southwest Missouri.

Still time to join the WOMA members at mini-retreat in Sparta for Appleseed Project weekend

The WOMA member Gretchen Mueller Steele coordinated a last-minute mini-retreat and invites the WOMA members to join her at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill., from Aug. 21-22, 2010, for an Appleseed Project experience. See http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=14215.0

The Appleseed Program is designed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to being a true rifleman. An American tradition, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away – no ifs, ands or buts about it. This 500-yard range is traditionally known as “the rifleman’s quarter-mile.” A rifleman can hit just about any target he can see within that radius. Marksmanship skill (albeit with smoothbore muskets) was particularly evident in the birth of our country, and was the difference in winning the Revolutionary War, right from the first day. At least four members have already signed up to take the weekend class, and intend to follow up with a week-long, advanced Boot Camp at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri in October.

Women are admitted free for the weekend, as the program is trying to train more women to be riflemen.

Here’s Gretchen’s agenda for the weekend:

Friday 8/20
Arrive and check in
4:00 PM Tour of the World Shooting and Recreational Complex with CEO Tony Mayfield
Following the tour we will travel  ( 8 miles) to Coulterville for dinner at Pistol City. A few local outdoor media folks will join us there as well as a rep from the City of Coulterville and the Coulterville Chamber of Commerce

Saturday 8/21
Appleseed Event 8-4 (need to be there somewhat before 0800 to register etc)
Dinner at 17th Street at the WSRC; again joined by some of the area outdoor media and industry folks

Sunday 8/22

More sweating with oldies – on the line at the Apple Seed event
Sunday evening meal we can decide  based on what we decide on lodging.

Monday 8/23
For those wishing to stay over for Monday – Bank fishing will be available at the Hunt CLub should we elect to stay there. I am also happy to give folks a tour of the area and the various outdoor opportunities, historic sites. Unfortunately my boat will only hold two ( it’s not much more than a floating laundry basket) – so our fishing would be bank fishing or bank bowfishing/slingshot fishing for those who would want to learn. We have good bank fishing at several sites close to both Sparta and Percy. Baldwin Lake and Peabody Fish and Wild Life area are both excellent pieces of public land with good fishing opportunities.

An IL fishing license is required for bowfishing.

Let me know what you ladies decide about lodging. That’s always difficult in this area – there is lodging, but our rates seem a bit high – mostly due the huge influx of people associated with the Prairie Sate Energy Campus project.

If you’d like to attend, get in touch with Gretchen Steele:

Gretchen Mueller Steele
Steele Photo Services
1314 South Main
Coulterville, IL 62237
steelephoto@gmail.com
www.steelephotoservices.com
618-201-4180

–

To what great heights will your elevator speech go?

Do you need an elevator speech for your business, your master plan, your life? The Women’s Outdoor Media Association’s board has two, and one of them is printed on the fronts of our business cards.

It goes like this: The Women’s Outdoor Media Association focuses on increasing media coverage of women who are active in traditional outdoor sports, especially shooting, hunting, fishing and archery.

The short version goes like this: The Women’s Outdoor Media Association? It focuses on what’s being done in the media for and about women in the outdoors.

And I like to add, “Why don’t you join us?”

To read more about elevator speeches and about why you should have one, and what to avoid if you do, visit Freelance Switch. You might even want to sign up to receive email updates from this edgy site, or RSS Feeds.

Deb Ferns awarded ‘Unsung Hero’ award from RICA

The Railway Industrial Clearance Association (RICA) is known throughout the transportation industry as the true “Mega Movers”; indeed, many of its members have been featured on the popular History Channel series. Recently RICA celebrated its 42nd anniversary with its annual conference held at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort in Henderson, NV. On the final night of the conference the awards banquet was held and plaques given out for the President’s Award and Heritage Award to Kelli Collins and Carol Boylan respectively. The final award, Unsung Hero, was given to Deb Ferns, who has been the association meeting planner for RICA since 2007. Ferns accepted her award to a standing ovation and thanked members for their support. For more information on the members of RICA involved in railways, heavy haul transports, barge  companies, crane & rigging operations, along with ports and ocean liners, go to www.RICA.org.

Julie Holman, President of RICA, and Deb Ferns. Photo by Ken Beard.

WOMA veep certifies as instructor for ‘Refuse To Be A Victim’

The Women’s Outdoor Media Association’s Vice President,  Melita Ellington, of Conyers, Ga., recently completed instructor training at the NRA Meetings and Exhibits in Charlotte, N.C., for the Refuse To Be A Victim program. Ellington is a member of the NRA, USPSA and Snellville Sportsmen’s Ministry. She is the founder of Magnolia Defense Enterprises LLC, specializing in training women in pistol skills and basic self-defense. The Refuse To Be A Victim program will complement her business, and she looks forward to working with women in the Atlanta area where she works as a legal secretary. For more information about the program, see http://www.nrahq.org/rtbav/

Denise Miller named to SportsOneSource’s ‘SGB 40 Under 40′ list

Denise Miller, Otis Technology vice president of sales and marketing, has been named one of SportsOneSource’s SGB 40 Under 40. The awards honor the work of sporting-goods industry executives under the age of 40. Miller has been with Otis Technology since its inception 25 years ago, building the business from the ground up with her family. The honorees for the annual SGB 40 Under 40 awards have been selected and once again include some of the brightest young stars in the sporting goods industry.  From footwear and apparel to retail, outdoor, team sports, public relations, media, Wall Street and sports marketing, this year’s list of recipients embody the spirit of the sports and outdoor market. The recipients, selected out of a list of over 300 nominations by a panel of SportsOneSource analysts and editors and a team of industry executives, were honored during a weekend event in South Beach Miami, FL May 21 – 23, 2010. “These awards are a way to recognize the great work done by some of the younger people in our industry,” said James Hartford, president, CEO and group publisher of The SportsOneSource Group, which publishes the SGB trade publication.  “The caliber of the honorees is growing every year. We drew very strong support from prior winners and industry experts to select a prestigious group of individuals and it is our pleasure to honor the next generation of leaders.” This year, the event has been expanded to a full weekend and is open to other industry professionals, friends and peers to help honor the recipients. The 2010 Honorees: Brian Anderson, President, Sportline Sutton Bacon, President & CEO, Nantahala Outdoor Center Jason Borg, National Accounts Manager, Escalade Sports Jim BelBruno, VP Marketing, Mattingly Sports Robert Coughlin, VP Sales, High Sierra Sport Company Dana Davis, General Manager, Summit Hut Angela Dominick, Buyer – Women’s Footwear, Dicks Sporting Goods John Fahnestock, Buyer- Baseball, Dick’s Sporting Goods Robyn Goby, Director of Marketing and Communication, Fleet Feet, Inc. Evan Greenberg, Corporate VP, Efinger Sporting Goods Jeff Gruenhut, Partner,  Formula4 Media Seth Hochberg, Sr. Product Manager, Franklin Sports Seth Horowitz, President, Modell’s Sporting Goods Ronnie Jefferson, DMM — Lifestyle Footwear, Finish Line Neal Klein, Director of Sales, Aloe Up Todd Krinsky, VP, Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Reebok International Brent Lamm, Product Manager – Footwear and Apparel, Performance Bicycle Inc. Jonathan Lantz, President, La Sportiva N.A. Jill Layfield, VP Product Development, Backcountry.com Thac Lecong, General Merchandise Manager, Frontrunners/LA Jason Levinthal, Rebel Command, Line Skis/Full Tilt Ski Boots Katrin Ley, VP Brand Strategy, Business Development, Reebok Jason Lutz, Founder, Sneaker Villa Andrew Martin, Director Investment Banking, RW Baird Michael McAbee, VP of Planning, Hibbett Sports Andrew McLellan, Director of Information Systems, Arcteryx Marshall Merriam, Footwear Buyer, Eastern Mountain Sports Denise Miller, VP Sales and Marketing, Otis Technology Sarah Robb O’Hagan, Chief Marketing Officer, Gatorade div of Pepsico Christopher Peake, Senior Buyer, Zappos.com Clint Pierce, VP Apparel, The Sports Authority Daniella Reichstetter, Founder and CEO, Gyrobike Parks Robinson, Owner/General Manager, Fit 2 Run Ryan Samuelson, Director of Licensing, Major League Baseball Properties Nate Simmons, Partner, Global Director of Marketing, Backbone Media, Polartec Dan Sullivan, Footwear Product, Saucony Christopher Svezia, Senior Analyst, Susquehanna Financial Craig Throne, VP Marketing, Outdoor Group/Wolverine WorldWide Jon Vacca, VP Customer Relations & Credit, Puma North America Kris Versteegen, Director Specialty Business, The SportsOneSource Group For more information on the awards ceremony, advertising sponsorship, or to request tickets, contact Joy Matheny at 704.987.3450 x107 or e-mail Joy at: Under40@sportsonesource.com.

Copyright © 2003-2010 SportsOneSource, LLC   All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use. Read our Privacy Guidelines.

WOMA board member Bill Bowers co-authors hiking book

Central New York’s scenic rural landscape, abundant wildlife and rich natural and human history make the region a superb hiking destination. A newly published guidebook shows readers the way, offering myriad opportunities for explorers of all ages and abilities.

50 Hikes in Central New York’s Leatherstocking Country is the latest addition to the renowned and popular 50 Hikes Series^® from The Countryman Press. Detailed trail descriptions, maps and more than 100 photographs guide readers on 53 (the book includes three bonus destinations) outstanding hikes ranging from easy, half-mile nature walks suitable for families with small children to arduous treks across rough, remote terrain. A Hikes at a Glance table makes it easy to choose among the area’s many hiking options.

“One of the nicest things about Leatherstocking Country is the sheer variety of hiking opportunities available here,” said Bill Bowers. “In our book, we’ve tried to convey a sense of adventure, the possibility of discovering something wonderful around the next bend in the trail.”

The book includes hikes at state, county and town parks, state forests, wildlife management areas, college campuses, historic sites and other properties from Tompkins County in the west to Schoharie County in the east, and from Oneida County in the Adirondack foothills to the Southern Tier along New York’s border with Pennsylvania. The introduction provides a capsule natural and human history of the Leatherstocking Region, as well as tips for hikers on choosing equipment and addressing safety concerns.

50 Hikes in Central New York’s Leatherstocking Country features hikes on newly opened properties, such as Betty and Wilbur Davis State Park near Westford, as well as old favorites such as Green Lakes State Park near Fayetteville (with its two meromictic lakes and stands of old-growth forest), which hikers have explored since the early 20th century.

“We hope people enjoy reading our book exploring our area’s fabulous hiking opportunities as much as we have,” said Bowers.

Authors Bill Bowers and Eileen McNulty-Bowers are available for interviews and public appearances. Please call 315-858-1126 or e-mail bowerseditorial@oecblue.com.

Order the book from Amazon here.

Why you should be ‘very afraid’ of citing online surveys in your research

Mark Duda, Executive Director of Responsive Management, an internationally recognized public opinion and attitude survey research firm specializing in natural resource and outdoor recreation issues, warns communicators to be wary of using online survey results to prove their points or support their claims. He writes, “Most online surveys are not scientific, produce inaccurate data, and do not reflect the opinions or attitudes of the population under study. In short, most online surveys produce erroneous data that can lead to erroneous conclusions and subsequently to bad decision-making by agencies, organizations, and businesses. It’s better to have no data than inaccurate data.” You may read the rest of his report here, and also, you may sign up for newsletters from Responsive Management that will be helpful in shaping query ideas and supporting articles with facts found the good old fashioned researcher’s way.

Kathleen Miller debuts new column in The Pines Review

Congrats to Kathleen Miller, whose writing will now be appearing in The Pines Review. In her first column, she writes about accepting the mode of catch-and-release … on the stream and in her life. You may read it here: http://issuu.com/thepinesreview/docs/v_iii_no_2_spring_summer_2010_online?viewMode=magazine

Next Page »