US SAILING recently announced their new tiered pathway to the US SAILING team with the Olympic development programs. We welcome the path to the podium, but let’s not forget the impact community sailing programs have on introducing learn-to-sail programs within their communities, such as Team Paradise Sailing, located in Miami, Florida.

The resources I’m looking at are impressive! Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) is the largest district in Florida and the 4th largest in the U.S. It serves over 330,000 students across more than 350 schools, including traditional public schools, magnet programs, and charter schools. It’s incredibly diverse, reflecting Miami-Dade’s multicultural population.

Throughout the years, we’ve welcomed youth from the foster care system, transitional housing communities, charter elementary schools, and local community not-for-profit organizations; however, in September of 2024, Team Paradise embarked on the inaugural season of the Team Paradise ‘SYSTEM’ program. ‘SYSTEM’ is an acronym for Sailing+Youth+STEM. We are utilizing US Sailing’s Reach STEM Education Series with sailing as a medium to provide hands-on learning opportunities that inspire interest in fields of study like physics, marine biology, robotics, technology, and more. If the mission of your youth sailing program is similar to ours, consider taking the following steps:

Research the schools in your area and connect with them to gauge interest in collaboration.
Concentrate on charter schools and schools with magnet programs.
Identify schools with STEM-based curricula focusing on campuses closest to your venue.
Utilize US Sailing’s Reach STEM Education Series as your lesson plan.
If you don’t already have a classroom STEM teacher in mind, ask the school for recommendations. Having a great teacher in the classroom is as important as having a skilled coach on the water!

To sustain the success of our youth sailing program, we focus on schools or groups near our sailing center. We are partnering with groups most likely to enjoy being in and on the water and want to learn to sail. As of this writing, we are halfway through the winter session of the ‘SYSTEM” sailing program. 99% of the kids returned from the fall session, and we expect them to continue through the spring program. Not only are they learning basic sailing, but they are also applying the Reach STEM modules in the natural learning environment of Biscayne Bay.

We hope this unique introduction to the sport will inspire young athletes to continue their sailing careers. It may not be the traditional pathway, but who knows? The next Olympic gold medalist could be right around the proverbial corner.