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Ritual Training |
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Tom McGuire - NCD Chairman unkafud@aol.com |
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The sole purpose of
Ritual Training to teach coaches and officers the proper way to conduct
the Initiation Ritual for new members.
This is further enhanced by conducting the annual Ritual Contest. The new members are
better impressed by the performance of a good team and they will recall
the initiation with fond memories.
It presents them with the general requirements of Elkdom.
It is not just a matter of getting up and reading the program.
Grand Lodge Statutes require that the Initiation Ritual be
performed from memory. The whole process
takes many hours of practice. We,
as members of the Ritual Training Committee try to get the teams off to
a good start. We conduct
training sessions starting on the third Saturday of September every
year. This first training
session is held in Visalia for all Ritual Training Committee Members,
Floor Judges and those Past Exalted Rulers and current Exalted Rulers
who desire to become Judges. It
covers all changes to the Ritual. This
is the first opportunity for Judges and prospective Judges to take the
written examination. All Ritual Judges,
Word, Calculators, and Floor Judges are required, in Area 7, of which
California is part, to qualify every year in order to Judge.
The rest of the country requires the qualification every two
years. We feel that this
makes us better qualified as Judges.
The next training
session on a state level is in Woodland to be held in January. There are also sessions in Vallejo, Santa Clara and
Marysville for Floor Judging qualification.
These sessions are where the Floor Judges qualify for the next
contest year. New Floor
Judges are required to pass two of these qualification tests before they
are qualified to judge in a District Contest. The next Floor Judges will be held in Woodland, January 10 and 11, 2009. This is also an Officers and Coaches Clinic. All Officers and Coaches should attend. This is where all changes to the Ritual are explained and demonstrated. Links |
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