SCHOOL PRESENTATIONS A KEY TO SPORT INTRODUCTION
By Deone Roberts, AU Sport Development

Steve Mrozinski, a member of the Bay City Racing Pigeon Club in Michigan, did a great job presenting racing pigeons to school children in the early part of November.

We talked with Steve about how he set up his presentation. The following is what he shared with us.

On the afternoon of Steve’s scheduled presentation, he arranged two 8-foot tables in the center of the school gym. On one, he placed a 4-compartment show cage. On the other, he placed a collection of brochures provided by the AU, along with an old manual clock, a new electronic clock, feed and grit samples, wooden eggs and other miscellaneous items that he utilizes in the loft.

When the gym set up was completed, Steve visited each classroom with two squeakers (and a roll of paper towels). After introducing himself, he invited the children to hold the birds. That got the students excited about the big presentation in the gym.

As students filed into the gym, Steve placed 20 flyers into the show cage. The students’ attention was fixed by then. He proceeded to show portions of the Marathon In The Sky video, which he had borrowed from the Public Library. After the video, he solicited four volunteers to assist him. As he stood behind the bird table, he asked each class to file by the birds. Almost every kid had a question. As they passed by the first table, they went on to the second table where his volunteers gave each child two different brochures, a leg band postcard (redesigned by AU) with a sample leg band tied to it, and a ticket for a drawing. Each class put their drawing tickets into separate jars for a drawing later.

Everyone was seated again and Steve answered the students’ questions. Having played the video first, the kids were ready with several questions, without prompting.

Following the question and answer session, Steve’s four helpers each drew 1 ticket for each class and announced the selected number. The winning student from each class came up front where they selected 1 bird to compete in a special race. As each bird was selected, Steve recorded it and placed it into the basket until all of the birds were selected

What Steve had previously arranged with the teacher was for the winning class to have an additional recess period. By then the students were really eager. They assembled outside, counted down from 10 and let the birds go. Because it was nearing the end of the school day, parents were arriving to pick up their kids. They were also able to watch the release.

As Steve stated, “I have never seen anything like this, but those kids
just came unglued with the excitement of those birds being released, and flying
free.”

Back at home, Steve clocked all the birds with the training mode of the electronic clock. He then prepared a race entry sheet showing the placing and distance return time. From there he prepared a certificate of merit for each class from a word processing template on his computer. On each certificate, Steve recorded the band number of the birds they selected, the color, sex and time. These were returned to the school the next day and awarded by the school principal.

Steve also included a thank you letter to the school and provided his email address so students could forward any additional questions. He has received several so far.

When the entire event was complete, Steve shared his thoughts about having done the presentation, “What a blast! This was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done with my birds.”

Steve’s simple act of sharing with students will most likely have a positive ripple effect for the children and the sport. Not only will some students further investigate the birds, but their parents’ interest may be stimulated as well. Someone else may be inspired to donate a video to a school or library.

AU Lakes Zone Director, Dave Brehm, confirmed, “These students are the coming generation that may either participate in the racing sport or may affect someone else’s ability to race in the future. I think what Steve did was wonderful, and a great blueprint for others to imitate.”

Have you thought about donating a video to a school or library? Have you thought about making a presentation to local schools, or inviting the students and their parents to visit your loft?

Call the AU to begin coordinating your group presentation. We are here to help!