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Frequently Asked Questions
Below you will find a list of frequently asked questions about Girls Learn To Ride.
Girls Learn To Ride (GLTR), the original series of female-only action sports clinics
and camps, is designed to give females of all ages the basic skills and confidence
necessary to participate in skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, wakeboarding,
motocross, bmx and mountain biking. In this program, skilled professionals provide
hands-on training with an emphasis on safety and skill development. Now in its seventh
year, GLTR has taught tens of thousands of girls and women a new action sport. The
program will host a number of events throughout the United States and Canada in
2006.
This year, Girls Learn To Ride launch “GLTR – online source for Female Action Sports.”
The website is now an online magazine where you can find out about upcoming events
in your area, Interviews with top athletes, Lifestyle stories & features, product
reviews and an online store featuring the top gear for each sport.
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Mark Sperling, Girls Learn To Ride’s founder, started the program in 1999. His idea
for the program originated when he was teaching his girlfriend at the time how to
surf and snowboard. It was a frustrating experience for both of them, and he thought
it would be easier to create a series of action sports clinics from which she could
learn new sports than it would be to teach her himself! He started talking to his
female friends, who told him they were going through similar experiences. At the
time, Sperling was an action sports industry-marketing executive who was involved
with skateboarding, surfing, BMX, motocross, wakeboarding, and snowboarding. So
it was a natural progression for Girls Learn To Ride to teach those sports.
The first Girls Learn To Ride clinic was a snowboarding day at Mountain High Resort
in Wrightwood, Calif. Over 120 girls and women ages 7 to 53 attended the clinic.
The next clinic was a skateboarding day at Mission Valley YMCA in San Diego at which
50 girls learned to skate with the help of pro skateboarder, Andy Macdonald. Since
then the program has hosted over 500 clinics and camps throughout the US and Canada.
GLTR has also produce female action sports events like “Girls Day” at ESPN’s X Games,
competitions & demos at NBC’s Dew Action Sports Tour and Boarding For Breast Cancer’s
Board-a-thons.
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GLTR is an online female action sports magazine, featuring stories and profiles
that relate to the sports and lifestyle. We consistently update our site to feature
fresh editorial that helps females of all ages understand & improve on their daily
lives and skills.
If you are interested in submitting an article, please send it to
editor@girlslearntoride.com. We are looking for a number of different topics
to be featured on the site. Areas like:
- Interviews with Pro & Amateur riders
- Review on a local skate park, ski resort, lake or riding location
- Fitness & health tips
- Your experience learning a sport for the first time
- Reviews about concerts, bands and CD’s
- Results & reviews from a contest, event or race
If you have any other ideas for stories, please send them to us. We will review
them and get back to you.
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If you have an event like a clinic, camp, race, contest or something that is Female-related,
you have the opportunity to post it on our Event Listing Calendar. The 25,000+ females
who come on to the GLTR site each month or receive our monthly email newsletter
will view your event. The fee is $20, and it includes detail description about the
event, Event logo and URL link to your event website or registration. To post your
event, please download this form, fill it out, and email it back with your event
logo/image to events@girlslearntoride.com.
Once we have approved it, you will receive a PayPal invoice, which needs to be paid
before the event can be listed on the site.
If you have more than one event (i.e. weekly surf-camps) we offer a discount. Please
email us at events@girlslearntoride.com
for more info.
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No! Girls Learn To Ride and our event partnering programs has had girls as young
as 4 and women as "mature" as 60 + participate in our events. Some of the clinics
have a minimum age requirement, and an age cutoff. The clinics are a great way to
try a new sport, at any age, in a safe and relaxed environment. Also, we regularly
have mothers and daughters take our clinics together.
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Of course! In fact, we encourage you to invite your friends and family to watch
and photograph you learning a new sport. There is generally a space for spectators
at most events.
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Our staff photographs most Girls Learn To Ride clinics. If pictures are taken of
the event, they will be posted on the event page of our website (click on “PAST
EVENTS”) within two weeks after the clinic. If you have photos of the event that
you would like to share on our website, please email them to us at
info@girlslearntoride.com. Please include your name and the event date and
location.
Also our NEW Photo Gallery allows you to email, print and make photo books of the
days’ photos. This is a great way to treasure the experience.
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We only work with the best instructors and schools specializing in teaching each
sport. It is our commitment to you that at each clinic, skilled professionals will
provide hands-on training with an emphasis on safety and skill development. As an
added bonus, some of our instructors are professional athletes who have years of
experience to show you the correct way of riding.
If you are interested in becoming an instructor, you need to be certified. Most
sports like snowboarding and motocross have organizations that will train you to
become instructors. For Snowboarding, please go to: http://www.psia.org
For Motocross/Dirt Biking, please go to: http://www.msf-usa.org.
For surfing, wakeboarding and mountain biking, we work with pre-existing schools
that are certified in these sports.
If you would like to become a Skateboarding or BMX instructor, we offer GLTR-certification
programs throughout North America. Please email us at
info@girlslearntoride.com, and include your Name, Address, City, State,
Zip, Age, Phone number and Email Address. Also why you want to become an instructor.
We will notify you of when there is an instructor clinic in your area.
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Each sport has a different ratio of participants to instructor; however, there are
usually no more than six to eight participants per instructor, and many times the
ratio is even better.
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Girls Learn To Ride is constantly working to add more locations to our schedule.
We aim to have our events in locations that will be accessible to the greatest number
of people. We do take your suggestions into consideration when scouting new locations.
If you would like to let us know about a new location, please email us the name
of the location, what sport it is for, and your name to
info@girlslearntoride.com. Also keep checking our website for the updated
schedule of events.
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We have received numerous emails asking us about hosting events in various regions
of Canada. In the past year we have added wakeboarding, skateboarding, BMX, snowboarding
and a surfing clinics/camps in Canada. We are doing our best to add more events
in other areas of Canada.
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We receive numerous emails asking us to do clinics in different sports then what
we already offer. Each year we evaluate these requests to see if there is a big
enough demand to warrant adding another sport to the program. We also take into
consideration safety, reliable instructors, costs, insurance and locations to hold
these clinics. Over the past years, we have added new sports like BMX freestyle,
BMX racing and Mountain Biking because of these requests. We will continue to do
so in the future. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to email us at info@girlslearntoride.com.
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Yes we do in some of the sports. Most of the wakeboarding, skateboarding, mountain
biking and BMX clinics are open to all skill levels. Each of these clinics will
be able to help you with a new trick you are trying to learn or maybe helping progress
to the next skill level. In some of the other sports (i.e. Snowboarding, Motocross)
we will be offering selective clinics for more advanced riders. This will be indicated
on each clinic’s event page. We do plan on offering more “all-skill level” clinics
throughout the year.
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If you are looking for a ride or to carpool with someone to a clinic, we suggest
you post a message on our FORUMS message boards asking for a ride. We will be encouraging
all of our participants to help others this year on getting a ride to the clinic.
Some clinic locations have mass transportation (i.e. bus, trains) going to them.
You can click on the LOCATION logo (i.e. Ski resort, skatepark logo) located each
event’s page to find out more information about alternative transportation to the
clinics.
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In most cases you can. Please look for the event’s contact information at the bottom
of the EVENT INFO PAGE. For GLTR-specific clinics, we accept personal checks and
money orders (US funds only). Please email at
info@girlslearntoride.com for more information.
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All website transactions are fully secure through Active.com or through our event
partner’s website; however, if you are unable or do not want to register online,
please email info@girlslearntoride.com
for more information.
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We strongly suggest that participants register in advance for our clinics, as it
is the only way to hold a spot for the event. Most of our events sell out, and we
wouldn't want you to miss the opportunity to take a class. However, if you decide
not to register in advance, you are welcome to come on the day of the event and
see if there are any spots open.
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This is for clinics that are titled “GLTR CLINICS” only. All other clinics/camps
by our partners will have their own Waiver policy.
Anyone under 18-years-old must have a parent or guardian present to sign a waiver
at the event check in, or bring a signed and notarized waiver with her (most UPS
Stores or Banks will be able to notarize for a minimal fee). Please
click here to download the GLTR waiver or check the Event Listing on our
website for any additional waivers you will need to sign.
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We suggest you register them all through our online registration process with Active.com
or our partner event’s websites. It gives you the option to add more than one person
to each order. If you rather pay for the group with a check, we suggest you email
us for more info at info@girlslearntoride.com
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No, we do not provide registration discounts if you bring your own equipment (i.e.
Snowboard, wakeboards). Our registration fee is already specially discounted just
for GLTR, in most cases, anywhere from $10 to $50 for a regular clinic. For most
sports, we encourage you to bring your own equipment, so you can learn on it and
become comfortable with it. With motocross/dirt bikes, if you have gear, boots and
a helmet, please bring it, but you must use our motorcycles for safety reasons.
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For most clinics & camps, you will receive a confirmation email right after you
register online. In some cases, we will email a few days before the clinic, information
about what you need to bring, where to go, what time the clinic begins and any additional
information. Most of this is already on the Event’s page on our website. If you
have any questions, please feel free to email us at
info@girlslearntoride.com.
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Not all of the events are cancelled if there is bad weather. Each event has it’s
own policy on refunds – Also check our website on the EVENT PAGE for info updates
on the clinic you will be attending.
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Cancellations must be received within 1 week to 48 hours of the event. Each event
will have a different Refund policy, so please check the EVENT PAGE on our website
or event contact.
For specific GLTR clinics - If we receive an email no later than 48 hours prior
to your class, we will send you a gift certificate or transfer the order to another
Girls Learn To Ride event. Cancellations after this time and no-shows will not be
eligible for a refund or a credit toward a future class, except under extraordinary
circumstances such as a death in the family or a family emergency. Such cases will
be dealt with on a case-by-case basis by emailing info@girlslearntoride.com.
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Other than enrolling in our clinics, a way to be involved with Girls Learn To Ride
is to join our Street Team. This exclusive team is made up of enthusiastic girls
and women who are passionate about spreading the word about Girls Learn To Ride
in their area. The Street Team enjoys many perks, including chances to win prizes,
receiving information about our program and other affiliated programs before it
is released to the public, and much more.
If you would like to be an Girls Learn To Ride Street Team member, please email
us at streetteam@girlslearntoride.com,
subject line: STREET TEAM. Please include your NAME, ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, ZIP,
EMAIL ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER, AGE, and a reason why YOU should be a part of our
team.
Also check out our Group at MYSPACE.COM, where you can speak with girls from around
the world who are interested in action sports. Go to
http://groups.myspace.com/gltr
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