By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor
The Eastern Hills Rod, Gun and Conservation Club will hold its 12th Annual Sporting Women’s workshop from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 18th at the club’s headquarters in Batavia.
“The event started about 10 years ago,” EHRGCC president George Clark said. “The whole event is like a workshop to teach women all different outdoor activities. We have rifle, shotgun, archery, pistols, canning, copper wire jewelry, Dutch Oven cooking, first aid, fly fishing, fossil hunting, gold panning, golf, hand guns, kayaks and canoes, self defense, trap shooting; a little bit of everything.
“The whole point of this whole thing is to get women out of the house and into the outdoors and learn how to do these different outdoor activities.”
The EHRGCC has been putting on the event for close to 11 years now and has come to enjoy a solid turnout year after year.
Interested women can sign up in advance of the workshop by filling out a brochure that asks them to rank the top-10 classes that they would be interested in learning more about.
A printable brochure and information about the different classes is available on the event’s website at sportingwomen.org.
With lists in hand, the EHRGCC does their best to acquiesce to each attendee’s preferences and assigns them an itinerary for the day.
“The ladies get to take four events for the day and each class is an hour and a half,” Clark said. “We feed them breakfast in the morning and give them lunch and they have drinks throughout the day.”
The entire event is split into two halves around the provided lunch, which is prepared and served by an army of volunteers, some of who also participate in the teaching of some of the classes.
There will be a silent auction held during lunch to raise money for Clermont County Senior Services and the American Legion.
The goal of the day-long event is spelled out in the EHRGCC’s S.H.A.R.E. policy: S – share knowledge; H – have fun; A – assist others; R – reach out; E – expand skills.
For just $45 per person, the women attending the Sporting Women’s get expert instruction from some of the area’s premier minds in each of the different fields.
“Each event teacher are people who do these things,” Clark said. “For example, for the kayaking course, there’s a kayaking club that put on the course. For handguns, we have teachers here at the club who do that teaching. Self defense is taught by self-defense artist.”
Of the 20 different course options provided at the Sporting Women event, many are recurring annually given their popularity among patrons, but there are some that experience some turnover.
“We started out with about 40 women the first year and then it grew to 70 or 80 and now we round off around 100,” Clark said. “Most of the women are repeats, probably about 75-percent. We try to drop three classes a year and bring in three new ones. That way we try to give the women something different to choose from.”
The attendees come from all different walks of life and areas of the tri-state. Clark said they have many women come from Clermont County, but also attract outdoorswomen from as far away Lexington and Dayton. The minimum age is 14 and there is no maximum.
Deadline for registration is July 14. Registration confirmation will include directions to the club’s HQ — 5594 Ansteatt Rd Batavia, Ohio 45103 — and any additional information concerning attire or what to bring.
The event is funded in part through a grant from the U.S. Sport Fish Restoration Fund, the Division of Wildlife and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Mail your registration and check for $45 made out to Sporting Women EHRGCC.
Group offerings are available and should be sent in together.
Mail all registrations to Nancy Bicknell, 1278 Clarawill Dr., Loveland, OH 45140. If you have any registration questions, you can e-mail Ms. Bicknell at pnb@zoomtown.com.
For any additional questions or information requests, call George Clark at (513) 797-5366 or e-mail at geoclark41@yahoo.com.