I started leading our local Rope Bite group back in March of 2013, and Bound Light joined me in those efforts less than a year later. We’ve really enjoyed watching the rope community in Richmond grow and expand during that time, and we hope that our contributions to that process through the development of RVA Rope have been valuable. It’s been quite an interesting six years. We’ve met some amazing and talented people, had lots of fun, and made some great friends.
We’re now reaching a place in our life together where we no longer feel we can dedicate the amount of time and energy necessary to do a good job in a leadership position for RVA Rope, and so we feel it’s time that we step down from the RVA Rope Board. Starting March 1st, we will no longer be holding any type of official position in RVA Rope.
Passing the Baton … for Positive Reasons
When we developed the RVA Rope Board, we knew one of the reasons for doing so was to make it possible for us to someday “pass the baton” to others in what we hoped would be a smooth transition. That time has come, and we’re encouraged by the energy, ideas, and eagerness that the current board is bringing to the local community.
We want to make clear (given what we know about how the interwebs and rumor mills work) that our decision to step down is in no way the result of anything negative and should in no way reflect negatively on anyone. This is purely a decision driven by the limitations of time and other demands in our personal lives.
We’re excited to see what the future holds for RVA Rope and its current and future board members.
Stepping Down, Not Disappearing
We will continue to offer our assistance where we can and to generally support the further development of rope in Richmond. We also plan to continue to offer private instruction for those who would like to study with us, and we hope that one of the positive outcomes of stepping down from the board will be to give us more time to continue the work of Rope Study in the near future.
So, to answer the questions we’ve heard most often when we’ve told people in person:
- Are you moving / leaving the community / dying? – Nope. We’ll still be around. Just not leading RVA Rope anymore.
- Are you still going to run those Rope Study classes? – Yes. We hope to start offering classes through Rope Study again sometime soon.
- Are you still doing private lessons? – Yes. If you’d like to study with us, get in touch.
- Do you hate rope now? – Nope! One of our hopes for this change is that we will actually find more time to enjoy rope together 🙂
Parting Advice
Not that anyone asked 🙂 … but our parting words of advice to the board and the local community would be …
- remember that there’s an infinite variety of ways to enjoy rope; find the ones that work for you, and help others find theirs, no matter how different their ways are from yours … but also …
- remember that rope often involves risk, sometimes lots of it, and you should have a healthy respect for those risks … both generally and specifically for the people with whom you tie; tops: remember that you literally hold the physical safety of others in your hands, and the weight of that responsibility should keep you interacting within your experience and skill level and drive you to learn as much as possible; bottoms: remember that you are the one taking the risks with your body, so you bear the same burden of being responsible in your interactions, understanding the ties you agree to, and being as informed and practiced as possible within the risk profile that you have thoughtfully identified for yourself
- remember that a strong, healthy, and growing community relies on a balance of both a welcoming, inclusive, and encouraging approach to others but also a watchful concern for the health and safety of that community … finding and keeping that balance is probably the hardest part of the job, and also the most important
Looking Forward
Our hope is that the work we’ve contributed over the last six years will form a good foundation for future growth that leads to an ever-more diverse, informed, risk-aware, responsible, and joyful rope community. We will continue to help with that where we can.
We look forward to seeing everyone at future educational offerings and events. We thank you all for the trust you’ve given to us in the past, the time you’ve shared with us, and the pleasure we’ve found in getting to know you, working with you, learning from you, and having ropey good times. We wish everyone success, joy, and safe practice.
