Jason (et al), Interesting thread about getting young people into gliding and keeping them. The stats you posted about our membership (at SCGC) made me realise why people at the club keeping calling me 'young Richard', even though I'm only three months shy of my 40th! I'll keep coming, if only to maintain my (relative) youth...
By observation of the lists only -- not based on any hard knowledge -- it seems to me that one of the more active and innovative clubs in this area is the Adelaide University Gliding Club. Maybe there's an opportunity for us (and other clubs around Australia) to build affiliations with local universities -- and their student (sports) unions. I remember when I was at Sydney Uni, the student union tipped some funding into the ailing Amateur Radio club (my interest in those days) at various times. We may be able to tap such a funding source, if only to assist in publicising the XXX University Gliding Club during Orientation Week. How would our Junior look on the front lawn at Sydney Uni for a few days in February? I guess a key for any GC seeking to set up an affiliation with a university sports union would be to have one (or preferably more) GC members attending the university -- a core on which to focus efforts, and through which to coordinate activities. Hosting a regular (monthly? fortnightly?) XUGC flying day would be great for a club: a regular injection of youthful enthusiasm and increased utilisation of the fleet. Also a great way to maintain, at least in the early stages, the valuable social (peer group) interaction to which Nick refers, both amongst the students and by allowing the host club to roster instructors who are likely to relate well. Any other GCs in Australia with experience in this regard? Richard. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Armistead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, July 24, 2003 10:33 pm Subject: Re: [aus-soaring] Fwd: Winners - 3rd FAI World Junior Gliding Championship > Adam > > This "separation of the generations" is part of the problem. > > You younger guys and gals want to be a part of the total gliding > movement. > Us not-quite-OFITTH membership secretaries (well, 35 for me !) > want to be > able to meet your needs in our clubs as best we can. We know that > attracting > younger blood to the club is the key to our future, and the key to > ensuring > that when you're old enough to be in our shoes, there still IS a > future for > gliding in Australia for you to be a part of. > > Except for the very infrequent posting on this list from people > like you, we > rarely hear much. > > As I've said before, I'd really LOVE to know what I can do, or > encourage my > club committee to do, to increase the size of our junior ranks. I > really > doubt whether we will hear much feedback from the RTOs or National > Coaches > (as the only "oldies" allowed on your Yahoo! group) to give our > clubs many > clues about what we can do to lift our game, though of course I > would like to > be proven wrong ! Thus my interest in being a "lurker" on your e- > mail list, > so I can find out first hand. > > My club (Southern Cross in Sydney) is prepared to offer up to 4 > scholarships > each year to juniors, which gives them free club membership and > free glider > hire for a year (just aerotows and GFA to pay for themselves) - so > far we > have just one recipient. Maybe the junior focussed training > organisations > don't know about this ? > > I've found the youth-oriented gliding groups also tend to like to > keep their > young members to themselves. > > What I mean is that, for example the Scouts fly with the Scout Air > Activities > gliding wing only, even if it is in one old Blanik, and they do so > fairly > infrequently despite what I'd assume were still a fairly healthy > number of > scouts in the Sydney / Illawarra region that should be able to > keep them busy > every weekend of the year (do they take care of the Girl Guides > too ?). Our > Club with a larger and for the most part more modern two seater > fleet > (including a brand spanking new DG-1000), would love to be able to > help give > a great gliding experience to the Scouts and Guides too (even just > to help > shorten their waiting queue on days when they're busy and we're a > bit quiet), > but it seems we can't because there are some sort of rules and > regulations of > Scouting, such that instructors on these flights must also be > afiliated with > the Scout Association somehow. > > I know I need to find out more about this situation before I can > claim any > more-than-superficial understanding of the issues involved, > something I will > do the next time I see them flying. > > In the case of the AirTC (or whatever their new name is that Tom > mentioned), > they go away to Bathurst a couple of times a year, but then > between camps I'm > not sure that so many keep on flying (maybe being an "outsider" > I'm > wrong ?). There seems to be very little encouragement for these > juniors to > seek out their local club and fly with them in-between the > scheduled courses. > > The idea that AirTC/Air League/etc members from the Sydney South- > West area > have to travel all the way to Bathurst to do a course seems crazy > when Camden > is less than half an hour down the road and we fly 5 days a week > (and are > looking to extend it to 7 days) and could perhaps fulfil some of > their > needs. But I'm not sure if there's anything we can do to "break > in" to this > market segment (as it were in business-speak), even though we > could perhaps > increase their capacity to offer gliding to their members (there > must be some > level of over-subscription to each of their regular courses). > > Apart from the two juniors that are actually members of our club > and the > cadets (acquired over a 3 year period, which is not what I > consider > successful youth recruiting), I don't get ANY real inquiries from > others > about the possibilities we could offer. It all seems strange to > me ! > > I'm not sure whether these groups even mention our "older" clubs > as > alternatives that the juniors could fly at - one would hope so but > the lack > of inquiries would tend to suggest otherwise. > > I would love to enter into any dialogue with these groups which > would help us > to address the needs of the budding younger glider pilots that are > out there > somewhere. > > Slightly confused and bemused > > > Jason Armistead > Membership Secretary > Southern Cross Gliding Club > Camden NSW > http://www.gliding.com.au/ > > > > G'day again all, > > > > Sorry for not displaying the web address for the junior_soaring > > webgroup, as I posted a large e-mail to the [Aus-Soaring] > webgroup > > sometime ago and assumed you all had it! but anyways, here it as > again:> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/junior_soaring - to join this > group > > is easy, click on the displayed link and follow the prompts! It > will > > then send a "request" e-mail to join the group, and if the > numbers > > add up (under 26 years of age, RTO's and National Coaches) then > the > > request will be accepted! > > > > It would be most appreciated if everyone could pass this web > site > > onto all juniors in your club, whether there pre-solo or > advanced in > > cross-country, their input will be most appreciated! > > > > at one of the recent junior meetings a pretty big discussion > point > > was the age limit for the juniors! We discussed on bumping up > the > > agae limit to 31 years and under to make the group larger! But > in > > the end we ended up turning that down because we wanted that > special > > atmosphere that the under 26's would be able to create! Also, > > because it is the definition of a Junior @ world standard! > > > > Our next Junior XC Meet is going to be held @ Jondaryan on the > 9th > > and 10th of August! We hope to get alot of XC happening > including > > some coaching, there be heaps of laughs, lectures and de-briefs > on > > the days flight! And finally on the Saturday night we'll be > holding > > a fundraiser BBQ for the Juniors!!! > > > > C U in the CUes > > Adam Woolley > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Hotmail is now available on Australian mobile phones. Go to > > http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilecentral/signup.asp > > > > -- > > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > > * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message > > * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information. > > > > > -- > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message > * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information. > > -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
