On Mon, 2004-08-02 at 19:50, Leigh Bunting wrote: > skf1 wrote: > > >I think the target market are the 40 to 50 age group > > > Hmmm. Unfortunately, the statistics show that this group are more than > likely to be overweight to obese and chronically unfit and it comes as a > bit of a shock that gliding can be so physical. Not only that but > decades of sedentary activity have ruined their reaction times, > situational awareness skills, coordination skills and can suffer from > information overload in new or different situations. So this age group > seem to have a high dropout rate anyway.
...and these people are out on the roads! However, I think that you are seriously mischaracterising the 40-50 year old cohort. At Caboolture GC, probably 50% of our new members are in this age group. Interestingly, the desire to learn to fly has, for a couple of new members, provided the stimulus needed to loose some weight! As an instructor, I would have to agree that they can take longer to learn than the youngsters, but that is not a problem provided we are careful to ensure the slower progress does not affect their confidence. We had one individual (over 60) who took well over 100 (aero tow) launches to get up to solo competency. I don't think this individual is going to want to go off XC or fly in comps, but she enjoys her local flying at Caboolture. It's not for us to tell her that she has to spread her wings wider! The big advantage of this age group is that they tend to have the financial resources (our sport is not cheap) and are able to make the time available. I think it is well worth targeting the 'empty nesters' (probably 45+). Targeting the young should also occur - but it is worth remembering that there is a strong possibility that young people will disappear from gliding when the time and financial constraints of having a family bite. Some will keep on gliding despite the problems, some will leave and come back, but many (?most) will leave forever. Perhaps we should be targeting those youngsters we trained in the 70's and 80's that disappeared!!! -- Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED] +61 (0)438 385 533 Brisbane, Australia http://www.hart.wattle.id.au _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
