Hi all,
I've just returned back to this list, after having long abandoned it due to spam some time ago. This latest topic about youth is one that keeps popping up again and again, so I think I need to put a little input here.
Caleb, your mention of getting university unions to help out in a similar way that they do other sports is one that I've persued at some length just over a year ago, trying to form a "UniGlide" program, incorporating my own university, Sydney Uni, as well as poaching pilots from other NSW unis. I thought I would have an advantage, having run a university sports club for 3 years and knowing the system, but the union didn't want a bar of it. It was an impossible task without some form of university funding, and whilst preliminary talks with the Southern Cross gliding clubs showed them to be very interested and extremely helpful, the lack of co-operation from the university proved to be the reason I stopped investigating into it. This is about to get worse, too, if VSU comes in, and less-popular sports get dropped from the university sports unions.
On another note, I too have to thank everyone involved in the "JoeyGlide" competition, which I was at last December. As a student living out of home, with a part-time job and studying full-time, I found it very hard to get a) the money and b) the time together to attend. During the year, I have a lot of difficulty in going flying for both of these reasons, and consider myself lucky if I can get the resources together just to get to the field, let alone fly whilst I'm there. Whilst I've been happy with the club that I'm with, I can definately relate to what Mark said, in that there are often a few members who make life extremely difficult for younger members, often not having the patience or understanding that younger members do not have the resources that older ones may have. Sometimes even such little things can push a younger member over the edge when they are at a crossroad, trying justify their interest in the sport.
Just noting what Nick said: it's vital that active encouragement is taken when dealing with younger members, and if they show the potential and aptitude, to give them more responsibility within the club. Many juniors, particularly those who have made it up to cross-country levels, are keen to the point of insanity (many notable ones were at JoeyGlide this year), and I believe that this energy needs to be harvested more efficiently. As Nick said, we need to have younger people present on the field if we don't want younger ab-initio's to be intimidated.
Well, that's my 2 cents for now... I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend!
Gus Stewart
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