At 11:43 PM 24/03/2005, Nick GIlbert wrote:
>>That's easy... more young people.
Young people of Australia unite - start your own youth-only gliding clubs and see how you get on. No OFITTH allowed. Raise all the funds for your aircraft and facilities, form your own committee, etc.
Oh, hold on, it's much easier to join an existing gliding club where the OFITTH have already taken care of those things, and will continue to do so free of charge, spending copious amounts of their time in order to keep the club and the sport afloat (often while sacrificing time with their own families), even if not all members (young and old) are prepared to put as much effort in.
>> And the best way to do that (that I can think of) is to make them instructors when possible.
The choice of people as instructors should never be an age-related one, and I don't actually believe it is. It should be based on flying proficiency, the ability to teach others, and of course their overall attitude to club life - why appoint self-absorbed youngsters (or OFITTH for that matter) who are not team players on the airfield and don't want to commit to being on the roster every 3-4 weeks ? If they've got the "right stuff" most CFIs who are looking for new blood wouldn't hesitate to consider them.
>> Make a place on your committee for an under 30 year old. Make it their job to make the club more youth-friendly.
Ah, so now the definition of a "young" person is someone under 30. Interesting how the definition of "young" is heading towards a demographic where people have finished school/tech college/university and are able to establish themselves with a decent job, their own transport, etc. All the things that prevent so many young people from getting involved in gliding much earlier and staying involved. People like me !
I don't think that clubs *need* to create an age-dependent position on their committee. 99.9% of people on gliding club committees would gladly hand over their spot to anyone, young or old, who put their hand up at the AGM and said "pick me", regardless of age. That fact is re-iterated at our club each and every year at the AGM. I''ve been on the Committee for 6 years now, mainly because I was happy to put my hand up, and the other members were relieved that I did. I can only think of one or two cases where we've had more than one nominee (and that's covering 6 AGMs with around 12-15 people being voted into positions each time).
And, to encourage new blood and ideas on the committee my club deliberately has a dedicated position for a new member of less than 2 years in the club - that's how I got involved less than 8 months after I became a member.
>> Target the younger people as they approach the pie-cart. I have seen duty pilots berate people when they are surprised to learn that they may have to wait a while (you can't just waltz in here and expect...etc...). This does nothing for anybody & and is just the sort of thing that will cause someone to think, "the flight was great, but ......."
Ridiculous indeed - name one gliding club where if a young person walks up they automatically drop everything to serve them ahead of people (members and AEF passengers) that are already waiting in line for a glider and instructor. I don't think many gliding clubs would last 5 minutes with this sort of queue jumping. Try doing it at the QANTAS check-in counter the next time you are flying and see how popular you are with the other passengers waiting in line.
I have also seen young members turn up in the middle of the day with their friends, avoid getting involved in helping out at the launch poiint, and then bad-mouthing the duty pilot and instructors when they didn't get a flight, even though they didn't register their interest in having one and sat their contributing zero to the days operation.
I think most people off the street, young or old, have no idea how a gliding club works, nor that their is some waiting around before they'll get their turn to fly. Most duty pilots politely explain that to potential AEFs when they arrive, try to give them and idea of the wait before their flight (which can depend very much on what happens with all the people already flying), and do their level best to keep them happy. It's not always easy, and some people are better at it than others.
>> This is a VERY important issue. Writing the sport off as 'Un-Cool", and blaming this as the reason for lack of youth is the easy way out. What option do we have? Wait until the younger people get old and loose their fashion sense?
Some young people already don't have any fashion sense ! LOL !!!
>> A DVD of the next JoeyGlide would be a good way for the GFA to spend some $$$'s and do something about this.
Adam Woolley was going to produce something from the last Joeyglide - what happened to this ?
and previously Nick wrote:
>> "Go to a parachute centre sometime. I visited one to have a chute repacked outside Sydney one day. It was a Friday afternoon and there must have been 60-70 people there, with very few people over 30. "
I used to know a group of parachutists who flew from the private airfield near Cambewarra (close to Bomaderry, NSW). They would often outland near our place in North Nowra, and one time when they landed out in the paddock behind our house we had them around for a BBQ. Fascinating that almost all of them were either single or married without kids. One of them was nearly 65 (if I remember correctly), and still very much "coo'l". I guess that defines the parachuting demographic (would be interesting to see some hard demographic numbers from the APF).
Once most people settle down to a life with kids, priorities change as they have to. Maybe that's what happens to the parachutists at Wilton, which has been running for many years now. Surely some its ranks would be 30+ and still involved otherwise. Back to Ecclesiastes 3 again ...
By the way, these guys at Cambewarra were the original Sky Surfers, jumping with boogie boards many years before it became fashionable on the Coca Cola TV advertisements.
Regards
Jason Armistead
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