On Sunday, October 5, 2014 7:33:04 AM UTC-6, XC wrote:
Ten Reasons to Add a Junior Program to Your Glider Club



We at Harris Hill are always going on about our club's junior program. It is because we all take great pride in it. Many other clubs are doing a great job at this too, but not enough.



I get the sense that a lot of clubs view subsiding youth gliding as unnecessary expense. On the contrary it pays dividens in many ways. If you need help convincing your board of directors, here are 10 reasons to have a youth group.



1. Adds youthful energy to your club - It is just more interesting to have multigenerational club.

2. Seeing the kids grow is very rewarding - Kids show up and don't even know how to shake hands properly. Before you know it they are off to the military or college full of pride and ready to take on the world. What a joy to be part of it.

3. Adds purpose to your club - Being on the board of directors is a pain. Meetings, disagreements, grief from members. Volunteering at the club takes on a deeper meaning and members give more of themselves when it is benefiting the young people

4. Fun to pass on what you know - The collective knowledge of a glider club is pretty amazing. One guy's an A&P, one guy's an IT genius. We have one member whose job is inventor. How cool is that? Great to see young people gather knowledge and skills.

5. May qualify your club for tax exempt status - If your club is truly helping young people you could qualify for 501(c)3 status.

6. Glider club becomes part of the community - Once your club is not just about your flying, you'll be surprized at the number of ways local governements and groups are willing to help your organization.

7. Helps with membership recruiting - It works in multiple ways. Adults in the club have their children join or parent and child join together. We've also had several cases when the parents joined after seeing how much fun the kids were having. Soaring is a great family activity.

8. Helps with membership retention - Especially in the case of families. A family atmosphere, with some facilities for families, allows for Mom or Dad to stay in the club as the family grows.

9. Cheap labor - Let's face it the young members do a lot of work for the club. It would be much more expensive to pay someone even minimum wage to do that work.

10. Junior members return to be senior members - Several young members have returned to the area after college and initial job experiences. Our club helped to bring them back.



I have a lot more tips about starting a youth club, what works, what doesn't, if anyone is interested.



XC

I would like to add some information to this discussion. The first pull are the top 15 chapters by total youth. Formatting may be sketchy. The second pull is the top 15 chapters by percentage of Youth/Total Membership. There are several factors which provide advantages; effort, commitment, tax status, tradition, population, and so on. There are about four clubs/chapters that don't provide accurate information, they don't appear on these lists. Current flying chapter count is 135. There are a few clubs that aren't chapters or are business members of the SSA, thus no information on their membership breakdown. Average chapter size is about 45.

Name Total Youth Youth/Member Percentage
Harris Hill Soaring Corp. 149 36 24.2%
Caesar Creek Soaring Club 200 30 15.0%
Valley Soaring Club, Inc. 96 18 18.8%
Tidewater Soaring Society 96 14 14.6%
Soaring Club of Houston 176 13 7.4%
Texas Soaring Association 171 13 7.6%
Greater Houston Soaring Assoc 91 12 13.2%
Piedmont Soaring Society 61 12 19.7%
Greater Boston Soaring Club 101 10 9.9%
St Louis Soaring Association 80 10 12.5%
Finger Lakes Soaring Club Inc. 44 9 20.5%
Franconia Soaring Association 47 9 19.1%
Sky Soaring, Inc. 101 9 8.9%
Adirondack Soaring Association 68 8 11.8%
Colorado Soaring Association 57 8 14.0%

Name Total Youth Youth/Member Percentage
Harris Hill Soaring Corp. 149 36 24.2%
High Flights Soaring Club 28 6 21.4%
Finger Lakes Soaring Club Inc. 44 9 20.5%
Piedmont Soaring Society 61 12 19.7%
Franconia Soaring Association 47 9 19.1%
Valley Soaring Club, Inc. 96 18 18.8%
Atlantic Soaring Club 35 6 17.1%
Illini Glider Club Inc 24 4 16.7%
Brokenstraw Soaring Club, Inc. 26 4 15.4%
East Carolina Soaring Club Inc. 13 2 15.4%
Caesar Creek Soaring Club 200 30 15.0%
Tidewater Soaring Society 96 14 14.6%
NW Soaring Club of Frankfort 35 5 14.3%
Springwood Soaring Association 14 2 14.3%
Colorado Soaring Association 57 8 14.0%

These are end of season snapshots. Hard to draw any conclusions. Some chapters appear on both pulls, perhaps that says something. HHSC appearing at the top of both pulls adds some validity to the discussion. However, HHSC is also a rather special business case involving opportunities that are unique and perhaps rather rare. However, there are ways of creating similar opportunities and appear on one or other of these lists.

Frank Whiteley
Chair, SSA Clubs and Chapters Committee
970-330-2050 7am-10pm MT