As a relative noob to the sport of soaring with just a handful of PIC hrs, perhaps my input may shed some light on this issue.

We need to accept that there nothing unique in soaring that isn't encountered in learning other challenging endeavors. Soaring doesn't lack excitement so we needn't be apologists for it. Learning a difficult skill is what lacks excitement for majority of people and that's nothing new. What's new is perhaps that more people are looking for easy fun. People will walk 26.2 miles and claim that they ran a marathon, but few are willing to train for many years and suffer the injuries to run it in under 3 hrs. Truth: there's no walking through aviation training and flying cross-country solo requires years of experience. Do prospective students know that or do they expect instant gratification coming into it?

It is a fact of life that not everyone who's inspired by a masterful performance (or a Youtube soaring video) has what it takes to become a master themselves. Think of a kid that listens to a concert pianist and wants to take piano lessons without considering how many scales and arpeggios they'll have to suffer through during the following 10 years. Those with talent and perseverance will get there, but the majority of students will move on to easier pursuits. Before my own checkride last year I had a conversation with another student. He seemed uninspired and to paraphrase, was "still waiting for the fun part". The pursuit of mastery isn't always fun. Mastery itself is always fun, but that has to be earned. I have frequently questioned my own desire to pursue soaring starting with the first few patterns to the more recent unsatisfying flights. Earlier this year I was still waiting for the fun part. That is until last month when I had what I would call a breakthrough flight, a glimpse of what the "masters" experience. It took perseverance.

In conclusion, soaring is not poetry. If fact, a student will quickly learn that initially if feels more like rap. If it is to be considered a legitimate sport, perhaps we should learn from other sports and provide students with mentoring and coaching, not just instruction. Explain to them all the steps involved and help them set realistic goals and create a plan for attaining them, and yes, help inspire them when they are discouraged. Cross-country flight or competition is the big prize and the end of a journey. If athletes are to be attracted to this sport the slogan needs to change from "Soaring - the poetry of aviation" to something like "Soaring - have you got what it takes to fly a plane without an engine?".