Should the Penn State Outing Club blame themselves? I'm not saying soaring couldn't do things better. But in the original post I meant societal attitudes towards risk, not individuals tolerance to the slow club training environment.

On Tuesday, May 8, 2018 at 7:56:12 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I believe prime opinion of this thread is misdirected.

If you think risk avoidance is "The Barrier" - then you do not watch much TV - Old fashion style sports have been replaced by X Game type sports - kids throw themselves off mountains and ramps on pretty much anything with wheels or is slippery. Watch today's winter Olympics and tell me how kids are becoming less risk takers.

If your looking for the reason our sport is contracting and not attracting a younger audience - it is that we are loosing the competition for younger interest - IT IS A COMPETITION as it has always been - we are very poor at marketing and making our sport attractive. So we attract only those who were already pre-sold early in life or by a pilot they have a relationship with.

It is a sport that requires years to get good - when you begin it you get beaten by a bunch of old guys - the venues are all pretty spartan - there are tons of rules - and not allot of other kids to play with.

To blame Society is a pretty easy way out and once you blame the universe you don't have to look for a solution - you can just sit and whine about how the world is so much worse today and getting worse every day.

As some smart guy once said - if your not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

my $.02
WH