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Your club is really doing great. No doubt. We need 20 more like it and 6 more years with a national plan...

Both JP and Daniel are currently right in the middle of college. So are many of the other Junior world competitors. It's a challenge, but it's also a strength. It's simply a matter of perspective. I view it as a matter of helping them understand the value of the effort and the accomplishment on their resume.

For me at that age, being 21 and on the US sailing team didn't hurt in job interviews. It was an extremely valuable tool and really set me apart from my competition for jobs.

For me today, hiring a normal, smart kid with average life experience on their resume, and in the interview is fine...but a kid who is, say, a highly competitive glider pilot who trains and travels to international competitions is going to stand out a little bit. I personally view it almost as a military level of self discipline and focus. I imagine many others would view it similarly.

And, the Europeans and the Australians and most other gliding countries are doing much better overall at developing, maintaining and growing junior talent. There are many reasons and we can study them for sure. The truth is that we are INCREDIBLY lucky to have JP, Daniel and Boyd flying for the USA. They are anomalies really. If they didn't fall out of the sky we might not even have a Jr team at all this year. And behind them are not that many others...

We (the SSA) really do need to focus much more seriously on this challenge. We need to get out of SSA maintenance mode and get into SSA innovation and rebuilding mode. The value all the way around the table is much larger than the average person here is realizing. We absolutely need a vibrant junior soaring competition culture in the USA! A big challenge but essential.