FAI, soaring and Olympic Games

An interesting data point in my opinion would be Harris Hill and their Juniors. It is far-and-away the largest, longest running, most highly supported junior group out there (there are others that are growing, but HHSC is the poster child). If you are really interested in the topic, it would be good to get some hard data backed up by some qualitative input to understand exactly what has been generated by this great organization. Off the top of my head, I can name a few (less than 10) competition pilots who are currently active coming out of the HHSC program. Sean Murphy is heading to Benalla for our 15M team. Heinz Weisenbuhler has represented the US in Open and Doppelsitzers. There are several others in "my" generation (40 to 50 year olds). In the last 20 years though, there are only a couple who have stuck with it, despite all of the support one could ask for. More often than not they've been around for a couple of years in their late teens/early 20s, then "life happens." Right now, the next great hope is Noah Ritter.

So there's the rub... if the best-supported Junior organization has literally a handful of pilots who go on to embrace racing, what are we missing?

Sean, I don't disagree with you that what's been done in the past isn't necessarily the best/only model. But I think slinging arrows at "The SSA" when in fact every one of these initiatives relies on hard working (unpaid) volunteers who mostly have other jobs isn't going to get the reaction you might be hoping for.

That's it for me this week. Work and family beckon.

p3