The highly successful UK Junior XC program vs. USA's nonexistantJunior XC program. Why?

On Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at 11:04:52 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
A 2016 Jr. Soaring Nationals USA?

(drum roll..........) I will offer to host a first ever USA Jr. Soaring Nationals 2016 in Ionia, Michigan the week before the SGP USA (appx. July 16-23). We need to have at least 10 commitments by a reasonable date (March 31). If anyone has any better ideas, please feel welcomed to raise your hand and speak up.

I challenge US soaring clubs to produce (identify and motivate), support (provide gliders, funding and coaches), develop (train and practice) and send (escort the teams, provide vehicles and help fund) qualified Junior entrants and send them to their first contest just for Junior pilots. I look forward to hearing what US soaring clubs are interested in answering my challenge and would appreciate some heads up (soon) so I can gauge interest and decide if I should start seriously planning.

The competition format would likely be sports class, or could even develop a format as docile as an OLC (max handicapped distance).

The Juniors can mingle with some of the very best pilots in the USA and the world that week as they ramp up for the 2016 Sailplane Grand Prix USA (http://www.sgp.aero/usa2016). This environment could be a lot of fun for junior pilots. But the key is that this is a National Soaring Contest, just for Juniors, and hopefully heavily supported (and attended) by their fellow club members and our national soaring authority (the SSA) just as it is in Britain and other developed soaring nations.

Patiently waiting for feedback...

Sean
7T

This is an excellent idea and I hope people step up. Thanks for taking the constructive approach.

Another alternative would be to add a juniors' sports class onto an existing, successful regional (or Nats). This offers the significant advantage of providing a little flying action for the coaches, and might bolster participation. Venues like Wurtsboro & Mifflin would be great for this.

I'd love to tow along an up and coming junior to my next regional. I've got a glass ship I can put him (or her) in, and I'd be happy to coach. We don't happen to have someone in the club who's ready for this in 2016, but as they say, "Rome didn't get built in a day!".

Evan Ludeman / T8

Evan,

You're welcome. We are all on the same team here at the end of the day. I believe that we all want to have fun soaring together and would like to see more people actively involved in the sport. At a minimum, we want to see US Soaring growing, healthy and easily accessible. At maximum, we would like to see European levels of participation or beyond.

We have one huge advantage; our knowledge that most parents will move mountains to help their children achieve success and gain confidence in themselves via key sports and activities. Our job is to raise XC soaring and the processes of mastering it higher on the list potential actions parents can employ to help kids grow into successful adults. If parents viewed "youth XC soaring" as a way to give their kid(s) superior life experience tools, we would be growing as a sport.

XC Soaring, in my opinion, is the coolest thing that I have ever done in my life. I have been lucky to experience many sports and activities (from racing motorcycles to Ironman triathlons to sailboat racing and many in between). If asked, soaring (particularly sailplane competition) tops my list by some significant margin. The experiences that I have encountered while flying sailplanes over the mountains out west are simply unforgettable. Equally moving in my life has been meeting the many challenges of learning XC soaring and contests. I am sure that many agree that soaring is an absolutely amazing sport. I can only imagine how my life might have been different if I had mastered XC soaring at 14 instead of 40. What an incredible opportunity these kids have laid out in front of them.

We have an incredible sport to represent to juniors in soaring. Most have no idea what XC soaring is or what it means. In fact, when I say "soaring" to someone new, they immediately change the word to "gliding!" They cannot believe how long the gliders can stay aloft or how far and fast they can go! They "subconsciously" change the word soaring into gliding. Clearly what we have been doing, up until now, is not working. We need to try many new approaches and perhaps consider re-branding the sport with a new, powerful, well-coordinated marketing message. Even most power pilots have no idea what XC soaring is! The call us a "glider add on rating." Something to do some weekend, someday, for fun and then move on... A huge problem.

"Lets Go GLIDING," unfortunately, didn't work.

Anyway, these are things that the SSA must be working on as we speak... ;-) I can't imagine what other higher priorities we have.

My part, for now, is the start a Junior National Contest and help create a culture that supports it and helps it thrive.

Sean
7T

Evan,

You're welcome. We are all on the same team here at the end of the day. I believe that we all want to have fun soaring together and would like to see more people actively involved in the sport. At a minimum, we want to see US Soaring growing, healthy and easily accessible. At maximum, we would like to see European levels of participation or beyond.

We have one huge advantage; our knowledge that most parents will move mountains to help their children achieve success and gain confidence in themselves via key sports and activities. Our job is to raise XC soaring and the processes of mastering it higher on the list potential actions parents can employ to help kids grow into successful adults. If parents viewed "youth XC soaring" as a way to give their kid(s) superior life experience tools, we would be growing as a sport.

XC Soaring, in my opinion, is the coolest thing that I have ever done in my life. I have been lucky to experience many sports and activities (from racing motorcycles to Ironman triathlons to sailboat racing and many in between). If asked, soaring (particularly sailplane competition) tops my list by some significant margin. The experiences that I have encountered while flying sailplanes over the mountains out west are simply unforgettable. Equally moving in my life has been meeting the many challenges of learning XC soaring and contests. I am sure that many agree that soaring is an absolutely amazing sport. I can only imagine how my life might have been different if I had mastered XC soaring at 14 instead of 40. What an incredible opportunity these kids have laid out in front of them.

We have an incredible sport to represent to juniors in soaring. Most have no idea what XC soaring is or what it means. In fact, when I say "soaring" to someone new, they immediately change the word to "gliding!" They cannot believe how long the gliders can stay aloft or how far and fast they can go! They "subconsciously" change the word soaring into gliding. Clearly what we have been doing, up until now, is not working. We need to try many new approaches and perhaps consider re-branding the sport with a new, powerful, well-coordinated marketing message. Even most power pilots have no idea what XC soaring is! The call us a "glider add on rating." Something to do some weekend, someday, for fun and then move on... A huge problem.

"Lets Go GLIDING," unfortunately, didn't work.

Anyway, these are things that the SSA must be working on as we speak... ;-) I can't imagine what other higher priorities we have.

My part, for now, is to start a US Junior National Contest and help create a culture that supports junior XC soaring and helps it thrive.

Sean
7T

Evan,

You're welcome. We are all on the same team here at the end of the day. I believe that we all want to have fun soaring together and would like to see more people actively involved in the sport. At a minimum, we want to see US Soaring growing, healthy and easily accessible. At maximum, we would like to see European levels of participation or beyond.

We have one huge advantage; our knowledge that most parents will move mountains to help their children achieve success and gain confidence in themselves via key sports and activities. Our job is to raise XC soaring and the processes of mastering it higher on the list potential actions parents can employ to help kids grow into successful adults. If parents viewed "youth XC soaring" as a way to give their kid(s) superior life experience tools, we would be growing as a sport.

XC Soaring, in my opinion, is the coolest thing that I have ever done in my life. I have been lucky to experience many sports and activities (from racing motorcycles to Ironman triathlons to sailboat racing and many in between). If asked, soaring (particularly sailplane competition) tops my list by some significant margin. The experiences that I have encountered while flying sailplanes over the mountains out west are simply unforgettable. Equally moving in my life has been meeting the many challenges of learning XC soaring and contests. I am sure that many agree that soaring is an absolutely amazing sport. I can only imagine how my life might have been different if I had mastered XC soaring at 14 instead of 40. What an incredible opportunity these kids have laid out in front of them.

We have an incredible sport to represent to juniors in soaring. Most have no idea what XC soaring is or what it means. In fact, when I say "soaring" to someone new, they immediately change the word to "gliding!" They cannot believe how long the gliders can stay aloft or how far and fast they can go! They "subconsciously" change the word soaring into gliding. Clearly what we have been doing, up until now, is not working. We need to try many new approaches and perhaps consider re-branding the sport with a new, powerful, well-coordinated marketing message. Even most power pilots have no idea what XC soaring is! The call us a "glider add-on rating." Something to do some weekend, someday, for fun and then move on... A huge problem.

"Lets Go GLIDING," unfortunately, didn't work.

Anyway, these are things that the SSA must be working on as we speak... ;-) I can't imagine what other higher priorities we have.

My part, for now, is to start a Junior National Contest and help create a culture that supports it and helps it thrive.

Sean
7T