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

Some of you might be interested to know that the UK just held its 2015 Junior Nationals a few weeks ago. Nearly 70 juniors pilots (yes, SEVENTY) competed in the event. As an American, I nearly fell over in my chair when I saw the article (and photo of the grid).

Back in the USA, the SSA doesn't even bother to hold a Junior Nationals. I cannot recall when the SSA last held a specific Junior competition? Only a few Junior glider pilots competed in SSA sanctioned contests this year nationwide (even with a hefty discount offer from the SSA). The SSA, to the best of my knowledge, has no real plan or strategy to improve Junior soaring numbers. To be honest, few leaders in the USA seem concerned about truly developing a vibrant junior XC soaring culture. Some even bitterly question if Junior XC or contest participation is relevant or important to the health of the SSA or US Soaring. When is the last time we saw an article, poll or speech on improving youth soaring XC skills/participation/enthusiasm in the SSA or USA?

The UK isn't satisfied with just a highly successful 2015 Junior Nationals. Now the UK is next holding a Junior winter XC series in the coming months. They already have 50 Juniors (FIFTY, not done yet) signed up for the first event in the series. Yesterday, British Soaring (SSA equivalent) was on Facebook soliciting more gliding clubs to "send their dual XC ships with instructors" to keep up with "demand." Amazing.

If the UK is developing this kind of energy and enthusiasm at their youth XC events, what does that say about our nonexistent youth XC training program in the SSA? Yes, these are all XC events and NOT primary training, rides or kiddie playtime. Yes, these events are all equal or larger than the SSA's largest sanctioned contests (Seniors (interesting in and of itself really) and Perry). What benefits does a strong youth XC culture provide the UKs soaring community vs. our own?

The UK equivalent of the SSA has a Junior Development Committee (JDC). Clearly, the UK puts a huge amount of emphasis on this "opportunity." They likely put their best people on it. Does the SSA even have a youth soaring function or officer? Why not? What is more important than a highly developed youth XC soaring culture to a country's soaring future?

How can the UK, a country of only 60 million citizens, be so highly developed in terms of Jr soaring pilot XC skills, proficiency, organization, events and enthusiasm while the USA (a country of some 330 million) doesn't even have an organized Junior program, bother to hold a Junior Nationals or any have real Junior culture whatsoever? They few Juniors we have are left to themselves to figure it out. They have zero funding and little support.

How many U.S. Junior pilots are capable of flying true cross country let alone contest tasks? Developing Junior XC flying skills is not magic. It's simply a function of inspiration, qualified instruction, and motivation. XC soaring is also quite fun to learn and master. It is an extremely satisfying challenge to meet. XC might just challenge our youth pilots enough to keep them interested in the sport. That appears to be the case in the UK. And the UK is not alone, most European countries are also quite successful with their youth XC soaring programs.

What does all this tell us about the health of U.S. Soaring (SSA)?

What does this tell us about our leadership focus, culture, priorities, and strategy? What does this tell us about our soaring clubs (many actively DISCOURAGE cross-country flight!)? What does this tell us about our glider instruction culture? Our mentorship results?

How can the UK (and many other countries to be perfectly honest) be so amazingly successful at developing Junior XC soaring energy and while the US (SSA) is so impressively "unsuccessful?"

We hear the occasional murmurs in the SSA about our falling numbers, poor international competition results, aging demographics, etc.

Does the USA's lack of an organized and a high priority youth soaring program bother anyone else? Is there anything to learn here? Is there anything that we might want to consider changing? What is our "leadership" doing about this problem? Do they even recognize it as "a problem?" Is our lack of Junior participation and XC skill development even on the SSA priority list? On our soaring clubs priority list? What's our strategy? What are our action items for 2015-2016? Are there any presentations scheduled at the upcoming SSA convention?

I hope this sparks a productive discussion.

Sean
7T