What is your club doing to recruit new contest pilots?

An equally important question to “What is your club doing to promote soaring?� Is the inverse, “What is your club doing that does not promote soaring?�

If you really want to know why Soaring is shrinking, ask those who have quit the sport. While no club is perfect, there are many common attributes to clubs that turn off those who come to join and find another hobby instead.

Here’s one. So many clubs fail to have “things to do� for the spouses, friends and family who come along to hang out. There’s a general snobiness that is uninviting to anyone other than the pilot that discludes the better half. You can’t just win the pilot over into joining, because the spouse/Friend/family will not support the pilot with spending a day or weekend out at the gliderport.

Other failures of clubs are being unorganized. Club ships having to be rigged before each day of flying is a major hassle. Clubs need to have small hangers that you don’t have to pull every other glider out to get to the one you want to fly. Max size of a hanger should have 4 aircraft in it. T Hangars are great, you can get it in and out conveniently. The bigger the hangar, the more frustration.

Clubs need to encourage senior members to not be so self serving. If all an experienced glider pilot does in a club is blast off on a 5 hour flight every Saturday expecting others to crew for him, he is an anchor to the club.. If this pilot can fly for that long, then perhaps every other time he needs to get the two place glider out and take less experienced members soaring to share his knowledge. This is helping other members learn to have more enjoyment out of the sport.

Formal cookouts are a must. Any holiday needs to be celebrated and not taken lightly. BBQ cookout with potluck is easy and a bonfire is essential. This gives something to do for the non pilots.

Glider clubs need to take a lesson from Country Clubs. Replace golf with gliding, and keep all the other activities.

Country Clubs aside from the golf course are known for their social get togethers. Whether it’s hosting a speaker, having a luau, having a corn toss championship or just having a simple bonfire with hot chocolate and S’mores for the kids - there needs to be “things to do� outside of the gliding. This brings people out for a good time. Without this, your club will lose members.