I'd just like to add my 2 cents in on this debate, especially in regards to point number 3. I began gliding almost exactly one year and 2 weeks and no one in my family has ever had anything to do with gliding or aviation at all. As a matter of fact, only one of the 6 juniors from SA had any family gliding involvement at all, unfortunately only 2 of us competed but this year thats all going to change - in fact I can name 5 definite entries from SA so far for this years comp, and thats only in the single seat section.
I'm interested Sarah to know
(a) how you got involved in gliding
(b) how you afford to keep gliding
(c) how you balance the time with school / job / whatever else is in your life (I've no idea since you didn't specify your age and current school/work situation)
(d) which club you are involved with
I found out about Joeyglide a few months into starting the sport and immediately began to aim for it - I saw it as a chance to test my new skills alongside other young and similar minded people, who would be unprejudiced about how long i'd been in the sport.
Do you feel that people *are* actually prejudiced ? Please explain.
As a result of having Joeyglide to aim for I competed in 2 competitions in my first year of flying, and flew countless 3 and 4 hundred flights - without this to aim for I'm sure I would have been lucky to go xc, got bored of local soaring and gone off elsewhere on my weekends.
You are fortunate to have the time and location to be able to do so much flying. But it will not always be that way. I started at age 30, when I had a wife and a one and a half year old toddler. Now I have 3 kids including a 9 week old baby. It is a balancing act for me, and has always been so. I consider myself blessed just to be able to have a Saturday every 3-4 weeks where I can go flying and take out my own "personal time". The rest of the time I spend with my family, at work or serving in my local church. I doubt I'll ever compete in a competition, and quite frankly I don't really have a huge inclination to anyway. As long as I get some XC at one of our club camps every couple of years I am a contented family man who is lucky, and grateful to my family, that I can fly at all.
This has also been the case for a number of juniors in our club - Joeyglide gives us something to aim for, its a reason to hang out at dusty gliding fields every weekend and help our clubs, and the sport, to grow.
Good on you - our sport needs more people with a similar mindset. I wonder how many of your friends have been gliding. Why didn't they also decide to take it up ?
So in closing - an absolutely massive thankyou to all those who have and are supporting the junior movement and Joeyglide, your help and support is very much appreciated!
Don't get me wrong Sarah - I wish you and your fellow junior pilots all the best. Unfortunately I can't spend a week away from my young family to devote to things such as Joeyglide. I even contemplated driving down to Temora for just 1 day to check things out, but my plans went pear-shaped due to a work crisis that just couldn't be ignored. Such is life !
Regards
Jason Armistead
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