It is great to see members taking this subject seriously and there have been
a lot of good comments and recommendations made; now how do
we migrate from good ideas to an Action Plan? The National and State
associations have people nominated to help promote the sport but I am
disappointed to say that in our neck of the woods, apart from providing
funds for some signs on the Highway that runs past our front gate there
has very little assistance provided, and while our new signs look great and
everyone in the area and beyond knows where we are they do not bring
people through the front gate.
I see three major areas that need improvement; the first one is the old
chestnut of membership retention, if we spent an equal about of time and
effort
retaining established members who are drifting it may be a better
investment, I call it the "Leaking Bucket Membership Model" stop the leaks
before
starting to fill it again; I know it's not quite that simple when dealing
with people but hopefully you get my drift.
My second area of concern is the motivation of some of the Instructors in
our clubs, from my seat in the Tug the only time I see some members fly is
when they are instructing, and while this is an important role it also
suggests to me that these instructors are not taking part in other aspects
of the sport
and maybe do not understand the sporting elements of our sport; how can they
be enthusiastic and promote something they do not understand?
Tug Pilots - several years ago I predicted that the sport would have a
serious problem manning Tug Rosters in 15 years time, that time has arrived
much earlier
that I predicted. It is not that there is a shortage of members willing to
be training, it is the availability of the training. This is a National
Problem and requires a
National approach. I also know that the proponents of Winch Launching will
jump upon this comment to promote the benefits of Winch Launching, and in
part
that may be an answer for some clubs; but if Winch Launching is the most
effective way to launch surly every competition director in the country
using winches
in favour of Tugs.
If we do not fix some of these problems very quickly those who man our club
rosters will become burnt out, in fact we are already seeing it; we must
keep the
sport fun for everyone not just the Newbees.
SDF
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