On Sep 16, 10:39*am, Berry wrote:
Your SSA Top Ten Youth Chapters as of 9/1/2010

Name * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Total * Youth
Caesar Creek Soaring Club *249 * * 43
Finger Lakes Soaring Club Inc. * * 51 * * *10
Greater Boston Soaring Club * * * *123 * * 17
Greater Houston Soaring Assoc * * *113 * * 17
Harris Hill Soaring Corp. *144 * * 33
Mid-Atlantic Soaring Assoc. * * * *118 * * 10
Sky Soaring, Inc. *108 * * 15
Soaring Club of Houston * *199 * * 29
Texas Soaring Association *196 * * 16
Valley Soaring Club, Inc. *99 * * *24

SSA had 435 youth members at the beginning of the month. *Nearly 10%
are in one chapter.

Frank Whiteley

What's the common factor with all these operations? I think it is
probably:

1) Consistent, regular flight operations. Regimented flight operations
set up with committed crews for each flying day is the way to go (if you
have the people). That model may not be directly applicable to small
clubs, but consistently scheduled flying and training operations are
crucial in my opinion. Most of our small clubs have erratic and *
sporadic flying schedules that depend on one overworked flight
instructor and one or two tug drivers, all of whom also have families
and day jobs. That will soon drive off any but the most determined
trainees (and it ain't all that attractive to flight instructors and tow
pilots, either).

2) Good facilities. Facilities are really important for the non-flying
family members. Roasting in the summer, freezing in the winter, and not
even a clean place to go potty will soon drive off mom and dad, taking
Buffy and Bif, our promising young trainees, with them.

Man, do I miss Caesar Creek...

We're opening up the usual oil drum of worms again...

The 1 or 2 instructor paradigm is all too common. A club will latch
onto an instructor, put him in the back of the plane every weekend for
about a year or two, and then he will run screaming from the sport.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Our club at various times has experimented with different ship mixes.
About 10 years ago it was an L-13 for primary training, G103 for
advanced training, and a 1-26 for solo work. The 1-26 never flew,
so we traded up to an L33. Usage of that took off, but the usage
of the G103 gradually declined. Finally we sold it and used the
money to pay off all our debts. Meanwhile, one club member put
an HpH 304C on leaseback, which gave us another stepping stone
past the L33. We lucked into a G103 just recently so we'll have
something to instruct in until the L13 can return to flight.

On the instructor front, one of our two instructors decided to avoid
the "screaming from the sport" path and recruited a larger number
of instructors. We currently have 5, which allows us to instruct
every Saturday and two Sundays a month with a given instructor
only needing to work an average of 1.2 days a month. Retention
is much better, needless to say.

As far as youth programs go, I belonged to Harris Hill in the past.
Critical mass was a large factor, and commitment by the adults
in the club, too. The adults would go out of their way to vote
higher dues so the juniors wouldn't have to. We've tried set up
a junior program at my current club a couple of times but we've
never gotten it to work yet. Two kids that show up on alternate
Saturdays don't make for a critical mass.

-- Matt