Evan,

You're welcome. We are all on the same team here at the end of the day. I believe that we all want to have fun soaring together and would like to see more people actively involved in the sport. At a minimum, we want to see US Soaring growing, healthy and easily accessible. At maximum, we would like to see European levels of participation or beyond.

We have one huge advantage; our knowledge that most parents will move mountains to help their children achieve success and gain confidence in themselves via key sports and activities. Our job is to raise XC soaring and the processes of mastering it higher on the list potential actions parents can employ to help kids grow into successful adults. If parents viewed "youth XC soaring" as a way to give their kid(s) superior life experience tools, we would be growing as a sport.

XC Soaring, in my opinion, is the coolest thing that I have ever done in my life. I have been lucky to experience many sports and activities (from racing motorcycles to Ironman triathlons to sailboat racing and many in between). If asked, soaring (particularly sailplane competition) tops my list by some significant margin. The experiences that I have encountered while flying sailplanes over the mountains out west are simply unforgettable. Equally moving in my life has been meeting the many challenges of learning XC soaring and contests. I am sure that many agree that soaring is an absolutely amazing sport. I can only imagine how my life might have been different if I had mastered XC soaring at 14 instead of 40. What an incredible opportunity these kids have laid out in front of them.

We have an incredible sport to represent to juniors in soaring. Most have no idea what XC soaring is or what it means. In fact, when I say "soaring" to someone new, they immediately change the word to "gliding!" They cannot believe how long the gliders can stay aloft or how far and fast they can go! They "subconsciously" change the word soaring into gliding. Clearly what we have been doing, up until now, is not working. We need to try many new approaches and perhaps consider re-branding the sport with a new, powerful, well-coordinated marketing message. Even most power pilots have no idea what XC soaring is! The call us a "glider add on rating." Something to do some weekend, someday, for fun and then move on... A huge problem.

"Lets Go GLIDING," unfortunately, didn't work.

Anyway, these are things that the SSA must be working on as we speak... ;-) I can't imagine what other higher priorities we have.

My part, for now, is the start a Junior National Contest and help create a culture that supports it and helps it thrive.

Sean
7T