The highly successful UK Junior XC program vs. USA's nonexistantJunior XC program. Why?

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) is facing similar challenges to SSA with an aging membership and a need to attract youth. They offer free youth memberships up to age 19 and recruit at EAA Young Eagle events. The following release indicates they have 50,000 youth members.

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/med...reaches-50000/

It would appear that there is an opportunity to transition these kids to flying gliders rather than waiting a couple of years more to solo in airplanes. Why not models - gliders - airplanes instead of models - airplanes. Not all will move from models, but there are some big numbers when a small percentage do.

Great post. Very well thought out. Highly valuable guidelines. I think it's amazing work that you are all doing there. I commend you for your time and energy. That said, I think the program is falling slightly short of its full potential. Not for a lack of effort, but maybe for a slight lack of vision.

I'll go back to my earlier quote..."train how you fight, fight how you train."

Your solid junior primary instruction program is geared, as most clubs with any measurable junior flight training activity likely are, towards getting them "the certificate." Once they have checked that box, they have little else to shoot for or get excited about. It's the finish line. XC is not organized into or "built into" the experience of learning to fly sailplanes.. Its not part of the plan. It's not the objective. It's not the next level in the growth and progression. It's not on the menu. It's not built into the culture. The kids all get their license. This works great (train who you fight), but very few go beyond that level (fight how you train).

My contention remains that if the common goal was (generally) for the "U.S. junior" to learn to soar (real XC skills), these kids would go much farther and get much more excited about it along the way. They might say something like "I want to make the Jr nationals" or "fly the adult contest" for example. In a short period of time, they would almost certainly surprise us as much as we are surprised by the British, French, German, or Australian youth today. American juniors are more than capable of learning to fly XC. XC would, very likely, make their entire experience more fun and more rewarding for them. It would create a gravity that would attract more and more..

To put it another way...If we were able to broadly shift the youth focus in the U.S. past primary training to XC, it might just have exponential effects that could truly change the face of US Soaring for the better.

Getting juniors their "pattern license" is just phase one. Our collective goal could be getting them ready to earn their SSA silver badge and getting them prepared to compete in the U.S. Jr. Nationals (or region 6 junior regionals, whatever)! New junior pilots could crew for the older kids (or simply attend, camp, hang out, learn, etc), older kids in the program would be better instructors and mentors, and so on. Imagine the chemistry these kids would have within their ranks. Imagine how much the new kids would look up to the older kids who were already soaring XC! We are simply aiming too low for them. We are missing the ball. In fact, we aren't even bothering to swing!

80% of the path to correcting this problem is simply beginning to try.

We should probably all be a little upset with ourselves (collectively) for not identifying this problem sooner (assuming we are now). The time has come to take advantage of what XC soaring can teach our juniors and do for our sport domestically. The time has come to change almost everything we are doing with youth soaring. The same goes for commercial operations.

Put another way, what will US soaring (the SSA) look like in 15 years if we keep on doing exactly what we do today (youth soaring development)? What would it look like if we developed hundreds of young cross country pilots in that same period? Debate that all you want but the latter sure sounds like more fun for everyone involved.

How many youth cross country pilots will your club generate in the next 1, 3 or 5 years? Will we begin to host Jr events, camps and contests to give them their own "thing?" East coast Jr Nationals? Weat coast Jr Nationals? Will we take it to the next level (XC) as other successful countries have in terms of youth development?

We actually have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. Nothing is more important or, I imagine, more rewarding than junior cross country pilots. The biggest prize at the SSA convention next year should be the club team that developed the most net new Junior glider pilots who earned solo silver badges. This prize should require a forklift to transport. And all the Jrs who achieve silver badges should be recognized on a page in the SSA magazine that is made of real gold leaf, with articles about the flight, photos, etc.

Sean

It seems that there is three issues he

1) Lack of motivation in some clubs to support X/C flying.
2) Juniors access to X/C gliders
3) Geographical constraints making it financially prohibitive for juniors
to fly comps.

I'm not sure about #1 but here is a thought for #2 & 3.

Why not hold a junior national competition to run directly after a seniors
contest.

Encourage some of the senior pilots who have a lack of time, but fluid
funds and a glider to get a junior to crew for them at the seniors contest.


The junior would be expected to haul the glider across the country behind
the seniors car, allowing the senior to get a commercial flight and arrive
at the contest in comfort.

Junior crews for senior and then borrows the glider for their contest
directly afterward and then tows it back to the home club.

I see insurance share arrangements working really well in the UK all the
time.
With a bit of thought it can work well for both parties.

It can be a purely financial arrangement with the junior contributing
toward the running costs or it can be that the junior crews for senior and
does all the looking after of the kit; polishing, cleaning trailer, taking
glider to the inspector of the annual, etc.

I have seen some strong friendships forged, some old guys reminded how to
be young and some young guys developing a scene of responsibility.

What goes around comes around. As the junior gets decent employment they
can give back to the next group. That's what has happened at my club for 20
+ years.

Just a thought....

On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 7:45:39 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I can add my view as the Junior advisor for Harris Hill's program. Before I do that, I want to be clear that I'm speaking personally, not on behalf of the club. The opinions are my own.

We have 35 active Juniors, 26 in high school, the balance of them are in college, so are not usually here except during the summer. I was handed a thriving Junior program several years ago by Janell Sullivan, so can't tell you what it takes to start one. I can tell you what it takes to sustain one.

1. You must have a critical mass of Juniors in the program. One or two Juniors doesn't cut it. The kids like the seniors and value their experience with them, but let's face it, they prefer to hang out with their peers. You need several so they are all at the field together. Otherwise, they get tired of hearing the same stories over and over and drift away.

2. Plan for churn. Some kids (like adults) decide this isn't for them and move on. Some kids really like it but have too many activities and something has to give. There will be churn as that happens and you need a critical mass of kids to survive the inevitable dropouts or the whole thing grinds to a halt.

3. Kids like action. The understand that they need to help out with line duties and club stuff, but the real reason they joined was to fly. If they end up working more than flying, they stop showing up.

4. Parents have to help out. We take kids on at age 14, before they can drive. We all know that being at the field is the way they make progress and Mom and Dad have to shuttle them up there until they are old enough to drive.

5. Average lifespan of a Junior as a contributing club member is about 4 years -less if they come to us at 15 or 16. It's essential that you explain to them what the deal is up front because your club is making an investment of time and money in them. Thus, joining our program is not easy. First, I make both parent and Junior read an introductory document that lays out in detail the duties and program for the Juniors -and the parents. Then, I require them to meet me in person where I go over the exact same information. We tour the operation, and if we can do it, we take the prospective Junior for an introductory ride. AFTER all of that, I send them home and instruct them to discuss the commitment with each other and for the Junior to contact me if he/she wants an application. This 'no surprises' approach makes sure they know what they are in for and I think it makes our investment in their training more valuable.

6. We hold monthly meetings and I track their flight progress both to keep them focused on the prize and to see if they're getting flights. First instructional flight, 10 flights, flying tow, piloting landings, solo, checkout in the 1-26, 1-34, A, B, C badges, Silver C, private pilot. We celebrate flight achievements and encourage everyone to keep making progress.

7. The club is all about instructing the Juniors. I can't emphasize this enough. If your club is only lukewarm about it, then forget trying to spark an interest in a Junior program. We subsidize flying for the Juniors, making it very low cost. Period. People may say one thing but they vote with their wallets. If your club isn't willing to incur time and expense for a Junior program, then they aren't actually interested in one.

8. Juniors rarely fly except when school is out. We are fortunate enough to be able to host daily summer operations. The kids wait until they are clear of school (end of June around here) and fly daily through August until summer ops ends. We often employ collegiate Juniors as CFI's, comm pilots (to fund the daily ops) and tow pilots. This works for about the first two years of college when they need flying jobs but can't get them yet. The kids really respond to flying with and being taught by Juniors who are just a bit older than they are. When school begins, they have fall activities and when it is ending, they are trying to get their final exams and projects finished. They just don't always have time to get out to the field.

9. We try to match resources to requirements. We understand that it is much more expensive in terms of resources and effort to attract and partially train a member that abandons their training than to ensure the existing student pilots get to their certificate. Since Junior training has to fit in there somewhere and competes for instructor time, we limit the number of Juniors to a number we can both afford and train. That keeps both senior students and Juniors happier in terms of being able to access instructors..

10. Mentorship. I realize we are very fortunate to have both experience and equipment on the field. Because the club is on board with Junior membership, many of our members will take Juniors on local or cross country flights 'just because'. One of the things they learn from this is that you don't have to stay local, you can stretch out and go somewhere. And, I'll just point out that the average teen kid is absolutely clueless about how to get from student to cross country pilot. They absolutely need someone to show them how to get there and impose a little structure.

11. Even a little upgrade is exciting to a student pilot. I see a lot of people disparaging 2-33's but they're cheap, they do a great job of training, and they fly sufficiently like a 1-26 that our kids are genuinely excited about getting checked out in, and flying the 1-26. They love it. And, after a fashion, they move up to the 1-34 and LOVE it. Can you imagine LOVING and being EXCITED about flying a 1-34? I can, because I see it all the time. The 1-34 opens up the possibility of stretching out to get that cloud just a little further away and it is a great 50k cross country machine. The kids usually get their 5 hour flight in the 1-34 (or 1-26) and compete for it on any given summer day.

12. They're not DIYers like many of us are. I've found our senior members to be independent, take charge folks. Teens are not like that. They don't fix up cars (I'm generalizing here, but you get the picture), know how to change a tire, or know how to build a deck. Nor are they particularly interested in how to do that. It's obviously generational, but they just aren't into it very much. That's a little bit at odds with what I know about soaring culture, but having said that - they're usually game for almost anything. They don't care if you camp out, forgot the tent and only brought candy bars for dinner. They're adaptable and that's awesome. They could also care less about club politics, which they view as a bunch of adults bickering over stupid stuff while we could all be flying. Refreshing.

13. Junior flying is competing with other leisure activities and almost all of them are WAY easier to do. Both Juniors and parents have to feel like they are getting something of value from membership. You may think that kids ought to be grateful to fly your aircraft and you're right, but that's just not how they are going to view it until later, when they've gone of on their adult adventures. I try to structure our meetings with a theme each month so they are worth attending (providing pizza helps) and remind the kids that of the 600,000 pilots in the U.S., they only hand out about 150 student licenses to 14-15 year olds each year. That gets their attention because it underscores how few kids get the opportunity they do. I also have a blog for the parents that they can get to in our member section so they can find out what is going on in the program.

14. See number 7, again. It takes a lot of EFFORT to do this but the payoff is watching awkward, clueless 14 year olds turn into responsible, mature adults in front of your eyes. Whether they go on to a career in aviation is immaterial - they carry the gift of flight with them for life. You all know what I mean.

Whew. That's a lot and I apologize for the length of this post. I'll end by saying that even with our amazing resources, we don't do a great job of shepherding the kids to fly XC. You have to remember, they have almost no clue about badges, flight recorders, paperwork, or pre-planning. You have to bring them along to this when they are ready. For my part, I'm going to be more organized and focused at our monthly meetings by explaining the badge levels through Silver C and helping them understand how they can achieve those levels. It's all about opening their eyes to the possibilities.

One last note - when we were starting to get down a bit in our Junior membership, all I had to do was ask the kids if they'd tried to get any of their friends involved in soaring. Within a month, we had several new ones and have added them steadily all year long. Kids are still interested in flying.

That's my two cents.

#4 i rode a 1 speed bike everyday uphill both ways and sometimes a passing senior picked me up and took me the rest of the way.

On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11:56:55 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Great post. Very well thought out. Highly valuable guidelines. I think it's amazing work that you are all doing there. I commend you for your time and energy. That said, I think the program is falling slightly short of its full potential. Not for a lack of effort, but maybe for a slight lack of vision.

I'll go back to my earlier quote..."train how you fight, fight how you train."

Your solid junior primary instruction program is geared, as most clubs with any measurable junior flight training activity likely are, towards getting them "the certificate." Once they have checked that box, they have little else to shoot for or get excited about. It's the finish line. XC is not organized into or "built into" the experience of learning to fly sailplanes. Its not part of the plan. It's not the objective. It's not the next level in the growth and progression. It's not on the menu. It's not built into the culture. The kids all get their license. This works great (train who you fight), but very few go beyond that level (fight how you train).

My contention remains that if the common goal was (generally) for the "U.S. junior" to learn to soar (real XC skills), these kids would go much farther and get much more excited about it along the way. They might say something like "I want to make the Jr nationals" or "fly the adult contest" for example. In a short period of time, they would almost certainly surprise us as much as we are surprised by the British, French, German, or Australian youth today. American juniors are more than capable of learning to fly XC.. XC would, very likely, make their entire experience more fun and more rewarding for them. It would create a gravity that would attract more and more.

To put it another way...If we were able to broadly shift the youth focus in the U.S. past primary training to XC, it might just have exponential effects that could truly change the face of US Soaring for the better.

Getting juniors their "pattern license" is just phase one. Our collective goal could be getting them ready to earn their SSA silver badge and getting them prepared to compete in the U.S. Jr. Nationals (or region 6 junior regionals, whatever)! New junior pilots could crew for the older kids (or simply attend, camp, hang out, learn, etc), older kids in the program would be better instructors and mentors, and so on. Imagine the chemistry these kids would have within their ranks. Imagine how much the new kids would look up to the older kids who were already soaring XC! We are simply aiming too low for them. We are missing the ball. In fact, we aren't even bothering to swing!

80% of the path to correcting this problem is simply beginning to try.

We should probably all be a little upset with ourselves (collectively) for not identifying this problem sooner (assuming we are now). The time has come to take advantage of what XC soaring can teach our juniors and do for our sport domestically. The time has come to change almost everything we are doing with youth soaring. The same goes for commercial operations.

Put another way, what will US soaring (the SSA) look like in 15 years if we keep on doing exactly what we do today (youth soaring development)? What would it look like if we developed hundreds of young cross country pilots in that same period? Debate that all you want but the latter sure sounds like more fun for everyone involved.

How many youth cross country pilots will your club generate in the next 1, 3 or 5 years? Will we begin to host Jr events, camps and contests to give them their own "thing?" East coast Jr Nationals? Weat coast Jr Nationals? Will we take it to the next level (XC) as other successful countries have in terms of youth development?

We actually have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. Nothing is more important or, I imagine, more rewarding than junior cross country pilots. The biggest prize at the SSA convention next year should be the club team that developed the most net new Junior glider pilots who earned solo silver badges. This prize should require a forklift to transport. And all the Jrs who achieve silver badges should be recognized on a page in the SSA magazine that is made of real gold leaf, with articles about the flight, photos, etc.

Sean

i have to disagree with you about HHSC's junior program falling short man. i've got to defend us just a little bit, and expound on tom berry's comments. (whose doing a GREAT job for us)

*i am a result of the junior program
*so was corey sullivan (JR worlds participant, and past entrant in a dozen us contest as a junior)
*so was jason howard (Previous JR contest pilot & ventus B owner in his 20s)
and liz schwenkler (First woman to win US open class nationals, and did so in her 20's.
and noah reitter (you don't know his name yet, BUT YOU WILL) flew two contests this year as guest, tentatively flying 2 next year as a full entrant.
just a few recent examples

but over the past 20 years, we've had one at least one young'n flying at the competition level at any one time. imagine if twenty other clubs posted the exact same numbers! i have to commend hank for his efforts too. he's contributed a lot just down the road.

here's our achievement list for the summer for our Junior membership: Solo(2 new), 2 Hr Flight (1), 5 hr Flight (2), Silver Badge (2), Gold Distance & Diamond Goal (1), Commercial Pilot (1), CFI (1), One day second place Sport Class National flying as a guest (1)

i know there's a lot of 1's and 2's in the list above but if half of the US clubs were posting the numbers above (many are, but not half) then us junior soaring would be in much better shape. My point is, we're doing well, our at least not doing nothing.

i recognize that there is also always room for improvement, and our efforts ARE continually improving.

Also our eye IS on the "prize". cross country is in our culture at harris hill. juniors help with retrieves. juniors go cross country (showing other juniors that they can too). juniors own half of a discus CS and are routinely taken cross country by senior members in a duo. i make it a point to try and take a few kids on flights away from the hill each year.

one thing i think we can improve on as a club is this:
we had saturday's set up as tentative cross country instruction days in our duo discus. it seems like we've gotten away from that this summer, but the first year we tried it, people were taking instruction from tim welles and a few others almost every weekend.

this coming season as my personal contribution to this whole thing, i'll commit to flying cross country with juniors more, and taking a few under my wing to try and groom them for their first 50k and beyond.

Those are the things that we need to hear! Silver badge on up! Fantastic! I am impressed. Keep it going!!! What are these kids names? Where are the articles (in the gold leaf section of the magazine :-))? I see nothing about this on Facebook (US Junior page).

Clearly, Harris Hill is doing a great job. But, Harris Hill is far behind the UK for example. It's not Harris Hill that I am worried about at this point! It's the many, many U.S. soaring clubs that actually discourage XC and do not have the tools to promote or teach it (to adults or juniors).

I have no "real" dog in this fight. I'm simply trying to argue a for a grander vision. I do not have kids, yet. I am not a soaring club member.

I am thinking seriously of founding a XC school in Ionia for adults and Jrs to graduate into once their license is complete. But one small XC school isn't going to make a difference nationally. We need our clubs to stop actively discouraging cross country soaring! This is a massive disservice to our sport.

We still need to define the problem the USA faces. We need to get real data on what each soaring clubs program (comm ops too) is supporting (pattern, XC, juniors, etc) and who, what, when, where, why. If I were in an SSA leadership role, this would be the first task.

Sean

On Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 9:21:38 AM UTC-4, ND wrote:
On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11:56:55 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Great post. Very well thought out. Highly valuable guidelines. I think it's amazing work that you are all doing there. I commend you for your time and energy. That said, I think the program is falling slightly short of its full potential. Not for a lack of effort, but maybe for a slight lack of vision.

I'll go back to my earlier quote..."train how you fight, fight how you train."

Your solid junior primary instruction program is geared, as most clubs with any measurable junior flight training activity likely are, towards getting them "the certificate." Once they have checked that box, they have little else to shoot for or get excited about. It's the finish line. XC is not organized into or "built into" the experience of learning to fly sailplanes. Its not part of the plan. It's not the objective. It's not the next level in the growth and progression. It's not on the menu. It's not built into the culture. The kids all get their license. This works great (train who you fight), but very few go beyond that level (fight how you train)..

My contention remains that if the common goal was (generally) for the "U.S. junior" to learn to soar (real XC skills), these kids would go much farther and get much more excited about it along the way. They might say something like "I want to make the Jr nationals" or "fly the adult contest" for example. In a short period of time, they would almost certainly surprise us as much as we are surprised by the British, French, German, or Australian youth today. American juniors are more than capable of learning to fly XC. XC would, very likely, make their entire experience more fun and more rewarding for them. It would create a gravity that would attract more and more.

To put it another way...If we were able to broadly shift the youth focus in the U.S. past primary training to XC, it might just have exponential effects that could truly change the face of US Soaring for the better.

Getting juniors their "pattern license" is just phase one. Our collective goal could be getting them ready to earn their SSA silver badge and getting them prepared to compete in the U.S. Jr. Nationals (or region 6 junior regionals, whatever)! New junior pilots could crew for the older kids (or simply attend, camp, hang out, learn, etc), older kids in the program would be better instructors and mentors, and so on. Imagine the chemistry these kids would have within their ranks. Imagine how much the new kids would look up to the older kids who were already soaring XC! We are simply aiming too low for them. We are missing the ball. In fact, we aren't even bothering to swing!

80% of the path to correcting this problem is simply beginning to try.

We should probably all be a little upset with ourselves (collectively) for not identifying this problem sooner (assuming we are now). The time has come to take advantage of what XC soaring can teach our juniors and do for our sport domestically. The time has come to change almost everything we are doing with youth soaring. The same goes for commercial operations.

Put another way, what will US soaring (the SSA) look like in 15 years if we keep on doing exactly what we do today (youth soaring development)? What would it look like if we developed hundreds of young cross country pilots in that same period? Debate that all you want but the latter sure sounds like more fun for everyone involved.

How many youth cross country pilots will your club generate in the next 1, 3 or 5 years? Will we begin to host Jr events, camps and contests to give them their own "thing?" East coast Jr Nationals? Weat coast Jr Nationals? Will we take it to the next level (XC) as other successful countries have in terms of youth development?

We actually have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. Nothing is more important or, I imagine, more rewarding than junior cross country pilots. The biggest prize at the SSA convention next year should be the club team that developed the most net new Junior glider pilots who earned solo silver badges. This prize should require a forklift to transport. And all the Jrs who achieve silver badges should be recognized on a page in the SSA magazine that is made of real gold leaf, with articles about the flight, photos, etc.

Sean

i have to disagree with you about HHSC's junior program falling short man.. i've got to defend us just a little bit, and expound on tom berry's comments. (whose doing a GREAT job for us)

*i am a result of the junior program
*so was corey sullivan (JR worlds participant, and past entrant in a dozen us contest as a junior)
*so was jason howard (Previous JR contest pilot & ventus B owner in his 20s)
and liz schwenkler (First woman to win US open class nationals, and did so in her 20's.
and noah reitter (you don't know his name yet, BUT YOU WILL) flew two contests this year as guest, tentatively flying 2 next year as a full entrant.
just a few recent examples

but over the past 20 years, we've had one at least one young'n flying at the competition level at any one time. imagine if twenty other clubs posted the exact same numbers! i have to commend hank for his efforts too. he's contributed a lot just down the road.

here's our achievement list for the summer for our Junior membership: Solo(2 new), 2 Hr Flight (1), 5 hr Flight (2), Silver Badge (2), Gold Distance & Diamond Goal (1), Commercial Pilot (1), CFI (1), One day second place Sport Class National flying as a guest (1)

i know there's a lot of 1's and 2's in the list above but if half of the US clubs were posting the numbers above (many are, but not half) then us junior soaring would be in much better shape. My point is, we're doing well, our at least not doing nothing.

i recognize that there is also always room for improvement, and our efforts ARE continually improving.

Also our eye IS on the "prize". cross country is in our culture at harris hill. juniors help with retrieves. juniors go cross country (showing other juniors that they can too). juniors own half of a discus CS and are routinely taken cross country by senior members in a duo. i make it a point to try and take a few kids on flights away from the hill each year.

one thing i think we can improve on as a club is this:
we had saturday's set up as tentative cross country instruction days in our duo discus. it seems like we've gotten away from that this summer, but the first year we tried it, people were taking instruction from tim welles and a few others almost every weekend.

this coming season as my personal contribution to this whole thing, i'll commit to flying cross country with juniors more, and taking a few under my wing to try and groom them for their first 50k and beyond.

You also forgot Monty & Heinz (of M&H soaring), the McMasters (3, count-em 3 generations!!!) as HHSC junior members along with lots of others.

Way back when, I was "sorta a HHSC member" (flew there a number of times a year, same basic age as M&H).

SF, I agree with you to a point, something better needs to be done, but, there ARE groups that have & are doing something RIGHT NOW.
More places would be better. Agreed.

I will also agree that some sites (club or commercial) are very "anti XC", whether it's a fear by the "site rulers", insurance issues, etc.

I think training to "go away from the airport" helps the sport in general, and more support so people (any age) have something better to go XC in.

I know our group, as well as HHSC, Dansville NY & others, promote learning more than "tow up, slide down".
They also promote XC as well.
Their junior programs also tend to make free/cheap to use sailplanes available to juniors.

As to "tagging along to help a senior" at a contest, lots in my generation (and later generations as well) started by crewing/working at contests.
Granted, there was not a "junior contest" the next week to fly in, could be worth a thought on that.

As to getting more "juniors in the door", our group has worked with a fairly local STEM class to bring kids out to the airport on a school day.
Read up on it in a recent soaring. Maybe more sites could work with similar classes local to them and do the same thing. ;-)

On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11:56:55 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Great post. Very well thought out. Highly valuable guidelines. I think it's amazing work that you are all doing there. I commend you for your time and energy. That said, I think the program is falling slightly short of its full potential. Not for a lack of effort, but maybe for a slight lack of vision.

I'll go back to my earlier quote..."train how you fight, fight how you train."

Your solid junior primary instruction program is geared, as most clubs with any measurable junior flight training activity likely are, towards getting them "the certificate." Once they have checked that box, they have little else to shoot for or get excited about. It's the finish line. XC is not organized into or "built into" the experience of learning to fly sailplanes. Its not part of the plan. It's not the objective. It's not the next level in the growth and progression. It's not on the menu. It's not built into the culture. The kids all get their license. This works great (train who you fight), but very few go beyond that level (fight how you train).

My contention remains that if the common goal was (generally) for the "U.S. junior" to learn to soar (real XC skills), these kids would go much farther and get much more excited about it along the way. They might say something like "I want to make the Jr nationals" or "fly the adult contest" for example. In a short period of time, they would almost certainly surprise us as much as we are surprised by the British, French, German, or Australian youth today. American juniors are more than capable of learning to fly XC.. XC would, very likely, make their entire experience more fun and more rewarding for them. It would create a gravity that would attract more and more.

To put it another way...If we were able to broadly shift the youth focus in the U.S. past primary training to XC, it might just have exponential effects that could truly change the face of US Soaring for the better.

Getting juniors their "pattern license" is just phase one. Our collective goal could be getting them ready to earn their SSA silver badge and getting them prepared to compete in the U.S. Jr. Nationals (or region 6 junior regionals, whatever)! New junior pilots could crew for the older kids (or simply attend, camp, hang out, learn, etc), older kids in the program would be better instructors and mentors, and so on. Imagine the chemistry these kids would have within their ranks. Imagine how much the new kids would look up to the older kids who were already soaring XC! We are simply aiming too low for them. We are missing the ball. In fact, we aren't even bothering to swing!

80% of the path to correcting this problem is simply beginning to try.

We should probably all be a little upset with ourselves (collectively) for not identifying this problem sooner (assuming we are now). The time has come to take advantage of what XC soaring can teach our juniors and do for our sport domestically. The time has come to change almost everything we are doing with youth soaring. The same goes for commercial operations.

Put another way, what will US soaring (the SSA) look like in 15 years if we keep on doing exactly what we do today (youth soaring development)? What would it look like if we developed hundreds of young cross country pilots in that same period? Debate that all you want but the latter sure sounds like more fun for everyone involved.

How many youth cross country pilots will your club generate in the next 1, 3 or 5 years? Will we begin to host Jr events, camps and contests to give them their own "thing?" East coast Jr Nationals? Weat coast Jr Nationals? Will we take it to the next level (XC) as other successful countries have in terms of youth development?

We actually have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. Nothing is more important or, I imagine, more rewarding than junior cross country pilots. The biggest prize at the SSA convention next year should be the club team that developed the most net new Junior glider pilots who earned solo silver badges. This prize should require a forklift to transport. And all the Jrs who achieve silver badges should be recognized on a page in the SSA magazine that is made of real gold leaf, with articles about the flight, photos, etc.

Sean

Sean:
I think it is time for you to put up or shut up.
Rather than make this comment a negative, I propose the following:
YOU volunteer to chair a round table discussion on the topic of advancing young pilots beyond basic training(what you call "pattern license" at the Greenville convention.
As the person I hope to hear is the new SSA youth chair, I think this could be a useful and valuable contribution.
I'll agree to be one of the people at the front table to contribute. I'd hope to get someone from HHSC, maybe CCSC, SCOH, or other clubs to also participate.
Time to stop being an idea guy and start being a worker bee.
Well?
UH

That might be a good idea. I think we should do this.

On Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 11:45:11 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11:56:55 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Great post. Very well thought out. Highly valuable guidelines. I think it's amazing work that you are all doing there. I commend you for your time and energy. That said, I think the program is falling slightly short of its full potential. Not for a lack of effort, but maybe for a slight lack of vision.

I'll go back to my earlier quote..."train how you fight, fight how you train."

Your solid junior primary instruction program is geared, as most clubs with any measurable junior flight training activity likely are, towards getting them "the certificate." Once they have checked that box, they have little else to shoot for or get excited about. It's the finish line. XC is not organized into or "built into" the experience of learning to fly sailplanes. Its not part of the plan. It's not the objective. It's not the next level in the growth and progression. It's not on the menu. It's not built into the culture. The kids all get their license. This works great (train who you fight), but very few go beyond that level (fight how you train)..

My contention remains that if the common goal was (generally) for the "U.S. junior" to learn to soar (real XC skills), these kids would go much farther and get much more excited about it along the way. They might say something like "I want to make the Jr nationals" or "fly the adult contest" for example. In a short period of time, they would almost certainly surprise us as much as we are surprised by the British, French, German, or Australian youth today. American juniors are more than capable of learning to fly XC. XC would, very likely, make their entire experience more fun and more rewarding for them. It would create a gravity that would attract more and more.

To put it another way...If we were able to broadly shift the youth focus in the U.S. past primary training to XC, it might just have exponential effects that could truly change the face of US Soaring for the better.

Getting juniors their "pattern license" is just phase one. Our collective goal could be getting them ready to earn their SSA silver badge and getting them prepared to compete in the U.S. Jr. Nationals (or region 6 junior regionals, whatever)! New junior pilots could crew for the older kids (or simply attend, camp, hang out, learn, etc), older kids in the program would be better instructors and mentors, and so on. Imagine the chemistry these kids would have within their ranks. Imagine how much the new kids would look up to the older kids who were already soaring XC! We are simply aiming too low for them. We are missing the ball. In fact, we aren't even bothering to swing!

80% of the path to correcting this problem is simply beginning to try.

We should probably all be a little upset with ourselves (collectively) for not identifying this problem sooner (assuming we are now). The time has come to take advantage of what XC soaring can teach our juniors and do for our sport domestically. The time has come to change almost everything we are doing with youth soaring. The same goes for commercial operations.

Put another way, what will US soaring (the SSA) look like in 15 years if we keep on doing exactly what we do today (youth soaring development)? What would it look like if we developed hundreds of young cross country pilots in that same period? Debate that all you want but the latter sure sounds like more fun for everyone involved.

How many youth cross country pilots will your club generate in the next 1, 3 or 5 years? Will we begin to host Jr events, camps and contests to give them their own "thing?" East coast Jr Nationals? Weat coast Jr Nationals? Will we take it to the next level (XC) as other successful countries have in terms of youth development?

We actually have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. Nothing is more important or, I imagine, more rewarding than junior cross country pilots. The biggest prize at the SSA convention next year should be the club team that developed the most net new Junior glider pilots who earned solo silver badges. This prize should require a forklift to transport. And all the Jrs who achieve silver badges should be recognized on a page in the SSA magazine that is made of real gold leaf, with articles about the flight, photos, etc.

Sean

Sean:
I think it is time for you to put up or shut up.
Rather than make this comment a negative, I propose the following:
YOU volunteer to chair a round table discussion on the topic of advancing young pilots beyond basic training(what you call "pattern license" at the Greenville convention.
As the person I hope to hear is the new SSA youth chair, I think this could be a useful and valuable contribution.
I'll agree to be one of the people at the front table to contribute. I'd hope to get someone from HHSC, maybe CCSC, SCOH, or other clubs to also participate.
Time to stop being an idea guy and start being a worker bee.
Well?
UH

On Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 11:09:47 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:

I am thinking seriously of founding a XC school in Ionia for adults and Jrs to graduate into once their license is complete. But one small XC school isn't going to make a difference nationally.

Sean

Think global. Act local. The US is a big country with scores of clubs and FBOs. You don't need dozens of juniors to come out of each operation. You only need a handful. If only 10 sites focused on this concept, we'd have our 50 juniors in competitions here.

Once there are a bunch of sites committed, I'm sure peer pressure will start to influence some of the other clubs.

Just Do It.

P3