If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Why is Soaring declining
This was copied from rec.outdoors.fishing.bass. It sounds like the very
same things that we talk about when we discuss the decline of our sport. I am not saying it has answers, but it is interesting. Fred ************************************************** ************************** *************************** Great read Bob. Fishing license sales are declining which indicates a real decline in fishing interest, i.e. less numbers of people are fishing. I suspect that things are worse since our population is growing, the proportion of people fishing is declining more rapidly than indicated by license sales decline. Why is this so? A variety of possible reasons come to mind when combined, could explain the decline.. 1. Fishable water is being privatized - bought up, posted, acquired by governmental agencies, restricted by land use rulings, dams being removed, access fenced off, etc. 2. Competing demands for time - Soccer, GameBoy, offroading, skateboarding, partying, RVing, home projects and a multitude of other in and outdoor activities divert participation today from family and individual fishing. 3. Decline of the nuclear family - as divorce and separation disrupts parent/child relationships, fishing is less of a priority on weekends or other custody times. 4. Availability of more disposal income - Food needs drove fishing more in the past than today. 5. Immigration - Illegal aliens cannot get fishing licenses and legal immigrants probably have far less interest in fishing than other population demographics.. 6. Adversarial animal rightists - Are influencing the weak, timid and non-iinterested into a non-fishing mentality. 7 Adversarial vegaterians - Translate their anti meat-pholosophy into a non-fishing mentality. 8. Passing fad - The Yuppie infatuation with fly-fishng in the 1980's has past us by. 9. No new rivers - God is not making any new rivers and environmentalists and politicians are fighting adding dams and impoundments which limits new water bodies with their rapid growth and abundance of fish in their early years. 10.Waterbody management - Is NOT being managed to increase the number of people fishng, but to reduce, constrict, limit and to conserve existing or lower levels of people. Budget level maintenance is their primary goal. Little funding exists for meaningful additional researh to stop decline in fishing. 11. Fly in fishing is up - Since the demand for trophy and quality fishing exceeds the supply of domestic US fishing, more people are not fishing locally but flying out to exotic places around the world. 12. On water competition - Water skiers, kyakers, personal flotation devicers, canoeists, hikers and many other types of on-the-water or near-the-water people are degrading the solitiude many fishermen cherish and running them off the water. Bob, I'm sure there are other things which MAY contribute to the decline, but these are suggestions for starters. You listed a number of things we can do to slow the decline of fishing. They'll help. But I am convinced fishing will continue to decline. I just hope there will be some quality experiences left for my grandsons but I doubt it. Good luck! John |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_ magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of. Tony V. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
"Tony Verhulst" wrote in message ... I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_ magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of. Tony V. Astute observation, Tony. Bill Daniels |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Tony Verhulst wrote:
..... It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring..... "nothing about soaring" should have been "nothing about attacting and retaining soaring *pilots*". But, you get the drift. Tony V |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Tony Verhulst wrote in message ...
I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_ magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of. Tony V. Guess we all read things differently. My read is that we all need to introduce folks we know to the sport. In doing so, we have 12000 or so direct sales people. This will result in growing the sport, and helping to grow the society. Take a friend soaring- try direct marketing. UH |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Hank Nixon wrote:
Tony Verhulst wrote in message ... I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_ magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of. Tony V. Guess we all read things differently. My read is that we all need to introduce folks we know to the sport. In doing so, we have 12000 or so direct sales people. This will result in growing the sport, and helping to grow the society. Take a friend soaring- try direct marketing. UH No there's a sensible thing to say - and it works too. I have introduced many friends, acquaintances and work colleagues to soaring. So far so good, our club is growing. It helps to have an obsessive personality - soaring is never far from any topic with me around. So far I have recruited an average of one new club member per year - this year looks like it might be three... Over achieving here ;-) |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
It helps to have an obsessive personality - soaring is never far from any topic with me around. So far I have recruited an average of one new club member per year - this year looks like it might be three... Over achieving here ;-) I used to be like that- my wife called me the flying evangelist. I've since learned that in a function room with 200 people, only one or two have any real interest in soaring. It boggles my mind, but there it is. When I meet some one they soon understand that I fly sailplanes and that a ride is available at the drop of a hat. But, they have to ask. Tony V. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Tony Verhulst writes
I used to be like that- my wife called me the flying evangelist. I've since learned that in a function room with 200 people, only one or two have any real interest in soaring. It boggles my mind, but there it is. Got to confess, it is absolutely baffling. I find friends and family are at first surprised and faintly bemused to find that I've got myself mixed up in this game, but from then on they all seem to develop the same glazed, listless expression whenever my own eyes (inevitably) drift skywards or conversation so much as hints at either flying or the weather. Strange people, the lot of 'em. -- Bill Gribble /---------------------------------------\ | http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk | | http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk | \---------------------------------------/ |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good
a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport. Changing a few nouns in the article would not make much difference. Soaring requires a lot of investment of time across several years to make it more than a passing fancy. (I've read that the average sailor owns a boat for 8 years, and then moves on to something else.) Life has speeded up, both in the workplace and on the domestic scene. Our society has opted for quick and cheap in most of its pursuits; we want to be passively entertained. Turn on the TV, do a backyard cookout, and that's about it for a large portion of the populace. Nobody does his own thing anymore; he wants someone to do it for him. The decline is not just in soaring but in all sorts of non-income producing endeavors. We have become passive and vicarious in our thrills. This shows in the tremendous weight gain in the population. On the other hand, maybe we need gliders that will carry 325lbs. in each seat. ;-) At 17:30 13 April 2004, Tony Verhulst wrote: Tony Verhulst wrote: ..... It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring..... 'nothing about soaring' should have been 'nothing about attacting and retaining soaring *pilots*'. But, you get the drift. Tony V |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Nyal Williams wrote:
To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport. Changing a few nouns in the article would not make much difference. Agreed. But my intended point was that the vision was wrong. The focus of the article was "how can we get the SSA to grow" where the focus should have been "how can we get the sport to grow". The article is bothersome because 1). it's the typical reaction of a bureaucracy fighting for survival, and 2). the SSA forgot why it's there. Tony V. -- I [Huck Finn] asked Tom [Sawyer] if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says - "Yes; the little ones does." Mark Twain |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Advanced Soaring Seminar - Eastern PA | B Lacovara | Home Built | 0 | February 9th 04 01:55 AM |
Advanced Soaring Seminar - Eastern PA | B Lacovara | Soaring | 0 | January 26th 04 07:55 PM |
Soaring Safety Seminar - SSA Convention | Burt Compton | Soaring | 0 | January 26th 04 03:57 PM |
Soaring Safety Seminar Wednesday - Atlanta | Burt Compton | Soaring | 0 | January 19th 04 02:51 AM |
January/February 2004 issue of Southern California Soaring is on-line | [email protected] | Soaring | 8 | January 4th 04 09:37 PM |