adding interest and complexity to Sportsman ... again and again and

[George Kennie]

Keith,
That's really funny.................I love it..........you know me,  I have
great difficulty curtailing the urge to go spouting off in a punditive manner.
Georgie

Keith Black wrote:

> Georgie,
>
> Your comments reminds me of something a friend, and hardcore pattern flier
> from the 70's and 80's, told me. The thing that drove him out of pattern was
> the fact that the top pilots were SO CLOSE to each other in skill level that
> it was virtually impossible to distinguish between the top six or so guys
> (this was at NATS). This is why the added difficulty is so important.
> Imagine in gymnastics if the most difficult trick they could do was a back
> handspring. How could you pick a winner?
>
> The thing about sports like diving, gymnastics and ice skating is the
> competitors get to create their own tricks. This means that there's no
> artificial wall stopping them from doing more and more difficult routines.
> Imagine if the Olympic Committee said that no Ice Skater do more than a
> double axle :-0
>
> I go back to what Rick Wallace said on RCU:
>
> "C'mon, guys -- this is supposed to be a sequence for MASTERS pilots and
> associated equipment...
>
> If we can't build -- and fly -- such that we can survive a snap, ... maybe
> the class should be renamed to something a little less presumptuous... maybe
> 'More Advanced' -- or 'Highly Proficient' -- or 'Striving for Very Good' --
> certainly something less assertive than 'MASTERS'..."
>
> Keith Black
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George Kennie" <geobet at gis.net>
> To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 1:28 PM
> Subject: Re: adding interest and complexity to Sportsman ... again and again
> and
>
> > <<I'm not flying masters, I'm flying advanced, the reason is
> > Masters is
> > more difficult than I think I can reasonably fly at this time, so
> > I'll work my way up. >>
> >
> > I respectfully disagree with your assessment of schedule difficulty.
> > I get the feeling that you haven't taken the time to sit down and
> > really study the current Master's sequence. I commend your attitude
> > of working your way up!!!IMHO, I find the current Master's much less
> > threatening than the Advanced sequence.
> >
> > Somebody mentioned "going to contests without practicing", and
> > indeed I can remember, back in the 60's going to a contest myself
> > having never performed the required routine and doing quite well at
> > the time.However those were significantly different times and I
> > myself would not desire to return to the mindset of that period.It
> > was called a "Pattern Contest" and the attendance was probably a
> > couple of hundred guys, but the mindset was more like a current day
> > "Fun- Fly". Nobody really took it all that seriously. Somewhere
> > along the line, the few individuals that did have a more serious
> > approach organized and brought a more serious aspect to the sport
> > realizing that the basis for guys going out and flying a routine
> > that was in fact JUDGED meant that the concept must
> > be"COMPETITION".  I think that this is probably the reason you still
> > find the most heavily attended events to be "Fun-Fly's". When it
> > gets too serious there are a lot of guys that start to feel
> > threatened regarding their status within the group structure and
> > when the pressure becomes, in their estimation, greater than feels
> > comfortable to them, they gravitate to a different venue that
> > restores the level of comfort they deem appropriate.
> > The same thing seems to happen, in my judgement, with  schedule
> > complexity.Some of us realize that if the schedules become more and
> > more complex, at some point the difficulty factor will become
> > significant enough to threaten our currently hard won achievement
> > status, and indeed this is true.The decision that probably needs to
> > be reasoned through is,in light of this truth, should the pursuit of
> > excellence be sacrificed to satisfy the inadequacies of those of us
> > who are clammoring to maintain their elevation?
> > I consider myself a part of this equation and recognize my own
> > inadequacies, however I  also realize that this same pursuit of
> > excellence will not be enhanced by any concession to tilt the
> > playing field in my favor. Noone will be served by that tack. Least
> > of all ME! My flying prowess ranks somewhere between Sportsman and
> > Intermediate(my assessment), and though I find a couple of the FAI
> > maneuvers really tough to execute in a graceful manner, I still feel
> > that there is no maneuver that I could not learn to do and given
> > another 50 years of practice I might even be in a position to
> > challenge Jason.
> > It's about STRIVING guys. That's what COMPETITION is! And it's
> > purpose is to determine the most skilled individual, with the rest
> > of us rated in descending order beneath the rating of the BEST! So,
> > as you can see, I'm not in favor of wussing out to make things
> > easier for anybody who finds their position at the pinnacle
> > precarious(and that includes ME).
> > Now, all that being said, I do feel that we may have a void at the
> > bottom and should probably go back again and reconsider a pre-novice
> > class for the guy who has only been involved in the sport for 2
> > weeks and has never practiced flying a straight line.This shouldn't
> > take much additional time as the number of guys showing up to
> > participate in this class will indeed be very few (which begs the
> > question, how far do we have to concede in order to grow the
> > ranks?).
> > The Sportsman sequence I proposed a couple of days ago DOES appear
> > to be too difficult for some of the respondants(but not all) and
> > maybe the old Novice schedule should be made available for anybody
> > showing up to try (as a pre-novice event).I also think that the
> > Intermediate should introduce it's participant to the 45 downline
> > snap or at least a center snap on a horizontal baseline as
> > preparation for Advanced.
> > Only a bunch of opinions, guys! Don't mean I'm right!
> > G.
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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