[NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System

[Bill Glaze]

John:
I am speaking abut D1--NC & SC primarily.  We'll have to see how the upcoming VA contest shakes out.  Come on over!
Bill Glaze
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Pavlick 
  To: General pattern discussion 
  Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 4:34 PM
  Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System


        Bill,
         What district are you in? Maybe Ziggy and I will take a road trip this summer. That could make things interesting for you guys. I'm staying in Advanced as long as I can or at least until I lose my day job. :)

        John Pavlick

        --- On Thu, 5/7/09, Bill Glaze <billglaze at bellsouth.net> wrote:

          From: Bill Glaze <billglaze at bellsouth.net>
          Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System
          To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
          Date: Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7:36 PM


          Joe:
           Advanced last weekend in Winston = 0 contestants.  A couple of weeks ago in Green Sea: Advanced = 1 contestant.  I don't believe that we've had more than 4 contestants in Advanced in a single contest for 2 years--maybe more.  I haven't thought much about just why that might be, but right now, it's a very unpopular class.  I concur that most of the dropouts seem to be either from the Advanced class, or, from those who are forced into the Advanced class.  No matter how/why they're forced to move up, it's just the way it is right now.
          Bill Glaze
            ----- Original Message ----- 
            From: Joe Lachowski 
            To: NSRCA Discussion List 
            Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 11:32 AM
            Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System


            I'm for getting rid of advancement in the Advanced class for one. This is the class a number flyers who stick around seem to hit their skill level wall and disappear.  It also appears to be the smallest class attended at local contests these days.  At least in D1 it is.
             
            I'd also like to see the option of being able to move back after one year in the next higher class. This would be a allowed one time only.
             
             To make frequent sequence change doable, instead of having to come up with new ones every 4 years or so, maybe we should just come up with a good set of say 4 for each class. You can rotate through them every 2 years and start from the first one all over again after they've cycled through. This could easily be done for Intermediate and Advanced. Probably even Masters. After about 8 years the pool of flyers for the most part will have changed in each class anyway. Establishing these sequences will probably take a well thought process of about two years by some dedicated people willing to take it on. You could also just change a handful of maneuvers in these sequences after the 8 year cycle to keep things a little fresh for those that are still flying a particular class after the 8 year cycle. This is a lot of work up front but in teh long run it is easier. 
             
             As far as Sportsman goes, you just need one good sequence that teaches the basic skills to get you to Intermediate. The one we have now is pretty close if not good enough.
             
            Just some ideas.
             

--------------------------------------------------------------------
            From: anthonyr105 at hotmail.com
            To: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
            Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 10:48:08 -0400
            Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System

            Good idea Earl. I think peer pressure alone will suffice but if we want an organize system this has merit. 
             Do we realize if we allow the other classes to become destinations then the sequences should change more frequently. 
             
            Anthony
             

--------------------------------------------------------------------
            From: ejhaury at comcast.net
            To: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
            Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 09:24:18 -0500
            Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System


            In the discussion regarding the Masters sequence / length a few competitors mentioned that increasing the difficulty would cause them to stop competing. Folks, this needs to be addressed! We can't tolerate a system where folks are forced to a level where they can't enjoy pattern and/or chose to quit. 

            There are generally two views of the current system. One is that it is cast in stone and needed to force the "trophy hound" to move to the proper class. The other is that peer pressure alone will result in proper classification. I think that there's a third possibility, some folks prematurely move to a higher class for the "prestige" of that class. There's likely reality / unreality to each view which supports that some process is needed. While there have been some changes to smooth the advancement process, nothing has changed for a person who finds themselves in a class that exceeds their skills. I know - there's a process to petition for dropping to a lower class, but it's intended for hardship cases rather than being uncompetitive.

            OK - going back to the first paragraph - how might we fix this? My suggestion is to change the rules so that folks who gather points in the lower percentile of a class for X number of events (or rounds, or time span?) have the option to stay where they are, or move back a class. The current advancement rules would be applied to folks in the upper percentile. It seems that this would provide an option for the casual competitor to seek a comfort level and retain a reasonable advancement process for the serious competitor. Of course there are administrative issues, probably best to simply use data within each district, as most already track points for district championships. A district based data set would also best weight performance within one's local peer group.

            Just my thoughts - how about the group discussing this some.

            Earl


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