[NSRCA-discussion] Future of Pattern

Mon Mar 19 10:10:27 AKDT 2012

This is a super interesting thread.

I agree with a lot of what is being said here. Another slant to look at is
maybe the demographics of pattern. I will agree that the age of initial
participation seems to be in the mid 40's. Could this be because that right
now it is the end of the "Baby Boomer" cycle. All of us in it right now are
of that era. It would be interesting to compare the numbers of pattern
competitors in different age groups to general population numbers.

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that every one of us has had some form of
competition in our past. In my past I have participated in two
physical/relatively dangerous sports that my body (I'm now 57) will not
tolerate but the mind still craves.The drive of a competitive individual is
always there, the choice of endeavor may change. Imho, exposure is the key
to better numbers of participants. I ran a local one day pattern clinic
last June after an interesting thread on RCU and had 8 fliers from our club
of 50 participate. Not one of them has gone to a contest yet but two of
them bought Osiris's and are very happy with them. For some unknown reason
in the last year our club numbers have grown to 80 and I am already getting
asked by a lot of the newer members if I plan to run the clinic again and
the answer is yes. This kind of exposure at the grassroots level is
essential to "hook" the competitors that have out grown ground contact
competition. It takes a bit of effort for there has to be a pattern
"sparkplug" in each club but it is well worth it imho.

Just my 2 bits worth.

Cheers

Murray Johnson

On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 10:46 AM, Peter Vogel <vogel.peter at gmail.com> wrote:

> >Someone that needs this...loves this, will find their way in.  We just
> have to make sure we don't shut them out.
> >To be fair, he's got all the advantages to do well, good planes, a good
> field, a dad that makes an ok coach and drags his butt out to practice
> whenever he wants and sometimes when he doesn't.
>
> Thank you for succinctly making the point I took several pages to make
> earlier -- for those of us with an "internal" drive to improve ourselves
> (measured, in this case, by comparison to others doing the same thing)
> pattern is a bug that sticks with us -- for the bug to bite it takes
> someone encouraging us to give it a try and making the initial entry
> relatively low-investment.  But, depending on the strength of that drive,
> staying with it requires some sense of forward progress -- that requires an
> "ok" coach and time to practice.  Not everyone has the time to practice as
> much as others, which may mean a slower progress curve, but with an "ok"
> coach and some level of discipline to practice someone with that basic
> internal drive will likely stay with it, absent external forces (life
> events, a sour experience at an event, etc.)  The video game designers
> understand this well -- there's a very fine line between too hard and too
> easy that keeps people "addicted" to the game.  I fear the ease of getting
> the endorphin "high" that video games produce is part of why a lot of
> activities (pattern included) don't get the dedicated participation from
> young people that they once did.  I love video games, but I realized about
> 10 years ago that the addiction and ease of participation was as dangerous
> to me as alcohol or drugs is to others so I stopped playing them (because
> once I start, unless there's an external force, I don't stop easily).
>  Pattern satisfies the same parts of me that video games did, but in a much
> more controlled + controllable fashion.
>
> Peter+
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 10:28 AM, Mark Atwood <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com>wrote:
>
>> Keith makes an interesting point that I have some personal experience
>> with.   My 15yr old son Sean.  First, I think he did the sport some good
>> because he cleaned house last year in Intermediate with a 62" Osiris
>> winning our district and often beating 8-10 flyers all who had full 2m
>> setups.   To be fair, he's got all the advantages to do well, good planes,
>> a good field, a dad that makes an ok coach and drags his butt out to
>> practice whenever he wants and sometimes when he doesn't.    Sooo...the
>> "Good" is that he showed people that the plane is only part of the equation.
>>
>> The more relevant part of this post is that even with all the advantages
>> he has...he's not passionate about flying pattern.  And that's what it
>> takes to really stay with this.  His comment to me was "Dad, I really enjoy
>> doing this, and plan to continue some, but I don't "need" it like you do."
>>
>>
>> So Mike is right that we have to expose people to this, help them if they
>> show ANY interest, but I think keith's point is spot on.  Someone that
>> needs this...loves this, will find their way in.  We just have to make sure
>> we don't shut them out.
>>
>> -M
>>  *Mark Atwood*****
>> *Paragon Consulting, Inc.*  *|*  President****
>> 5885 Landerbrook Drive Suite 130, Cleveland Ohio, 44124 ****
>> Phone: 440.684.3101 x102  *|*  Fax: 440.684.3102****
>> mark.atwood at paragon-inc.com  *|*  www.paragon-inc.com
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 19, 2012, at 11:23 AM, Keith Hoard wrote:
>>
>> Mike,
>>
>>     The bottom line is that it is impossible to simply "encourage"
>> someone to join the pattern ranks and have them hang around for years.  It
>> requires that the new guy have that internal drive to want to acquire all
>> of the specialized skill sets and equipment ON HIS OWN to make that
>> transition from sport flyer to pattern flyer.  All we can do is cheerfully
>> provide guidance on the way.
>>     If you look at the rise and fall of IMAC, ask yourself what was
>> behind the motivation to join their ranks on the way up?  Like you said,
>> the cost of entry is way beyond pattern - $13,000 150cc plane + $5000
>> trailer + $XX,XXX vehicle to haul trailer + Travel costs to "Huckfests",
>> Contests, Ect. . . . At the lower end, where most guys started, what did
>> you always hear the IMAC guys say?  "Hey, anyone can enter Unlimited and
>> win with a 50cc airplane" . . . Sound familiar?   The masses join, travel
>> around to contests, get their butts kicked flying their 50cc / 100cc
>> airplanes, look down the flight line to see who's winning / getting all of
>> the attention that they thought they'd be getting (its the 150cc + Bling
>> Guys), decided that its not worth it, then stop going to contests.
>>     Now in both the IMAC and Pattern examples, I would argue that we
>> could give those guys a full set of top of the line equipment and they
>> still wouldn't be able to win and would leave anyway.  You guys need to
>> realize that it takes a very, VERY specialized person to do what we do and
>> keep doing it year after year.  The real story here isn't that the pattern
>> ranks aren't growing, but that we still have as many guys doing this for as
>> long as we've been doing this in the first place!!  If someone has the
>> skill set and motivation to join us, they will join us no matter what the
>> obstacle - financial or otherwise.  The opposite is also true, you can
>> "drag / encourage" someone into pattern, give them all of the equipment
>> free of charge, provide all of the top notch coaching, but if they don't
>> have that internal drive to push themselves to continue, they will drop
>> out.
>>     Now it seems that for some reason those of us who remain tend to
>> "feel bad" when that happens.  Perhaps you feel that the pattern community
>> did something wrong to chase that person away, when actually the opposite
>> was true.  That person dipped their toe in the pattern pond and decided
>> that they weren't a fit.  It looked good from the outside but they just
>> couldn't hang.  Most choose to leave quietly, while others bray like a
>> donkey on their way out, or linger and take cheap shots from the peanut
>> gallery.  Back when pattern guys were considered "elitists", you still had
>> guys joining the ranks and pattern was growing, right?  Now that the word
>> is "be a nice guy to the sport flyers", our ranks are level / declining.
>> Perhaps bringing back a dash of elitism to pattern may not be a bad thing.
>>     The bottom line is that no amount of "tweaks" to the rules are going
>> to either increase of decrease pattern participation.  If a guy wants to
>> participate in pattern and go to contests, he will do whatever it takes to
>> get there.  *Everything else is just an excuse / whining.*  If we
>> eliminate the weight rule, they they will then say they can't go to
>> contests because of "judging bias".  If we implement electronic judging,
>> they then will find some other rule to complain about, ad nauseum.
>>     I think we've gone more than the "extra mile" to encourage
>> participation.  Its time to concentrate on perfecting the rules for the
>> guys that are actually participating and not worry about changes that "may"
>> encourage some "theoretical" newcomer.  They will join if they want to,
>> guaranteed.
>>
>>     Oh, and by the way, sometimes the best action to take is no action at
>> all.
>>
>> Keith Hoard
>> Collierville, TN
>> khoard at gmail.com
>>
>> . . .<snip>. .
>>
>>>  I can't see great numbers of newbies flocking to join our ranks. I
>>> think it is what it is. I'll strive to see small gains and little victory's
>>> when we get someone new to enjoy the sport.. .<snip>. . .
>>>  Now lets see how we handle $6 gas.  Mike Mueller
>>>
>>>   **
>>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Director, Fixed Wing Flight Training
> Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark
>
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