<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV>Well said Earl,</DIV>
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<DIV>Back on the advancement topic, IMO, we take advancement out of the rules completely. We will then have a full rules cycle to evaluate the results. </DIV>
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<DIV>You still need wording about class declaration at the beginning of the season so you don't give the ability to move within classes in a single season. Otherwise, you have no means, short of physical violence/confrontation, to keep a smart alek Masters pilot from signing up for Intermediate late in a season, just for his own entertainment or in some sort of protest against another individual or to spite a CD that someone may have a grudge with.</DIV>
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<DIV>Richard</DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Earl Haury <ejhaury@comcast.net><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> "Discussion List, NSRCA" <nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Friday, May 8, 2009 8:33:02 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [NSRCA-discussion] Advancement System - follow up<BR></FONT><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Lots of good observations and comments that are on topic. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Also, adjusting the sequences / classes may be a fix to the root cause of poor skill fits in a given class that would dictate moving up or down.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>IMHO, I believe the immediate focus should be on changing the advancement system so that folks who find themselves in a class way beyond their skill level have a mechanism to move to a class better fitting their skills. I'm not proposing that the focused competitor who moves up and then finds themselves not competitive for a few years should move back. I do believe that the casual competitor who finds that age / career / family / increased sequence difficulty should be able to easily move to a class where they're comfortable. As the discussions regarding sequence content indicate, the consummate competitor wants (needs) an increasing level of difficulty to maintain challenge & interest. This increase in difficulty can (and apparently does) overwhelm some casual competitors who then leave pattern. Possibly they can be retained if it were easy for them to drop back a class.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I don't perceive that this discussion has reached a consensus on how best to handle the current advancement system, previous discussions have ended similarly and nothing much has changed. The options seem to be:</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>1. Leave the current system alone & adjust sequences / classes. (Appears to concede to the lowest skill pilots per class.)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>2. No official advancement system, peer pressure is adequate. (Might actually work, most pattern folks are honorable.)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>3. Variant of current system with provisions for casual competitors to move back basis their comfort / performance. (Probably OK and would seem to have a good chance with the CB.)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>4. Performance based system where folks float between classes basis performance. (Actually my favorite as it would both satisfy providing comfort to the casual and prestige to the consummate. Unfortunately logistically most difficult, someone would need to manage the data and assign classes.)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>So - the trick is to reach some sort of consensus and move it to a rules proposal. Discussion alone won't get the job done.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Earl</FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>