Originally posted by xp8103
Jim,
Perhaps then you need to elighten me on exactly WHAT you feel the AMA SHOULD be doing? In one breath you say that they aren't doing enough and should spend some of the membership money promoting the hobby by sponsoring more events on the local level yet when I talk about our club (the small scale AMA if you will) spending some of the membership money to promote the hobby in our state you can't seem to stomach it?
You say: "A great many people have absolutely no interest in funding the fun of others, especially when it means giving up their rights to having fun. "
If this is the case how do you expect the AMA to come in and run some big event if it cannot exepct to have a venue in which to hold it???
To continue: "The solution seems to be a local issues of motivation, reward, recognition, and cooperation. At least my club seems to have taken that approach and made it work."
The fact is, the event I described above is open to ANYONE who wishes to compete. And they frequently do. I listed a handfull of names out of the 40 or so a year that compete. Average modelers, young and old with a wide range of skills. But they keep coming and they have fun and they go back to their local clubs and talk excitedly about the experience. And the folks from the local club who host the event are there Friday to help set up. They are there Monday morning to help clean up. Is THIS what you are talking about? If this isn't the type of positive exposure you think this hobby should be getting, both to the average modeler and the public, then I have no idea what you are getting at.
Sorry, I think I might have misread your comments. Somehow I thought you were saying that all area clubs were asked to fund an event at one club and you did not understand why some of your club guys were upset about that type of activity.
That being said, I was more addressing the end of YOUR first paragraph, the "
All I want to do is fly on Sunday morning, I don't care about other clubs or events or contests" member. Unless it effects me directly, I don't care about it and it's a waste of time/money/effort/etc... " part. Those are the guys who benefit the most from fly-in's and that is what others have used to provide the motivation carrot and generate interest, helpers, and attitude changes.
Until they can see the benefit, any restrictions put on the flying field usage for an event is perceived loudly as rights that are being taken. BTDT and have the teeth marks to show for it!
The solution can lead to other problems, so be ready. Once we figured out the general recipe to keep folks coming back for more events, things got so far out of hand we had to begin to restrict the specialized events to insure the average member could fly fairly regularly. Look at how many weekends you field is available for use by the average modeler. Snow is an impediment as is cold weather. Those probably do not bother you, but they do the average modeler. We found that this was a very significant issue that impacted enough of the membership that we now plan almost everything a full year in advance.