RE: What Are "Minimum" Flying Skills?
Don't get carried away with the requirements. Some clubs seem to have full-scale envy - they want to give their new members a private pilot's flight test.
If a new clubmember can take off, fly a 'standard' pattern (right hand or left hand, whichever is 'normal' for the field, but not both), and land on a calm day without endangering anyone or his plane he is good to go in my opinion. Once he solos he will improve on his own. You can't expect someone to fly with an instructor for months while they work on wind-compensated figure 8s and perfect cross-wind landings. That is not fair to the student or to the instructor.