Quote:
Originally Posted by Ffish  I also remember thinking to myself that by the time he gets to 12 he'll have 3 years experience under his belt. Indeed, he's just made Junior BM, so the policy that the club in question has is (IMHO) losing them potential good members. |
Sadly (for me as much as anyone else) it is also my experience that the
majority of juniors under the age of at least 13 are just not disciplined enough (I'm trying desperately to find a polite way of wording this) and are very "high maintenance"!
What for your son turned out to be 3 years experience, for most would have been 3-6 months experience before moving on to something else. My club accepts juniors over 10 (and I wish sincerely that we didnt)
I regularly get phone calls from irate parents wanting to know if the 10 year limit includes their 8 year old, or their 6 year old. You gotta draw the line somewhere.
Our beginners courses are limited to 12 people at a time and when you have course after course full of 11 year olds and you have to start turning away adults because the course is full, it makes you weep. Knowing that the conversion rate for under 13s is about 5% (long term) compared to over 50% for adults. Children are NOT the future of our sport, our sport is merely a temporary stop before the next hobby comes along.
And before anyone thinks that my attitude to the younger beginners that stops them joining the club long term, I have very little contact with them