I've really been concerned about how much lower our numbers are this year, so it does me good to know ours isn't the only club with this problem. We have discussed having some sort of "beginner" class, but we always come back to the same concerns:
1. The same small group of people set up courses, judge, welcome newcomers, etc, etc, while still competing in from 1 to 3 different classes. Adding another class is just too work and time intensive when you are already running from course to course.
2. When new people come to us and show an interest in joining, it is almost always AFTER they have already purchased a rig. They may have bought an AX10, XR10, mini, LCC, Off-brand something-or-other, or even a scaler. At this point it is too late to invite them to a spec class where only one type of rig is allowed.
3. Adding a 4th class (our club currently offers 2.2, 1.9, and scale) would draw the newer people away from our other classes where they are currently running, leaving us with barely enough for a comp in certain classes.
Our attempt at a solution has been to try to set up the courses in progressively harder configurations. That way, the beginners can usually complete at least the first course, while the veterans have the later courses to challenge them. We also let the newer drivers go ahead and finish the courses after they point out. By doing this, they at least get some wheel time, and get to experience the more difficult sections just for fun. This seems to be the best solution we've found for our smaller sized club, at least to this point.
I don't know about most clubs, but in ours head counts aren't exactly high. starting another class wouldn't really work for us. I think if you show your new folks a good time, welcome them in and help them out you will nurture more drivers.
Sportsman courses are more fun than challenging and we don't limit who can run the class. Sporty has the lowest price barrier to entry so it seems like a logical starting point. 1.9 Losi is gaining in popularity at our events and has even brought some "retired" compers back off the sidelines.
I'll restate my earlier point, if you make it fun, people will come and stick around.
As far as burn out you cant do much about that. We try to spice things up by having all kinds of different events to keep it interesting. It seems to be working because our club is growing
+1 to both of these....actually lots of great comments here. I could spend an hour quoting other posts.
We have a small group, smaller now than 2 years ago when my son started.
Time is an issue, cost of comping is another.
Little by little, we have dropped "classes" due to the workload of the "core guys that do everything" (I appreciate their work, I try to help time, etc. to spread the work).
I also agree some is the attitude of the driver. I was overjoyed last year when I finished my 1st course and had the scorer save my score sheet.
I was also overjoyed when I received my 1st "-" score on a course, I also saved that score-sheet.
For those of that know them, I run with the GSRCRC guys, people like Scatterbrains, Turbofest, RCrockin, Marzzz23, Dezmoon, etc., these are Nat's guys. Turbo runs a 2.2 course with a Sportsman truck and beats my score when I run a 2.2 Bully.
It sorta pisses me off, but also gives me something worthwhile to shoot for.
Again, it's partly the attitude of the driver.
A beginners class could be good, but I only see it as a lot more work for the few that put these events on. I sorta don't think it's fair to them in a small club/group.
On the other hand, if we don't do something to bring in/keep newbs, we will likely never get big.:roll:
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't".8)
We used to run 3 full classes (1.9, 2.2 & super) but most comps only run 2 due to entrants. Supers has dropped down. We have talked about maybe a scale class or something similar since a few have dropped out of comps but now run scale.
