Re: Keeping the sport going
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:10 pm
I agree entirely, having accidentally experienced this recently at my home club's AGM/prizegiving. One of the older members was very keen to congratulate me for winning a bit of silverware in one of our internal leagues. I gently asked why, and he said "You've only been a member for a year or so, right?" I pointed out I've been on the books for about ten years and shoot every fortnight without fail! We shoot in different sections of the club and so our paths had rarely crossed. I'm sure that had he known my pedigree, as it were, I'd have been just another face in the crowd.ovenpaa wrote:At the other end of the scale someone we know went through the probationary process at a local club, during the process everyone bent over backwards to help and were friendly and accommodating. Eventually the probation period was served, tests passed and they became a full member. He commented on just how strange it was to walk into the club and be ignored, like a fledgling kicked out of the nest. He went on to gain an FAC and these days shoots the occasional rabbit with a rimfire and has no further involvement with the club.
I know people are going to disagree and say 'never at my club' however I do feel some clubs greet the prospect of new membership with something approaching open hostility and I do wonder if this why some people choose to head out to places like the NSC as opposed to shooting at the local club. Or maybe it is because they need more than the club can offer.
Do we actually over-congratulate new members on achieving stuff, meaning once we see them as ordinary members we "ignore" them?