Changes to the National Competition Committee, a sub-committee of the Soaring Development Panel (SDP)
2020 was a very sad year for gliding competitions.
The National Competition Committee (NCC) is a sub-committee of the Soaring Development Panel (SDP) and it is a group of 6 competition pilots who have been nominated and elected to represent the interests of competition pilots. It is made up of representatives from Club/Sport Class (2), Multi Class (2) and Junior (1) competitors as well as the chairperson.
It is an important part of the SDP and the organisation of gliding competitions. The representatives are the ‘voice’ of the competitors.
The process of selecting these pilot representatives is done at the Pilots’ Meetings at various competitions each season, and the chair is nominated by the SDP each year.
At the Pilots’ Meetings, the pilots who attend propose changes to rules and the way competitions are run, etc, and also nominate and elect representatives from the classes to be on that committee. Proposals made at pilots’ meetings are taken to the Soaring Development Panel for consideration. If accepted, the rule changes and changes to MOSP are adopted in the next document revision. There has been no feedback mechanism for those things that are rejected.
This has presented a problem this year, in that very few competitions have taken place since about December 2019, so there has been no opportunity to fill these roles, and the existing 2019 members are doing that.
Secondly, attendance at the pilots’ meetings is generally not representative of all the competition pilots, and not even totally representative for each competition, as many pilots do not attend.
The SDP is changing the way that this group is selected, and also documenting how this committee works, as this has not previously been done and is not documented in the MOSP4.
The position of the NCC chair, as written in the MOSP4, is appointed by the Board by recommendation from the SDP and confirmed by the Gliding Australia AGM. This seems to be a process that could well be subjective and not in the interests of openness.
20m National pilots are not currently represented as a group, and a representative will be added to the NCC.
The above process will be replaced with the following, trialed over two years till 2023.
- In the months prior to the beginning of the competition season, pilots will be asked to nominate to become representatives of the NCC in the three classes, and an online vote will take place with those nominations. If no nominations are received, the SDP will seek interest from likely pilots directly and members will vote on those nominations. Once the NCC is elected, the NCC will meet and elect a chair from within their team, and that person will then be appointed in that role. (the NCC chair has to also be approved by the Board)
- A survey will be sent to all competition pilots each year at the end of the competition season, nominally around April every year (optionally anonymous). This will provide all competition pilots to give feedback on their experiences, and to offer suggested changes. The NCC will review these proposals and bring their recommendations to the SDP, for incorporation into rule changes or changes to MOSP prior to the next season.
