How do we encourage new people into the sport ?

David1 said:
as for your second part why did you trade up from the gamo? And what did you trade up to and at what cost? if you don’t mind me asking?
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Cheap gamo was £300 with a passable scope. I got a hw100x new at £1400 afterwards because I'd used somebody else's at the range and fell in love with it, so it was my Xmas present to myself.

I upgraded because I enjoyed bench rest but wanted better consistency at 50m, and loading on the left side with my right hand was growing tiresome. At that point I'd been shooting for 8 months with the gamo so I felt like I'd squeezed as much as I could from it and decided I enjoyed shooting so the gamo had done it's job for me
 
David1 said:
please explain to me what you meant by “blokey”
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Seems that the online Dictionaries prefer the alternative version of "blokeish"

Collins online Dictionary for example


Quote
"British informal another name for blokeish

informal, sometimes derogatory
denoting or exhibiting the characteristics believed typical of an ordinary man"

Not particularly derogatory, in my view, just blunt and plain speaking.

Any clearer?

As I said in my opening, initial comment to quote that part in full, replying to @twigulus

"Yes, the atmosphere at many shooting events is very laddish / macho etc.

Mainly old white blokes, often F-ing and Blinding away in virtually every comment"
 
Mrs. H said:
This is a tough one, to be fair @Dioclese actually said "Mainly old white blokes, often F-ing and Blinding away in virtually every comment"

Which is exactly my experience at many, many clubs. Some members, if 4-letter words were banned, would be mute.
Not to mention the constant exchanges of expletive ridden rants about immigrants, gays, Police, ethnic groups, their wives and what they 'would like to do to that bird off the telly'.

Many of these types fom a significant membership of the clubs, and frankly thats the problem being discussed. It can be over niche, you're not going to get families, youngsters and fresh new blood into the sport if thats how its being presented to them. Some aspects of our sport really do need to change or it'll just die out with them.
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Anne-I didn’t say that at all - it was the post underneath mine.

I stated that field sports are generally a male environment and airgun clubs often manned and patronised by older males:

-retired-expendable income-knowledge.
Without these older and wiser heads,I fear the sport as we know it would disappear.
🧐
 
This threads getting a bit tit for tat now.

Let’s stick with thinking of ideas to solve the problem instead of blaming/stating the obvious.

It’s no secret that there’s fierce competition for hobbies for kids these days so what can we think of that’ll bring more people into the sport/hobby.

Some points raised previously;

-schools: activity days
-parents/family: take your kids/relatives
-friends: take them, they may pass it on.
-shops: they’ll need a low risk, high return proposition to get involved
-other closely related hobbies : airsoft, paintball, archery?
-ranges: it’s in their interest to make custom, free range days for newcomers etc.
-social media: mr beast on YouTube or Donald trump would be a good shout 😂 , not. I’m not a marketer so I’m not competent to provide advice but perhaps manufacturers could release more content/advertisements with their targeted customers ( in this case, junior/youth age shooters)

To summarise, to fix this issue I suggest we all play our part and so too should the manufacturers, retailers and ranges.

Work together.
 
Mad Andy said:
Any youngsters beginning the sport are going to get some fantastic second hand bargains in about 20 years when we're all pushing up daisies.
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Sadly, a lot of our treasured possessions (air guns included) will end up in House Clearances at auction, I know, I've bought a few !

Enjoy them now as I fear their true value will be lost on future generations.
 
Regarding new blood in the sport, I just want to add, I recently joined Bolton gun club me and my 32yr old son, you had to go 6 times and get a sheet of paper signed every time you went to show and prove you were a safe and responsible person regarding shooting, before you could apply for membership, as I went more and got talking to the safety Marshall’s he informed me this was a recent thing they’d brought in as they’d had a few young people coming in who were shooting the signs and were totally unsafe,
 
jukibom said:
Cheap gamo was £300 with a passable scope. I got a hw100x new at £1400 afterwards because I'd used somebody else's at the range and fell in love with it, so it was my Xmas present to myself.

I upgraded because I enjoyed bench rest but wanted better consistency at 50m, and loading on the left side with my right hand was growing tiresome. At that point I'd been shooting for 8 months with the gamo so I felt like I'd squeezed as much as I could from it and decided I enjoyed shooting so the gamo had done it's job for me
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Got to admit without getting into anything to deep or argumentative for the sake of it, I have to disagree that it’s a cheap hobby/pastime, I’m quite new to it and I’ve probally spent £2kish in 6months, yes you can get by with a cheap set up but as you go more and enjoy it it’s inevitable you do start upgrading weather it’s new rifles or scopes, but by the time you’ve got the rifle and scope your happy with, take in to account pellets every month then range fees could be £10 every time you go, it could add up to easily £100 a month, that’s on a par with golf (no pun intended) which is considered an expensive hobby,
 
The biggest hurdle we face is that our sport has become unfashionable at best and despised at worst. Many people recoil in horror when i reveal my hobby is shooting (which ever discipline you prefer).

A couple of examples of how marginalised we are as a community, go into a really big Newsagents/WH Smiths, look at the racks and racks of magazines and look for a shooting publications. I know there aren’t as many magazines around anymore, and if they have any, they will be hidden away in the darkest corner. I’ve even seen them tucked away on the top shelf next to the t*ts & b*ms genre.

I’m a member of the CPSA and get a free monthly magazine - Pull delivered to my home, it used to come in a clear cellophane wrapper, it now comes in a plain white envelope with no markings!!

Sadly we have to face it, our sport is a diminishing pastime that just doesn’t interest a large portion of the younger generation (our future).

Many kids aren’t interested in the great outdoors or experiencing something that requires discipline, thought and patience. Also, many parents outside of the shooting community wouldn’t let them go near a firearm irrespective of it being done properly.
 
By being welcoming and inclusive. When new recruits are shown around the facilities at Pete's, I make eye contact, nod and smile. And if someone looks at my kit with interest, I invite them to have a look, or answer any questions they might have. Others look up, and back down again. And of course, some, just look perpetually unapproachable 😂

Then there are the photos that some pose for with their rifles. Smiles turn to furrowed brows and a military-esque stance Homer face palm
 
TR158 said:
Then there are the photos that some pose for with their rifles. Smiles turn to furrowed brows and a military-esque stance Homer face palm
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Dioclese said:
Anne-I didn’t say that at all - it was the post underneath mine.

I stated that field sports are generally a male environment and airgun clubs often manned and patronised by older males:

-retired-expendable income-knowledge.
Without these older and wiser heads,I fear the sport as we know it would disappear.
🧐
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Appologies @Dioclese , not intended, I think I'm getting lost in the constant cross referencing.

David1 said:
Regarding new blood in the sport, I just want to add, I recently joined Bolton gun club me and my 32yr old son, you had to go 6 times and get a sheet of paper signed every time you went to show and prove you were a safe and responsible person regarding shooting, before you could apply for membership, as I went more and got talking to the safety Marshall’s he informed me this was a recent thing they’d brought in as they’d had a few young people coming in who were shooting the signs and were totally unsafe,
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The gist of this is pretty standard at FAC clubs, any new prospective member at our smallbore club needs a Police background check (can't remember the procedural term), they can't handle a rifle on their very first visit and would need to attend for 6 months before being considered for full membership.

Look, we all know you can spend as much or as little as you like on this hobby. If you enjoy something you invest in it, be that shooting, golf, or cycling et al. Most clubs have kit that can be hired for comps and I'm pretty sure every club will have a member looking to sell something on.

Is shooting waning in interest? If it was then surely all the Shooting Shows and Game Fayres would be past history by now.

I think our issue still remains visibility and experience, and that's not limited to airgunning. I think my smallbore club has had, at most, 6 new members over the past 5 years. And some of those have been University students on secondment.
HFT clubs I've been at have had a handful of potential newbies visiting, some have come back for a go, others just never seen again.

I'm pleased to say I think our overall image has changed, a bit, in the past decade. When I first started it was wall to wall camo,- not denegrating camo at all. The cheap clothing very much serves a purpose, but I don't do the weekly Tesco shop in it. These days the majority are actually in the 'higher' echenel of purpose made outdoor wear and look less like they're about to break out into a paintball fight.

We just need to need to get more feet through the clubs doors and show people that this is a fun, healthy, challenging and worthwhile hobby. That can be through direct advertising via gunshops and also by our own word of mouth.
 
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Mrs. H said:
This is a tough one, to be fair @Dioclese actually said "Mainly old white blokes, often F-ing and Blinding away in virtually every comment"

Which is exactly my experience at many, many clubs. Some members, if 4-letter words were banned, would be mute.
Not to mention the constant exchanges of expletive ridden rants about immigrants, gays, Police, ethnic groups, their wives and what they 'would like to do to that bird off the telly'.

Many of these types fom a significant membership of the clubs, and frankly thats the problem being discussed. It can be over niche, you're not going to get families, youngsters and fresh new blood into the sport if thats how its being presented to them. Some aspects of our sport really do need to change or it'll just die out with them.
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Just to clarify, I missquoted @Dioclese here, this wasn't his quote at all and I sincerely appologise for the mistake.
 
I will admit I haven't read through all the posts on here but here goes -

Stop - making Shoots only 1 session. 2 sessions worked well for 30 odd years. More people attended "Big Shoots" because they could set out at a sensible time to shoot the PM course and travel back the same day.

Stop - penalising Left handed shooters with firing points that are not level and are biased towards right handed "elitist" shooters. The BFTA Rules "State" - RULE 8 of the Main Shoot Rules -
"All positional lanes must be situated on a flat area as is reasonably practicable. i.e., the shooting area between the lane pegs must be as flat as is reasonably practicable on the course".
Now I know Positional Lanes means Kneelers and Standers and also the little known Prone FT position.
But the rest of the course is Freestyle and that can include if the Shooter so wants to shoot the targets using Positional shooting style. So in effect the Course Builders are saying that if you want to shoot a Freestyle Lane kneeling and it isn't flat then it's your choice to shoot in an unsafe possibly dangerous position - that would be interesting Legally and from the Insurers viewpoint.

Stop - Making people pay out extra monies for overnight Hotel - B&B or even camping costs for a Double Header.

Double headers are just to make sure that the up and coming grass roots shooters don't get a look in unless they or their parents are willing to fork out on a hobby they are not yet sure about.
Costs for a Father and Son to attend a Double header with overnight accommodation are getting silly.

So you are going to encourage "Young Shooters" to attend the Clubs - these are sometimes on a Saturday - in my Region - Harriers FT Club and Millride FTC both shoot their Club shoots on a Saturday.

What Clubs are forgetting is that most people have to work on a Saturday to get extra funds to get the equipment - especially pellets to be able to attend and shoot competitively.
But when you think about it - most Clubs which shoot on Saturdays are run by a Committee that key members attend Shoots around the Country on a Sunday - plus those Clubs that run their own Competitions on the Saturday Club day - get to win the end of year bit of Plastic or similar trophy.

Ok so I now have my Hot Coffee - feet up - Bag of Popcorn ready and new batteries in the mouse.
 
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I think we're slightly at cross purposes here, the gist of the thread was about how to get new people interested in the sport and into the clubs.
Alot of what your post mentions looks to be the existing National rounds, we're talking about grass roots level clubs and open ranges.
 
Mrs. H said:
I think we're slightly at cross purposes here, the gist of the thread was about how to get new people interested in the sport and into the clubs.
Alot of what your post mentions looks to be the existing National rounds, we're talking about grass roots level clubs and open ranges.
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But only by getting past the current mindset of some Clubs and Committee's can you start to rectify the grass roots issues.
 
Byronic said:
Seems that the online Dictionaries prefer the alternative version of "blokeish"

Collins online Dictionary for example


Quote
"British informal another name for blokeish

informal, sometimes derogatory
denoting or exhibiting the characteristics believed typical of an ordinary man"

Not particularly derogatory, in my view, just blunt and plain speaking.

Any clearer?

As I said in my opening, initial comment to quote that part in full, replying to @twigulus

"Yes, the atmosphere at many shooting events is very laddish / macho etc.

Mainly old white blokes, often F-ing and Blinding away in virtually every comment"
Click to expand...
Crystal, thank you.
 
Must admit I wouldn't take kids to my local range.

Ethnicity of the members is irrelevant but the topics of conversation and language shouted around is not appropriate for children.

As an adult I enjoy my time there of course, but it's certainly not a family friendly place. That's not to say the members wouldn't bend over backwards to teach children, just that I personally wouldn't want children to hear some of the topics and choice words echoed around. (Obviously kids hear stuff at school and on the internet anyway but that's besides the point).

Maybe that is something we should look at addressing.
 
Joey said:
Must admit I wouldn't take kids to my local range.

Ethnicity of the members is irrelevant but the topics of conversation and language shouted around is not appropriate for children.

As an adult I enjoy my time there of course, but it's certainly not a family friendly place. That's not to say the members wouldn't bend over backwards to teach children, just that I personally wouldn't want children to hear some of the topics and choice words echoed around. (Obviously kids hear stuff at school and on the internet anyway but that's besides the point).

Maybe that is something we should look at addressing.
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Honestly I think this is something I could be better at too... I grew up on a garden centre where everyone swore like a sailor 😅😅
 
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