The future of Sport Skydiving (how do you fit in?)

Having been in a position, as manager of a skydive clothing company, to get out and about and to events such as the Equinox Boogie, the PIA symposium, NZ nationals etc etc, one thing is clear and is a problem, not just here in New Zealand, but the world over. Number's of skydivers actively in the sport, are declining at a fairly alarming rate.

I have sat and wandered how can it be that people aren't queueing up in their millions to learn how to fly in the sky, free as a bird and then hang around and party with a bunch of awesome people..

It seems there are many theories, and Tandems seem to be the scapegoat, but I wander if we are letting ourselves down by not making enough of a personal effort to get other people involved. Have you taken any time recently to cajole, bribe or coerce your non-skydiving freinds into coming to hang out with you at the Dropzone? Or taken one of your valuable jump tickets and gone and done a jump with that New Guy, who only just got of AFF??

It is really easy to Blame evryone and everything else for what is happening to our sport, but if we as individuals are not prepared to try and make a difference, no matter on how small a level it might seem, the really we don't have any right to complain..

Just a thought, what does everyone else think??