Great idea for a thread!!! I have a lot of ideas on this subject and also problems that I would like to address.
One of the major problems I have seen is kids worrying about sponsorship more than anything else. This hobby should be about having fun, the idea of getting a sponsor shouldn't be your drive for being in the hobby. The problem is that soo many people are rushing to harder maneuvers like rollers before they can do simple loops, 4pt. rolls ect... just because they are focused on getting sponsored. When I first got into the hobby, I knew that there was no way I would ever get a sponsor so I never thought about it. I went out and flew for the fun of it and becasue I wanted to be a well rounded pilot. I started with sport manuevers and never tried a 3D manuever until I was very good at 4pt. rolls, big rolling circle, hammer heads, ect..
The key things to learning imo, are a simulator, foamy, small balsa plane, and lots of time. You also want to make sure you are practicing in all types of wind conditions. We would show up to the field and it would be 20+ mph wind and I would not fly, but dad started forcing me to learn to fly in that kind of wind and it has helped me a ton.
I learned all the basic maneuvers from dad and he spent a lot of time with me at first to make sure I was doing stuff correctly. I remeber one night we sat down at the simulator and talked me through touch and goes for about 3 hours. The key is just to make sure you are very good at the basic manuevers before you try to move on.
I'll be back later to add in some more thoughts, have to get to class now.
