I’m considering sponsoring a tri-club. There’s no current organization, the YMCA had a meeting and then didn’t follow-up, but there’s definitely enough interest from entry-level and about 4 or 5 IMers(small town). I’ve done this before, about ten years ago, different town. T-shirts, beer, party, some group training sessions, party, helping the newbies, race schedules, party, etc.
Any suggestions about what makes for a good club? Are speakers a plus? …
The people in it.
~Matt
Organized training, bricks are good, nice to have someone watch gear.
Matt hit the nail on the head. But I’ll put a list up here of functions a good tri club should aspire to: Provide a network of resources for people already involved in the sport to facilitate training: i.e., safe(r) routes for rides and runs, places and times to swim, group workouts, etc. Help people interested in becoming involved in the sport: Provide support for them, educate them i the sport, provide resources and organized classes and workshops for them to learn the sport. Act as a liason to national governing bodies (whoever they may be that week…). Provide a cadre of volunteers and organizers to help with local events.
Speaking of today’s NGB, is there a good reason for me to recommend that the club join USAT’s program? Aside from “support the sport(USAT)”. In the past, there was very little going on with it.
You mentioned group wokouts. Our favorite was what we called “bike and tie”, origins with the horsey set. We would all meet at someone’s house, all start together on a 5K pace run, 2 mile loop. Get back to the house, grab your bike and ride the same two miles, at sprint-race pace, then run again, etc. You keep doing loops until you’re fried. At the end, there will be a solo “monster”, slugging it out, one more time. Of course we would all rag on his/her form, spray beer, all the while wishing we could do one more. Great training, great fun. But I digress…
That’s the big question USAT has to answer for all it’s members…
Joining USAT ahs some interesting priveledges.
Regional club contests. USAT breaks country into regions and each USAT club vias for points based on placement in various races. Usually 3-4 in each reagions state. Problem here is that there is no consideration for size. IOW our little club is competing against clubs out of Chicago. They do offer some fairly cool prizes and I think teh champion club gets something like 1000$ or something like that.
Insurance for the club and races.
Discount on USAT fees for club members. Although it’s kinda hokey becasue you have to do it via snail mail vs E-mail and it’s only 2$ discount I think. IOW not worth much.
All in all not a whole lot to get from USAT unless you’re really in a pinch for insurance. I can’t remember what the exact cost is but I think it’s on the order of several bucks a person for insurance and 30$ a year for the club. The club price is not so bad, the insurance can be had elsewhere for similar price.
One thing we really have a hard time with in our club is simply getting people involved.
Group workouts are minorly successfull and are typically more successfull if you couple it with a social activity. For instance we have one workout where we meet afterwards for dinner or drinks. That one seems to be well attended.
most issues can be dealt with and ALOT of neat things can be done. The biggest issue, IMO, is trying to get people to help. For the most part it seems a small core group of people get stuck with everything and eventually they burn out and or move or something. The more you offer the club the more that needs to be done but the same core get’s stuck with what’s being done.
If you can somehow get ALOT of people involved and volunteering you WILL have a very succesful club. However if you instead get a group of people that just want and are unwilling to give, likely the club won’t go very far.
~Matt
Thanks for reminding me about the parasites, wannabees, and gonnadoos. I may reconsider the “club” status and make it more casual so that I don’t end up with another entitlement program. I’m not above adjusting the invitations based on contribution.
good vs. successful vs. popular/well attended…etc.?
What are your goals? To have a place where you can get good folks to train with? To grow the sport in your area? To meet people? Oly or IM? Newbie or experienced?
While there are different definitions of “good”, all require a person to lead, organize and inspire. Every good group success like this comes from a “sparkplug” who makes it happen and keeps on it so that the program develops over time. So no matter what your goals are, they will only happen if you have one or more very enthusiastic people to drive it.
One try club I know of has been a bit unfocused and the newbie sprint people are dropping off because the leaders are more experienced racers…but they are only together once or twice a week so it really isn’t a club. Also, no one has put together a definite work out schedule that can create a critical mass, other than a few bike rides.
I think there may actualy be a “critical mass” type of thing with tri clubs.
You have to have “X” number of people before you cn find sufficient numbers of people to volunteer to help. On a scale of “Economy” teh ratio of people needed to help vs people in the club decreases the larger you are. IOW it doesn’t take that many more people to serve a club of 300 vs a club of 30. However it’s ALOT easier to find 5-10 people to help out in a club of 300 than in 30.
I guess what I’m suggesting unless you think you can have a fairly active membership of 75-100 or more I’d skip teh whole formal “club” thing and simply send out some feelers. Not much that you can’t do outside of a club that you can do inside of one. Create an E-mail list and send out a “Hey anyone wanna do “X” workout on Sunday?” or “We’re all meeting here for a swim anyone else?” etc etc. ALOT easier than a club no one is expected to do anything and ALOT less hassle…IMO.
OTOH if you thnk you can get 75-100+ active members a club can be an excellant resource.
~Matt
"One try club I know of has been a bit unfocused and the newbie sprint people are dropping off because the leaders are more experienced racers…but they are only together once or twice a week so it really isn’t a club. "
Kinda sounds like our club. We just can’t seem to get the ball rolling in any direction and can’t seem to get people to help out. Seems we have a few well attended events a year and maybe one well attended workout a week during the summer, everything else is pretty much dead.
Lotsa a things to do and no one volunteering to do them and a few core people that kinda tired of doing everything for the few people that may or may not show up.
“Also, no one has put together a definite work out schedule that can create a critical mass, other than a few bike rides.”
This is MUCH harder than one would suspect. Especially dealing with distances ranging from sprint to IM. For the most part the workouts are fo a very different level.
One major issue that we found was that many, even most people that joined the club quickly went from “I want a workout” to “I just want to be social”, which is fine. We ahve tried several times to organize a structured workout with pace line work, repeats, hill work etc at one of the mid week bike rides. Pretty much everytime out of around 15-20 people that show…2 or 3 actually join in the workout. the rest just do a “Social ride” and go back to the bar for a drink or dinner.
Setting up a workout schedule for a large group of people with different needs is difficult at best.
~Matt
The replys have convinced me to stay with clearing house, social idea. I’m not going to get into scheduling workouts, etc. Too small a town and too diverse a group. If people want to hook up for a workout, fine.
But, we all know the best part is getting together to go to a race, lie-telling, and the parade of good intentions, especially fortified intentions. It’s groups and beverages that keep the Passport Club going.
My mission is to see that everyone has fun.
Lotsa a things to do and no one volunteering to do them and a few core people that kinda tired of doing everything for the few people that may or may not show up.
Setting up a workout schedule for a large group of people with different needs is difficult at best.
~Matt
As for volunteering, people do not volunteer, period. If you need someone, you can email them personally, not a group email. You’ll get about a 5 to 10% bite rate on that. The other way is to call em, get phone number through your registration engine and call em up. You’ll get about a 50% bite rate from that. It’s much harder to say no in person.
I’ve been very tempted to just put it in the membership info that you have to volunteer or you won’t be able to join again. Never actually did it though.
Could be my problem, I’m just not agressive enough. If I got a 5% bite rate on a club wide E-mail I’d be ectatic. Typically I’m around 2-3% or so.
I’m not real good at just calling people up and saying “Hey you need to do this”. I figure if a person wants to do it they’ll volunteer when asked. If they don’t they won’t. If I ask them and they haven’t volunteered they’re really not interested in doing it…and usually end up not doing it.
~Matt
I think you miunderstood.
Clubwide email - 0% bite rate.
Direct personal email 5%
Personal phone call 50%
Once you get someone there the first time, they realize it isn’t that bad an they will volunteer again. It usually involves hanging around with other triathletes shooting the breeze, so it’s not bad.
Interesting, yes I did misunderstand.
Sending out E-mails to a few individuals might work. I just hate the phone I guess…
~Matt
It’s interesting reading some of these comments. As they say there is “no one right way” to do it. But being in a leadership position in my own club, this is what I’ve observed:
We have a core group of leaders who are really dedicated and not easily discouraged. We also bring a variety of professional backgrounds (and would probably make a decent leadership team at any company). And we are just now getting to the point where we are bringing another “generation” of leaders into the fold (setting up committees, etc.) Took a couple years to get to this point.
We offer weekly, sometimes multiple, group workouts, especially in the summer. Sometimes a lot of people show up (over 30), sometimes only a few, but we plow ahead either way and don’t sweat it if it doesn’t go off as planned. We also “market” some of these workouts as special events, such as our annual indoor triathlon series that runs during the winter at local health clubs.
One of the biggest challenges we face is appealing to about 200 members across the Cleveland metro area. Particularly with group workouts that are on one side of town versus the other (eg. no one wants to drive 45 minutes after work to ride). We always try to offer something of value - even if it’s to hook up someone with other running clubs so they can take part in their group runs. In the end, I don’t think we worry about whether or not we’re going to lose people that way. You put your best foot forward, let the membership take it or leave it, move forward and hopefully learn a little in the process.
Group email communications work for us because we have a communications strategy and the emails are well-written. We don’t pester people with communications and understand that being in the tri club is probably just one of many interests for them. We also have a very active Web site forum.
We recognized a while ago that newbies and more experienced athletes have different needs (duh). We started a very successful newbies training group about a year ago, and are getting the ball rolling on a “long course group” for more experienced athletes in 2006.
Overall, it takes time, patience and dedication to make things work. You can’t judge something a failure if you’ve only tried it once (well, unless someone gets killed or something like that). You keep trying, and keep being enthusiastic. On the other hand, over time you get a sense of what members want, and you need to constantly update your vision to reflect your members’ needs.
My tri-club uses yahoo groups for communication and workout schedules, it works out really well.
Our club president has given out incentives to get people involved but we still have a core group that does most of the planning and work. I have slowly been getting involved and have such a good time shooting the breeze with other triathletes like someone else allready mentioned.
Over the last year we have had a couple of new people that like to set up workouts at various locations, some work some don’t but the one’s that do are great.
We have large turnouts at local races where we allways set up the club tent and hang out after the race and talk for a few hours. That’s where I think we get most of our interest.
Our club is also a swim club that has helped many people learn to swim correctly. Our main workout is every saturday morning at a local pool, afterwards most of us go out to breakfast and talk about everything. That is how I got involved with the club. During the warm months we meet at a lake and have a group swim.
As I learn more and more about the sport I get more involved. I like listening to people’s stories and advise as well as sharing what I know.
Club’s website:
jaretj
Quadzilla and I are in the same tri club and I too am in a leadership role. Everything he said is right on, but I would add…
Don’t get discouraged. Dare to fail, try new things, some will work some will not. Apply theame logic you use in a race = just keep moving forward
Figure out your market and taylor your club to them.
People love freebies - the me you got the more they will come.
It takes a couple years to clutivate attendance at activities.
Don’t kill your self being at all work outs. Try to have multipal work out leaders. And if you lead teh work out make sure it is also part of YOUR planned training - thus if no one shows it is no skin off your back - you needed to do that training session any ways.
Most people would rather be asked to help than volunteer - just seems to be the way things are. ASK people to help.
Start by developing a mission and identity - you have to know who you are and what you are trying to do as a club if you want ot get people to buy into the club.
Training activities and social activities should be complimentary not in competition with one another.
You have to market, market, market your club all the time.
YOU really have to be dedicated to get a tri club going - but the results can be beyone your imagination - in just a few short years we have developed an extremely active tri club in NE Ohio - think of it - Cleveland recently voted one of the fattest cities in the US has a tri club with nearly 300 dues paying members. IF it can be done here it can be done any place.