Membership Retention

Scottish Swimming Participation and Performance Conference 2014 Retention Paul Donald / Gillian Hepburn / Walter Scott & Alyshia McCracken

Concept • Help retention rates • Committees are maxed out • Young people can identify their needs best • Give young people the confidence and basic skills to make things happen in there club • Previous Job there was a branch with a similar program called Active East • Active East is a legacy for young people in the East of Glasgow. Aims to increase levels of physical activity and building skills through volunteering.

Clubs in Pilot

Limited number of clubs due to limited funding and size of the available location

Content of Weekend • Intro to dynamic youth achievement • Dynamic Youth • Goal Setting ETC Module & write up challenge • Communication ETC module • Team Building • Fitness Fun • Benefits of physical activity • Working with Young People in sport • Programme Planning with focus on how to keep swimmers engaged • Dynamic Youth Achievement/Work on event planning • Event and evaluation

• Split into local regions • Given objective to work together to create a joint day out • Potential prize of £200 for project • We gave surprise £100 for all other groups • Follow up session to drill down the detail

Feedback Session

Why Do Swimmers Drop Out? • • • • • • • • • • •

There isn’t a squad that suits ie. non- competitive Studying/exams mean it is hard to keep up training or get back into it after a break.

You end up not back in the same lane as your friends You can’t have a social life – too busy swimming Money – it is very expensive Coaching – you maybe don’t like your coach Other commitments – the choice to do other activities Pressure – too much from parents/coaches Not hitting personal bests – plateauing/getting fed up/frustrated No time to do other sports Can’t be bothered – only keep going for social reasons/to keep fit Too repetitive – gets boring

Feedback Session

Why Do Swimmers Drop Out? (Page 2) • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Sometimes coaches care too much and don’t always include ‘fun’ element Schools don’t support time away for swimming Injuries Worry about weight/what you look like Morning training!

Parents lose interest Late pool time ie. training till 10pm on school nights Would like more training – some clubs have limited pool access Coaches have favourites or different priorities – others don’t get much attention Travel – too difficult to get to training Too many in same age group – therefore not succeeding so why bother?

Unfair playing field – other clubs train more Facility access – some clubs get priority access

Feedback Session

Suggested Changes/ Ideas for the Future • Duel in the Pool type local event – 3-4 teams compete/points system • Based on club size/pro-rata? Some clubs are much stronger so would need to be fair.

• Regional Competition – Mixing teams? Selection?

• Competition for Clubs – Mixing up clubs/inter-club?

• Social Aspects • National Relay Event – fun/participation

Please select the most appropriate reasons regarding why you think people stop attending your club

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree nor Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Response Count

They don't not enjoy it anymore, it became boring

15

10

3

3

0

31

They do not have enough time

13

12

5

1

0

31

Training not flexible to work/school schedule

13

12

3

2

1

31

Didn't feel they was progressing

11

14

5

1

0

31

Multiple training sessions a week is too much of a commitment

10

13

3

4

1

31

Didn't like the coach

10

11

7

1

2

31

Chose to take part in another activity

9

17

3

2

0

31

None of there friends were involved in swimming

9

12

6

2

2

31

Training sessions too intense

7

15

7

1

1

31

Swimming is too competitive

6

10

9

4

0

29

Being involved in swimming is too expensive

4

17

6

3

1

31

There are no facilities nearby

4

5

7

11

4

31

Not enough competition at there level

3

5

15

6

2

31

Health reasons restrict them

2

12

14

2

0

30

Answer Options

Other (please specify)

Other (please specify)

Other (please specify)

Other (please specify)

Other (please specify)

2 31

change of coach meant a lot of people dropped out cos they were no longer familer and close Not enough social activities in the club

2 31

Can you tell us anything that you would like to change in your discipline that you think would help keep people in your club?

• • • • • • • • • •

more fun More training sessions because we only train for 2 and a half hours less pressure to do well Maybe more older meets because it's usually for younger. more social activities Do more social events together.

Have more fun days out with the swim team & more gatherings with other clubs More trips away Make it more interesting Be better at being a team

• • • • •

•

Arrange something for when you reach a certain age to attend. E.g lifeguard course The sessions are repetitive and their are little rewards if you dont compete.

I would like a better variety of sessions and sets Improve the size of the club as we are quite a small team which may put people off. keep the maybe not so great swimmers still involved and not push them to the one side because of their lack of skill More time for more squads at different levels

Next Steps • Work with Young leaders • Arrange a follow up meeting • Work With Partners if additional training needed • Support and encourage young leaders to do more in there clubs.

Long Term Sustainability • Support from Scottish Swimming • Alternative funding streams inc sportscotland.

• Both ETC and Youth Scotland plan to apply for funding to do more similar programs with Governing Bodies • Ask clubs to pay for places if.

All have been extremely positive so far.

• Already activity happening and more in the pipeline

Group Discussion 1. Have you heard anything today that you would now do differently in you club (top 3) 2. Do you have any other ideas or has your club tried anything that has proven successful?