USMS, I want your help! In a nutshell: I'm the master's rep to the board of a cradle-to-grave swimteam. At our last board meeting, we discussed the need to reach out to those kids who finish age-group, but don't swim college, and are left with a giant swimming-shaped hole in their heart. For various reasons, they don't get it that masters is for them. I want to develop, or better yet, for someone skilled in this kind of thing to develop a pamphlet or fact sheet, or whatever it is that kids these days read, that describes Masters swimming to them. I want to describe how ferocious the level of competition is in their age groups. I want to dispel myths that it's just for oldsters like me. I want them to learn how challenging the workouts can be, how they can continue to improve, and that they need not be done with the sport they love.
Do any of you have something like this? Or can you suggest material to feed it?
THANKS!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk
Great thinking and great question. A couple of thoughts off the top of my head...
First... stop thinking paper. Few under 30 use it much anymore, so you have to figure out what software/apps they're using and get on those somehow. See if there is someone on your team who is tech savvy or who has kids...er... young adults in that age group who can help you navigate how to best communicate and reach that target bracket.
Find out where they "play". Are they doing triathlons now? Are they just at gyms playing basketball? Or are they in gyms to just work out? Consider looking at apartment complexes near gyms that have the target groups. Maybe even see if you can get info into some of the gyms at colleges nearby. There could be some dried up age-groupers who aren't on the college teams who would want to get back in.
And last, maybe work backwards. If you have mostly 40-50 year old members, start targeting those in their 30's, then work on getting some in their 20's. As people see faces of some their own age, they're probably more likely to come and stay.
Great thinking and great question. A couple of thoughts off the top of my head...
First... stop thinking paper. Few under 30 use it much anymore, so you have to figure out what software/apps they're using and get on those somehow. See if there is someone on your team who is tech savvy or who has kids...er... young adults in that age group who can help you navigate how to best communicate and reach that target bracket.
Find out where they "play". Are they doing triathlons now? Are they just at gyms playing basketball? Or are they in gyms to just work out? Consider looking at apartment complexes near gyms that have the target groups. Maybe even see if you can get info into some of the gyms at colleges nearby. There could be some dried up age-groupers who aren't on the college teams who would want to get back in.
And last, maybe work backwards. If you have mostly 40-50 year old members, start targeting those in their 30's, then work on getting some in their 20's. As people see faces of some their own age, they're probably more likely to come and stay.
