Any suggestions from anyone? Here's the deal:
We started 5 years ago with 27 gung ho masters swimmers--of very mixed ability. There are 2 of us left standing...
We work out with the kids who are trying to maintain fitness for highschool swim season or are trying to get into more challenging age group workouts. Again mixed ability.
$173 per trimester
4 workouts a week..ALL at 7:45 pm.
The triathlon group in town has 60 + members.
Triathletes get discouraged because of the stroke work
One of our coachs is great, the other is only fair.
6 coaches in 5 years.
What are we doing wrong? The program is on life support!
PS: Personally, I am never going to stop, ever.
Any suggestions from anyone? Here's the deal:
What are we doing wrong? The program is on life support!
PS: Personally, I am never going to stop, ever.
The first item may have a lot to do with it. That's pretty late to be working out. The second and third are also big issues.
4 workouts a week..ALL at 7:45 pm.
One of our coachs is great, the other is only fair.
6 coaches in 5 years.
Is there a way for you to contact the folks who used be members? They may be able to give you solid reasons why they quit.
Good luck! Glad to hear you're not dissuaded.
I don't know how many lanes you get or if your coaches are OK with this, but offer more than 1 option during each workout -- for example, one oriented towards freestyle/tri-crowd and one oriented towards "pure swim" crowd who are OK with stroke work. The sets could actually be largely the same, just change intervals and maybe add in some extra stuff for the free/tri crowd.
I think the tri crowd is your best bet for beefing up the program, so make sure you're catering to them.
I have no idea what pricing is like for that area, but ~$43 per month (assuming you meant 4 month trimesters) for only four workouts a week seems steep. Granted, we have better pool access out west, but I pay $60 per month and have access to 11 workouts a week year round, plus an additional 5 during the winter months.
When I travel around the country, drop-in fees (when there are some) seem to hover around $7 per workout. Can you get your fees to $30 per month? would that make a difference?
Your replies are great. I thought so. Our workout time is horrible...bed time for children, people's body temps are dropping...everyone is tired. You are confirming my suspicions.
Most of the people left because of the workout time...it used to be 8-9pm!
I agree with you guys that the answer is with the Tri crowd. I could coach them myself and guarantee time drops, but then I couldn't workout. Most triathletes are terrified of masters workouts so it would have to be completely non-threatening. (We could start off with a nice warm up like 10 x 100 descend or 1000 for time...hee hee) Kidding, I'm kidding.
Hadn;t considered the price problem....
# The triathlon group in town has 60 + members.
# Triathletes get discouraged because of the stroke work
Suggestion: Get rid of the stroke work and spread the word. That's a good focus group to breathe new life into your program. With cold weather kicking in, bike season should be quieting down and indoor swimming should be ramping up.
In my experience the happiest masters groups at our Y were the ones who enjoyed the practices. About 90% of them have no intention of going to meets anyway. That's how and why our coaches have made the "swimming class" a successful part of the facility. We have a big triathlete base as well.
As others noted, that hour is a tough time block to offer a workout but every facility with age group teams seems to be under time limitations. Mornings would be much better.
Good Luck.
Sounds like you are narrowing down your focus a little, but I was wondering about the coaching turnover. Are most of your coaches "player-coaches" who swim in the workouts (and thus the turnover as they left) or are there actual coaches on deck?
