Lifelong Sport

In Dec 2024 Australian Sailing released its annual Clubs Survey, which had an impressive 42%of clubs respond. Here is the link to the full article but read on to see a summary of the top challenges faced by clubs, Australian Sailing’s top recommendations and some further recommendations that I make that can help all clubs to increase participation.

https://www.sailing.org.au/news/2024-club-survey-insights-

Top 5 Challenges face by Clubs:

1. On-water participation: Clubs face difficulties in helping members confidently engage in on-water activities.
2. Attracting new members: Drawing public interest to sailing and converting it into club membership is a critical issue.
3. Recruiting and retaining on-water volunteers: Ensuring volunteers feel valued and supported is essential for maintaining a sustainable volunteer base.
4. Retention of existing members: Encouraging members to remain active and satisfied in their sailing journey poses ongoing challenges.
5. Funding for infrastructure and maintenance: Clubs often struggle to secure sufficient resources for upgrades and repairs.

Australian Sailing’s Recommendations

1. Addressing On-water Participation Challenges
   • Encourage confidence through structured Participation Programs.
   • Promote inclusivity across demographics via initiatives like SheSails.
   • Use Australian Sailing’s Participation Hub for planning and resources.
2. Attracting New Members
   • Host Discover Sailing Days to introduce the public to the sport.
   • Become a Discover Sailing Centre to provide professional training.
   • Leverage marketing tools and programs such as Sail Pass to convert interest into memberships.
3. Volunteer Recruitment and Retention
   • Foster volunteer engagement through proper communication and training.
   • Utilize resources like the Volunteer Management checklist and Officials Hub.
   • Recognize contributions via awards and initiatives like Thank a Volunteer.
4. Retention of Existing Members
   • Focus on enriching member experiences with coaching and participation programs.
   • Follow diversity and inclusion frameworks to ensure all members feel supported.
5. Securing Infrastructure Funding
   • Work with State Club Support Officers for guidance.
   • Access tools like the Infrastructure Development Toolkit and Australian Sports Foundation resources for tax-deductible donations.

Key Recommendations for Clubs:

• Stay informed about Australian Sailing’s resources and upcoming projects via newsletters and forums.
• Actively communicate feedback to Australian Sailing to help shape future initiatives.
• Keep open lines of communication with members, committees, and Australian Sailing.

My recommendations and takeaways.

What I really love about what Australian Sailing is doing providing a huge amount of resources for clubs to tap into. Most people don’t get to see or appreciate it, but as someone who has been head coach of a few different clubs here in Australia, I’ve been privy and have utilised the resources. A lot.

That being said there are a few other recommendations that Australian Sailing could make, in my opinion.

1. Support and teach clubs to track and understand player/member retention. Knowing your payer age (not the age of the players, but how long they have been a player at your club) is an important metric for understanding how successful you are being at retaining your members. Is it decreasing or increasing year on year? As we’ve spoken about here and here, it takes time to develop a persons love for the sport, so if we can’t keep them in the sport for very long then we will be standing still, replacing last years members with this year new intake.
2. Help clubs to understand how to track asset utilisation. By looking at how the are being utilised we can spot opportunities to create greater access to the sport, possibly even opportunities for people who are otherwise priced out of the sport. Or conversely the clubs might be able to derive additional revenue through greater utilisation, fee charging courses or pay per use scenarios. Either way the club benefits through greater access for more members or increased return on asset.
3. Clubs need to understand how to create cheap versions and access for players. Sport (like everything) is only getting more expensive and there are times when this is driven by the parents, there are times when this is driven from within the club, but there are definitely ways we can reduce the cost to play if we are prepared to do things a little differently and think outside the box a bit. One very simple example is a football club in Sweden called Gefle IF. Every Saturday night, they open up their facility, bring out the goals and invite anyone from 13–21 to turn up and play. There is no fee, nor is there any requirement to have any prior knowledge or experience. Just turn up, meet some new people and be active. What a great way to introduce new people to the sport and the club.

Conclusion

Most of the findings of the survey by Australian Sailing are common to many sports. Most clubs are volunteer run and are trying their best to make it cheap and accessible, trying to increase participation and manage assets within a given budget.

The support of a peak body is critical to aiding clubs in achieving this and the recommendations contained above are applicable to all clubs to utilise to solve these challenges.

There are always other ideas out in the world that we may not have thought of. If you’ve got a good idea about how clubs, of any sport, can make access cheaper, or increase participation, please share it here so we can all together support each other to build our club and bring more people out into our community.

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If you enjoyed this article, you will love my book: For the Love of Sport: How to cultivate a love of sport and create players for life.