Starting a tri club
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2012-09-04 1:58 PM |
Extreme Veteran 668 , Minnesota | Subject: Starting a tri club I was curious as to how hard it would be to start/operate a tri club. I've never been part of one before and have no idea as to what level of commitment it involves. I live in a very rural area and I found maybe 5 to 10 people within a 30 mile radius that did a local race (only one). There is a bike/kayak store that put that tri on but not sure if they would be willing to sponsor and/or run a club. As nice as it is to train in crystal clear lakes and have nice roads to bike and run on this is one of the biggest drawbacks to living in a rural area....not being able to hang with other athletes. |
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2012-09-04 2:26 PM in reply to: #4394823 |
Expert 1224 Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa. | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club It's certainly a challenge. Anytime a new club / organization is started it all depends on the founding fathers to keep it going. I wish I had better advice for you but the first thing I would do is reach out to those in the sport that you know to see if there is interest in getting one started. If there is, then figure out what needs to happen. Name the group. Should you create a formal organization that has by-laws, articles, Tax ID#, Board of Directors, etc? How do you engage the other sports (Local cycling, running, swimming clubs)? How do you get sponsors? Why are they sponsoring? What benefits do they get out of it (advertising, free membership, etc)? Is there a cost to be a member? This community will probably have better advice for you, but I was part of the formation of a different purpse group (young professionals) and it was fun starting it, but hard keeping it going. The more popular this sport becomes, the more likely you will have people join though. Good luck!
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2012-09-04 2:53 PM in reply to: #4394891 |
Alpharetta, Georgia | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club siouxcityhawk - 2012-09-04 2:26 PM fun starting it, but hard keeping it going. Very true. Gotta have a value to offer to members (training groups, discounts, education, etc.) - which will probably be different for every club. |
2012-09-04 3:19 PM in reply to: #4394823 |
Extreme Veteran 2098 Alberta | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club What you may want to start with is an informal group. Plan some group activities. I contacted our provincial(state) association about it. There were some regulations that needed to be met. There are also insurance issues as well. |
2012-09-04 3:29 PM in reply to: #4394823 |
Extreme Veteran 668 , Minnesota | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club Thanks for the insight. Some good suggestions here and some things I didn't even think about. |
2012-09-05 7:43 AM in reply to: #4394823 |
Master 2500 Crab Cake City | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club I suggest going to the "races" section at the top of BT and look at different states. On the left hand side they have a link for Tri clubs in that state and you can check out the links to the club pages and see what kind of things they offer their members, schedule of training, prices, etc. You should be able to gain some valuable information from that. Wish you the best. |
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2012-09-05 2:49 PM in reply to: #4394823 |
Veteran 513 | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club Thanks for this post. I was thinking the same thing, cause if a group of people wearing the same kit would be considered a club and would ten be subject to all the fun legal stuff.
I am only saying this cause I know too many people that begin to be put off by club politics and stuff like that. I know one club by me has many people that are great, but much of the club has started to focus more on the cross fit area rather than racing tris. I was kind of put off by this and this division where you feel guilty for taking to one side or the other. I just wanted to start an unofficial group with a comical name and stuff (Fat Mans Tri Club) and try to get fast food logos put on the kit...but you get that whole legality issue and such. Good luck with your ventures and let us know how it goes. |
2012-09-05 6:14 PM in reply to: #4394955 |
Extreme Veteran 646 | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club lisac957 - 2012-09-04 2:53 PM siouxcityhawk - 2012-09-04 2:26 PM fun starting it, but hard keeping it going. Very true. Gotta have a value to offer to members (training groups, discounts, education, etc.) - which will probably be different for every club. x2 This is what has happened to my club, and I am definitely at fault for it (partially because I moved out of the area mid-season while I was president). Still, I had all these great ideas for socials, but after the first few completely flopped, I lost motivation and gave up. I'm not proud of it, and luckily the club has a pretty strong online presence, and we get a lot of people posting group workouts, asking questions about triathlon, and coordinating race attendance. The meeting/social/non-training side of it is pretty much non-existent. If I were to start a club now, I would start out organically, as a training group, and not lay on all the expectations of an organized club. Unless, as lisa states, we could offer some concrete and compelling benefit for membership, such as coaching, free merchandise, or reimbursement for race entry. That all, of course, is expensive, and requires someone aggressively seeking sponsorship. |
2012-09-06 2:06 PM in reply to: #4394823 |
Expert 692 Boca Raton, FL | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club 3of my friends and I started a club 5 years ago. It was pretty much a second job. I finally left the board since i already own a business and it was way to time consuming. I would suggest maybe starting a meet up group and then see if there are a few people who want to actually go into making a full club. It takes a lot of work keeping it going and a lot for people to make it happen...our club has really thrived in the community and we are a strong close knit group with over 150 members. There are a lot of things to take into consideration before starting a club..what do you want to provide to members, whats the goal of the club, what activities do you want to provide, training opportunities, etc.. We have sponsors, weekly training opportunities, mock tris before big races, happy hours, other social events thru the year, so people need to be in charge of it all. Its a great thing to do, but like I said, it was a second job |
2012-09-06 8:50 PM in reply to: #4394823 |
Regular 266 Ocala, FL | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club Our local "club" is very informal, kind of like what has been mentioned before. Some guys locally started a facebook group as a way for local triathletes to talk. Every so often some of us meet for training sessions. We all migrate together at races. A LBS that is active in triathlon and holds triathlon clinics and practice races joined it and it steadily grows. It doesn't have any formal organization, therefore no politics. I'd say this is probably the best way to start and let it develop into what it needs to be to fit the people involved. Our group is TriOcala |
2012-09-07 7:02 AM in reply to: #4394955 |
Resident Curmudgeon 25290 The Road Back | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club lisac957 - 2012-09-04 2:53 PM siouxcityhawk - 2012-09-04 2:26 PM fun starting it, but hard keeping it going. Very true. Gotta have a value to offer to members (training groups, discounts, education, etc.) - which will probably be different for every club. Just curious what efforts you put forth to facilitate and implement those ideas? I belong to a small, very active service organization that has an informal motto of "Successful implementation of your idea is your responsibility." Any member who has a reasonable idea for an activity, service project or fundraiser is welcome to run with it, as long as they take responsibility and provide the effort the club will back them to the extent of its resources. I've run a tri club for several years now, helped found it, then inherited control of it about four years ago. I've grown it from 40 members to over 100. We're very active at races and in the Tri community, and have won the USAT Regional Club Competition in three of those four years. Biggest challenge I've had is getting members involved in running the club, or even individual activities. For the first three years the only ideas, changes, new activities that have been put forth have been the ones I came up with and implemented. Over the years I made numerous pleas for more involvement, ideas, any kind of input from the members without a lot of response. Finally this year I announced I would maintain only the shell of a club and any of the current or new activities would have to be managed by members. Only then did a few members step up and take over those tasks and form an advisory board to assist me. Sponsors have never been a problem. In fact we build up such a surplus that we didn't even pursue sponsorships this year. Starting informally and seeing what develops is a great approach. USAT is a great resource for starting a club, especially if you wish to be affiliated with that organization. Here's their "How to Start a Club" manual. Be happy to share my experiences and answer any specific questions you may have. |
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2012-09-07 7:34 AM in reply to: #4394823 |
Regular 86 | Subject: RE: Starting a tri club In my past experience, you will be far better off either joining a tri club that has been operating for a while or just try your best to train with friends. I have a "club" that is a group on facebook and we post when and where we are training in hopes that others will join us. I would do that first before I tried to get sponsors or club dues started. |