As the world implements unprecedented measures to combat corona-virus disease (COVID-19), sporting associations and clubs are unable to operate in the same way they did six months ago. With
58% of the Australian Population participating in organised sport, there is a lot of adults and children who due to closures of facilities, organised training and competition are not engaging with their sporting clubs in their usual way.
With limited skills and resources to implement new ways to keep their community-engaged, what can a grassroots sporting club do to continue to provide a community, create value and ensure engagement? I recently put forward a range of suggestions to my kayak club and thought that the ideas might be useful to other sporting organisations and clubs.
COVID-19 has impacted kayaking and canoeing in Victoria, Australia with the shut down of club facilities, competitions cancelled/postponed, and we had the unfortunate misunderstanding around if paddling was exercise or not, and if it was something we could or couldn't do.
Many of these ideas focus on membership retention, positive positioning in the community as the desired outcomes.
Run training sessions virtually
One of the easiest things you can do is have a qualified trainer or coach deliver a program of body-weight exercises and drills appropriate to your sport via a virtual group chat.
This could be done via:
Share links to free online workouts
Not all clubs have qualified PTs at their disposal to create at home workout and training plans. However, there are quite a few options online that can easily be shared with members. You can also take this a step further by doing the workouts as a group virtually or encouraging members to share how they are finding the exercises.
Here are a few options that I have found useful in my training:
- Les Mills is offering a 30-day FREE trial, for over 800 programs: www.signup.lesmillsondemand.com/friendsandfamily
- Nike Training Club: www.nike.com/au/ntc-app
- XPTLife is digital coaching experience built on the cutting-edge training lifestyle of big wave surfer and innovator, Laird Hamilton and former professional athlete, Gabrielle Reece: www.xptlife.com
- Core Advantage's Athlete Lock Down is a free resource designed to be used by athletes of all sports, and levels of competition as a way of staying fit, keeping up the gains and preparing for when the lockdown ends: www.coreadvantage.training/athlete-lock-down
- Chris Hemsworth's app Centr is offering six weeks of free membership: www.centr.com/join-
us
- Rumble is sharing cardio and body weight workouts on IGTV: www.instagram.com/doyourumble/channel
- Orangetheory is now uploading new at-home 30 minute workout routines daily: www.orangetheory.com/en-au/member-communication-regarding-coronavirus
- Barry's is rolling out complimentary, twice-daily IGTV Barry's at-home workouts: www.instagram.com/barrys/channel
- Lululemon are hosting free Instagram Live sessions that feature yoga, do-anywhere workouts, meditation, and self-care tips: www.instagram.com/lululemonausnz
- Adidas have launched a training app where you get 3 months full access to training plans, workouts, 230+ exercises and more: news.adidas.com/running/keeping-the-hometeam-healthy--active-and-motivated
Run a competition
Surfing NSW are will holding an online clip surfing competition powered by
Liveheats, the
‘NSW Junior Web Surfing Titles’. However you might simply want to have your members submit their results/videos to a Facebook post or via a Google form, and the winner(s) could receive a prize or even just recognition. Competitions could be anything from something physical such as doing a 5km run, being able to do a drill/trick or maybe it is even how best do they display their medals or trophies. This could be a way to keep your club sponsors engaged as well, they might be the prize giver, a judge or the competition could revolve around their product or brand.
Help members up-skill
Sharing links to online training resources and encouraging members to share how they are finding the resources helpful. Links could be shared via social media, posted as a resource on your website, or sent out to members via club e-newsletters. Members could even virtually connect to take part in the learning together.
E-learning options:
Nutritional advice
Encourage members to share recipes (video or written). Recipes could be for foods suitable for post-training, the night before competition, pre-training, or just something tasty to eat. If you have a nutritionist involved in your club or maybe a chef at a local restaurant who is a sponsor, this is a great way to get them involved and connecting with your club members.
Useful links:
Set up a group coffee/tea and chat time
Set a time and invite members to get together and enjoy a virtual cup or coffee or tea and have a good chat.
This could be done via:
I've been running something similar weekly for those interested in
marketing, and sport and fitness.
What to watch
Through many of the options available, you can virtually watch films and videos together:
Provide members support and guidance
Share links to support options. These might be grants, government support, financial assistance, mental health advice ect. When it comes to grants and funding applications for individuals running virtual workshops and providing advice on how to maximise their chances of being successful is a great way to show you care about their success.
Useful links for grants and funding:
Useful links for mental health support:
- Lifeline: call 13 11 14 for this Australia-wide crisis support and suicide prevention service.
- Kids Help Line: 1800 55 1800 for free counselling for young people between the ages of five and 25.
- Mensline Australia: 1300 78 99 78 for this free telephone support service for men with family and relationship issues.
- beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 for support for issues relating to anxiety and depression help.
- myCompass: an online self-help program for people experiencing mild-to-moderate anxiety and depression.
- Online Clinic: an anonymous assessment tool for common mental health conditions that provides you with a personalised report to discuss with your GP.
Rent or loan out equipment
With home gym equipment rushing out the doors at sporting good stores, there a possibly a few of your club members that could benefit from being able to borrow the equipment within your club rooms that are currently not being used. You may want to charge a bond to ensure the return of the equipment or maybe look at charging a small rental fee. If you are sponsored by a gym, they may be running a similar offering that you could forward onto your members.
If your club would like further assistance or guidance on how to implement any of the above ideas please feel free to connect with me at info@nicoletattersall.com.
As more tools and resources become available I'll continue to add to this list. Please feel free to share any ideas you may have below in the comments.
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