Club Growth
One of the primary factors in the rapid growth in the membership of US Fencing over the past five and ten years has been the explosive expansion in the number of clubs across the country. Clubs are, of course, where most members get their first “fencing experience” and where most regularly go to practice, learn, and improve.
As the number of clubs has been growing, so to has the typical level of professionalism. More and more clubs each year are expanding into dedicated spaces and larger spaces. For an increasing number of people coaching is becoming a vocation, not merely an avocation. This, in turn, helps improve the environment in which our athletes train and develop.
While most of the factors that go into the decision to open, expand, or professionalize a fencing club are, of necessity, local, there are tremendous opportunities for US Fencing to lend a hand, reduce barriers to entry, and otherwise help support these efforts. Much of what is going to be required by a new club in
The US Fencing website should contain a clubs section to house these materials and links to other resources. Generic sample documents should be created, as well as examples from actual other clubs that are willing to share their creative output. Not only should this include business plans for a variety of approaches to club building, but also examples of all of the dozens of forms and documents that otherwise each club would have to create on their own: Registration forms, travel agreements, newsletter templates, calendars, job descriptions, medical history questionnaires, codes of conduct, etc. Templates can be provided for business cards, posters, flyers for a variety of types of events, letterhead, and fax cover sheets.
Now, of course, much of this is general small business information and not fencing specific. Great! That makes it just that much easier for the material to be generated and collated. The goal is to bring into one easy-to-find place the materials that new or existing fencing clubs might need. It need not be the only source for such material – indeed, it never will be – but rather A convenient location.
Some of the materials will be fencing specific. We should strive to develop one or more “Fencing-Club-in-a-Box” type products. A solution that, with minimal customization, allows someone to get a basic club started. A starting point would be a document such as this one from USA Triathlon about how to start a club. Additional materials could include how to source equipment and establish relationships with suppliers, how to locate space in which to house the club and the basics of negotiating a lease, suggestions for recruiting new members from the local communities, and links to other resources such as those mentioned previously.
We should also work to develop or gather examples of professional PR materials with permissions to modify and use them. In addition to flyers and posters this should include press release information (both sample templates and tips on how best to present such releases to the local media), “giveaway” marketing materials that can be customized with a club’s name and logo, and, eventually, video components.
Beyond sample materials, the clubs section of the US Fencing webpage should also include general resources and act as a clearinghouse for information. There are many organizations out there that are already providing information which could be invaluable to new clubs or those that are trying to expand beyond the point where a single coach/owner/operator handles everything. We should provide links to organizations such as the US Small Business Administration, the Free Management Library, BoardSource, and other, similar, organizations.
Once created the sample materials library can be continually expanded with offerings and donated materials from existing clubs. USA Swimming provides a great example of what such a library of sample club documents could look like. Looking around the rest of the club area on the USA Swimming website will help give an concrete idea of the possibilities that US Fencing should be exploring.