Compasssport

[Mrs H]

Brilliant editorial Nick

[Paul Frost]

At last, someone with a high profile in the sport suggesting that we should target the over 40's.
There have been so many conversations about how we attract younger people, and that the oldies will have to "adapt" to the events that appeal to those younger.

[Mrs H]

But until the advent of the New Event Structure we haven't even been providing the courses to attract and develop the skills of older beginners and improvers as there has been no short technical progression. There is still work to be done even to achieve this objective.

[IanD]

Brilliant editorial Nick

Finally my postman has arrived so I can see what you are on about - and I agree.

But what about the HeatMax bandanas promoted in the accompanying flyer? Has anybody tried one? Do they work?

[NFKleanne]

still haven't got mine! Hopefully the postman will bring it tomorrow.

[SeanC]

Here's a study that support Nick's argument, it shows that sport/exercise participation has increased in the middle aged/older age group, but declined in the 16-29 age group. http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BSPS/p ... udhury.ppt

It's a bit technical so I've only skim read it, but is interesting in a few other ways.

- brits don't seem to be all couch potatoes - with over 40% taking regular exercise
- people exercise more now than 10 years ago.
- the very high percentage listing the gym as their main activity
- the middle classes do more exercies.

Personally I think if the sport spent more time promoting itself, and being more welcoming to newcomers through social stuff and coaching, then we could get lots more people of all ages out of the gym and into the forests (or parks or streets). The promotional stuff could be taylored to different demographics (and if you've only got time for one group targetting middle aged/older, middle class people would seem a good place to start).

[RJ]

.......Personally I think if the sport spent more time promoting itself, and being more welcoming to newcomers through social stuff and coaching, then we could get lots more people of all ages out of the gym and into the forests .......

Exactly!

It all depends on what the 'club' decides it wants to do. Perhaps the prime movers in the club are youthful fit runners, and they set a target of winning the JK Relay Trophy. Great! But it does narrow down the target audience for your advertising.

The sport is run by clubs..... clubs are run by groups of individuals. They collectively decide how they will use their 'resources' to promote their club and their orienteering. Good ideas have a habit of being noticed... and being copied.

As a sport we are making progress..... slow.... but it is happening. Participation and membership are increasing. There is no quick fix!

[Gonzo]

But why does a club have to limit itself to promoting to a particular market?

Look at Octavian Droobers BOC relay results.
1st in M/W60
1st in W40
1st in M14
1st in W14
1st in Mini Relay
......and they still managed 3rd in Mens' JK Trophy.

Do they have a wider age range in their catchment area? No.
Do they have better orienteering areas than anyone else? Definitely no.
Are they just lucky in the members they have? Bit of a coincidence!
Do they have more members than anyone else? Not as far as I know.
Maybe they promote themselves to more than one age group???

[Scott]

<cynicism>Maybe two-thirds of their medallists in the junior relays (and in the Men's Premier, for that matter) had parents/other older relatives who also happened to be competing at BOC.</cynicism>

Not that parents-with-young-families are not a valid target market - indeed, they are one the sport seems to target relatively well - but I can't really see it as evidence of "promoting themselves to more than one age group".

[Gonzo]

<cynicism>Maybe two-thirds of their medallists in the junior relays (and in the Men's Premier, for that matter) had parents/other older relatives who also happened to be competing at BOC.</cynicism>

I really wouldn't know but doesn't seem a bad thing to me. I have no conncection with the club and haven't lived in the Midlands for many years. It just seemed to be a statistical anomaly that could be thrown into the 'how do you promote your club' discussion.
Seems to me it is the same as in business. If you are positive about your product (sport) nad your staff are positive about your product then it rubs off on your customers and prospective customers. If you are negative about your product (sport) then who is going to buy?
There must be thousands of people in the UK who would really enjoy orienteering but probably don't know it even exists or what it is all about.

[Wayward-O]

<cynicism>Maybe two-thirds of their medallists in the junior relays (and in the Men's Premier, for that matter) had parents/other older relatives who also happened to be competing at BOC.</cynicism>

It's quite difficult for juniors to travel to events any distance from their home without their parents going too and it's unlikely that many non-orienteering parents would want to give up a whole weekend for their kid's sport (although some may do).

[gg]

The nicest thing from ODs success for me was the fact that at least 1 (possibly 2 or 3?) of the medal winning juniors started orienteering in schools in Warwickshire and Coventry before their families took up the sport. This is not confined to the medallists, there were at least 2 other OD families there with kids who started orienteering in school and introduced their parents, not the other way round. What OD have done is found a way not only to get orienteering off the ground in a lot of schools, but also taken the kids (and parents) out of the school into weekend and week night events, with specially put on coaching and the personal touch, approaching people directly, inviting them personally to join 'training groups' and 'junior teams'. Inviting parents along to junior trainings for the day out and letting them do the training too has worked a treat in some cases. I was involved in the project in the early stages, and Iain Embrey is doing a lot of stuff now, but there are too many OD people who give up their time for this to mention. We were organising a schools event once a month, with 10-20 OD volunteers each time.

The scheme is paying dividends, and hopefully it will continue.
As for the older generation, not sure about that success! Must just be all our quality areas... but at least they a) have kids, b) take their kids to events and training too!

[PMG]

A quick add up in the 6 Junior OD teams entered gives 9 Juniors with orienteering parents and 9 via schools.
2 Juniors also ran in the Men's & Women's Premier Teams.

Another boring stat is that of the 9 scorers when OD won the Yvette Baker in 2008, 7 came via the schools route.

The answer to promotion is to focus and not over stretch your resources.

Peter G

[graeme]

Interesting...

But why does a club have to limit itself to promoting to a particular market?
...
Look at Octavian Droobers

The answer to promotion is to focus and not over stretch your resources.

How many areas do OD have? It always seems to me they have loads of not-very-big, nice TD3-4 type areas, somehow ideal for introductory events and variety for the old stagers.

[Mrs H]

and juniors too I should think.

but people are missing the wood for the trees as far as OD are concerned - it's got far more to do with the club ethos which is welcoming, friendly and encouraging - with some expansive up front visible personalities who make things happen both competition wise and perhaps more importantly socially. The geographical centre on Coventry also helps in my estimation.

They are certainly well supplied with school youngsters and most significant with this is the link with KHVIII who - as far as I know - have a professional coach linking in to the club - which is well supported by the school and the club. What would happen if that link came to an end I'm not sure.