Whatever climate your club is located in, summer months require different programming to keep members engaged. Whether your snowbirds fly back home, indoor players choose the sun and outdoor courts, or visitors frequent your vacation town, it is important to update programming and keep marketing your club and maintain or even grow your revenue.
Clubs of all sizes across the country have developed a variety of ways to keep their programming successful in any climate and demographic. Pickleball Club Magazine has compiled a list of strategies shared with us. We hope they will prove successful for your club too!
Offer League Incentives
When snowbirds return or the school year gets back into swing, normal patterns resume. For many clubs, this is one reason fall leagues are an easy sell and typically sell out in minutes. To encourage participation in summer clubs, early sign-up windows can be offered to current league members. This method can entice members who want to ensure their fall play is secure to participate in the summer and build a habit. Of course, setting a limit on the number of early registrants is a good idea so members aren’t alienated; it is also a great way to get members thinking about the future.
Start Youth Teams
Summer months bring more free time for everyone. Offering structured youth-play can be a win-win for the entire family. Whether you create teams within your club or partner with neighboring organizations, putting together a competitive play schedule can help children of all ages pick up a paddle and get hooked. If the club has run leagues or tournaments before, a slight shift to the structure will hopefully lead to fruitful play. As an added bonus, ensuring there are free courts for parents or older siblings to play on during practice times can encourage the entire family to stop in and dink around.
Schedule Activities
It seems simple enough, and yet in the everyday hustle and bustle of running a business, it’s easy to slip through the cracks. If looking through your bookings shows some slow time, fill it with something the whole family will enjoy. Create space for a movie and offer court time while Dodgeball or the soon-to-be-released film The Dink.
Offering a kids’ evening can also get families involved in a slightly different way. Putting together a supervised craft or movie night can allow members to drop off their kids for a few hours. Of course, before the main attraction, throwing in a bit of pickleball lessons can help them get interested as well. Follow it up with Whole Family Court Time in the next few days and you’ve added some new little dinkers!
Advertise/Post on Travel Pickleball Sites
It’s no secret that people hit the road in the summer. Grab some of that traffic by advertising your club on nearby pickleball sites, travel-based pickleball and vacation rental sites and speaking to local hotel concierges. A simple flyer advertising drop-in rates and maybe free or low-cost paddle rentals can add some bonus players to the mix. With pickleball racquets being so easy to transport, you can make it even easier for travelers to bring them by helping them plan a visit to your facility.
Along with bringing fresh faces to your courts, it’s always beneficial to remind current members about the benefits of playing outdoors. Many clubs offer more indoor space when players realize how nice it is to play in a climate and wind-controlled space.
Like death and taxes, seasonality in the pickleball world happens every year. Intentionally preparing for it can help turn a struggle into a success and positively impact your facility’s bottom line.
