Why even bother reading the weekly news?

This weekend all the usual sessions are running.... and on the positive news front we have five competitors off to the World Champs...... In Budapest next weekend will be Poppy Holmes, Claire Nichols, Brian Grierson and Chris Goodwin. In addition long standing STC member Marius Kwint is off to the ITU Duathlon World Champs in Edinburgh this weekend. All the very best and we look forward to hearing how it goes! 

On the less good news front the committee works hard to try and keep the club running smoothly. You turn up, the pools are booked, we have a regular Saturday ride and I try to get a weekly news out every week.  Almost invariably this gets ZERO response.  In addition to mentioning it in the weekly news, I also sent out at least two emails about the Tim Wilks memorial day (one of which was direct I think) and so far have got replies from about 42 people out of 125. And 4 of the 38 confirmed attendees are not even STC members.  Let's be charitable and assume 30 people never saw the email (due to spam filter, email changed etc).  That still leaves under 50% of you who have quite probably seen the email and just not bothered to reply. Interestingly the number of people who have replied is almost the same as the number on the current merit table (have not cross checked the names).  Which makes it one third Southampton Triathlon Club, and two thirds a swimming club with swimmers who even if offered a chance to do a short simple event with hours of rest between each one (in memory of a great guy) don't reply to numerous emails and quite possibly have never done a triathlon and don't plan to. Which is odd for someone in a triathlon club.

Sorry for the negative tone, but as you can see I am feeling pretty frustrated about the apathy that seems to prevail. Constructive comments about how we can improve YOUR club are very welcome. Feel free to comment or to email me direct.  Or come and help the committee if you want to improve things.

Julian

The people I have confirmed for the Tim Wilks day are listed here.  4 others replied but cannot make it



Rich	Alderson
David	Ardley
Helen	Argall
Joe	Argall
Nigel	Argall
Nick	Austin
Jason	Barkes
Ryan	Blake
Maria	Bunce
Luke	Cole
Linda	Connor
Andrew	Eva
tbc	Eva
Jan	Goble
Chris	Goodwin
Brian	Grierson
Glenn	Hobbs
Poppy	Holmes
Karl	Jeffery
Peter	Jordan
Marius	Kwint
Darryl	Marcus-Hanks
Julian	McCarthy
Sam	Morton
Sue	O'Dowd
Rose	Parkhouse
Caroline	Price
Alex	Price
Andrea	Reynolds
Esther	Rousay
Georgia	Star
Kelvin	Storey
Len	Such
Jane	Tooze
Ian	Wells
Charlie	White
Tim	Yeandle

Comments

[Len Such]

Hi Julian

I read your dispondent article this morning, which got me thinking about why so many members don't appear to participate in club or tri activities. And you know what, I can't think of a single reason!

I don't think club apathy is unique to STC; my hunch is that it is quite common. I suspect that you are right in that actually we just have a club of 30 hard core but very friendly triathletes with the rest being interested spectators. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing as the usual suspects are a great bunch and seem proud to represent STC, as I do.

I hope this thread leads to some useful discussion and ideas about how we can get more members to get involved, and I will certainly give it some thought over the next few days.

On a very small positive note, I hereby volunteer to look after the Winter Merit table if there are no other takers!

Len

[Kelvin Storey]

Wouldnt even bother getting stressed julian. The list of 40 or so "hardcore triathletes" is probably all you will get. The majority as you point out are not interested in triathlon and probably have no intention of doing one even if you paid them too. On a positive note, thanks to those people our swim fees are low and we just might learn to improve our technique from them. So positive all round as far as i can see.

[Julian McCarthy]

Thanks for the many comments I received directly by email, including some constructive ideas on how to improve things. I would ask that those of you who have not yet replied about the Tim Wilks day to please do so asap (either yes or no).

Thanks to Len for offer of running the merit table too.

Julian