Divers Numbers Down?

loctite

Just starting a thread to see how clubs or schools around the country are doing student / diver number wise.

I'm curious, with the growth in fitness and gym memberships has any of this transferred over to clubs and dive centres?

I know there is a pretty significant decrease in the centre I was working in but I am wondering are clubs reaping benefits of recession? Do new divers perceive clubs as a more cost effective way of training? Are clubs or centres retaining new divers?

This is not Commercial Vs Club thread. I'm just curious of how the sport is doing in Ireland.

howtomake

Well I'm not really the person to answer this as I've only been in my club for just a little over a year, but since no one else did and its been a bit 'zzzzzz' over here anyway.

There were 3 trainees last year, only 2 of us stuck with it, the other person was involved in a few sports so not enough time. This year there are 2 more so far, they seem like they'll stick with it. Other than that, the rest have been with the club ranging from 5+ to 25 years.

joeKel73

Our numbers are up this year, mainly due to increased club activity and dives I'd say.

I'm the training officer and we should have about 20 new members trained up to Novice level in the next couple of weeks. We've a big trip (50people) to Donegal next week so hope to get a lot of these Novices up to Trainees after their first 5 dives.

I think our numbers would have been much bigger this year if people had the cash to stick with it. We had higher than normal numbers at the start of the year (~80 doing initial swim test) but at each level of expense (logbooks, snorkel pack, semi-dry suits, weightbelts) we lost a few. It's normal enough for a college club to have a big initial number that drops as people try the club out. We have a few members who are just coming for the theory and pool work this year but hope to invest in a semi-dry for next year.

So the increased club activity and promotion has been counter-acting the recession effect to some extent and we're a bit up in numbers.

howtomake

foto joe wrote: »

Our numbers are up this year, mainly due to increased club activity and dives I'd say.

I'm the training officer and we should have about 20 new members trained up to Novice level in the next couple of weeks.

Wow you guys must have a BIG pool. I think I probably would've been too overwhelmed with all those new trainees . Then again diving off the west coast so much nicer than the east coast.

joeKel73

Well their training is spread out over the year. Weekly lectures and slowly filter them all through the pool training.

We share the pool and lectures with GSAC and there was a record 28 divers on SCUBA in the pool a few weeks ago...

yankinlk

We had around 30 enquires before Sept, Half that started out in lectures, slowly one by one we lost the normal amount throughout the year, and we are left with just under 10 trainees.
Our club membership has increased the last 3 years. We lost a few to the recession, and a few put off joining for the same reason.

We saw this coming a bit better than the (previous) government and have worked on cutting costs, keeping fees down, joining up with other clubs to save money - just about anything to keep the diving going.
Theory is if you can keep a diver beyond 3 years in the club, they could probably stay for a very long time (marriage, children and moving location come into play too). We have members from 50 days to 50 years.