| IHRSA Report | Ask an Industry Leader
What are appropriate policies for children using a club? For instance, should we make parents sign a liability waiver or require parental supervision?
It’s very important for you to have a liability waiver and, beyond that, clear, written policies spelling out your requirements concerning children on the premises.
It’s essential that you provide a fun environment for kids so it will be obvious to parents that their offspring can have a quality experience at your club. At Universal Athletic, we ensure that by offering a wide range of exciting and engaging activities, such as a Kids Klub, Kidmazium, Kidz Night Out, Fun Factory classes, birthday parties, and special camps.
Some of the issues that you’ll have to address are age limitations, diapers, snacks, feeding times, and discipline guidelines, and you’ll need to be fair to everyone involved with respect to these and related matters. At our club, for example, youngsters are permitted to be in the kids’ area for a maximum of two hours at a time, and it’s just fair to enforce this rule; if a member gets sidetracked, we’ll page them to the kids’ area and remind them about this requirement.
You need to decide what your policies are, determine how you’re going to enforce them, communicate them clearly to members, and apply them consistently. —|
We’re planning on adding a pool and want to implement a full aquatics program, but we don’t know where to start. Do you have any suggestions?
Here are some steps to take and questions to ask:
• Create a checklist of questions to address with respect to the program’s objectives. • Visit other programs of interest in your area.
• Have an aquatics professional help facilitate the set-up and implementation.
• What type of pool are you adding? Shallow-water, deep-water, warm-water, lap pool, etc. Related factors will determine what you offer.
• Who’s your target audience? • Will you offer fee-based classes?
• What do you want to offer—group/private swimming lessons, competitive programs, and/or water aerobics classes, etc.?
• What certifications will be involved? Red Cross swimming lessons impose specific requirements. If you plan to implement your own curriculum, you’ll need a hiring and training strategy for staff.
• Will you have lifeguards on duty? How will they be trained and supervised?
• What sort of equipment will be required? Where will it be stored, and how will it be maintained? —|
THOMAS KULP CEO UNIVERSAL ATHLETIC CLUB LANCASTER, PA
WHITNEY BENEDETTI AQUATICS/ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR ROCHESTER ATHLETIC CLUB ROCHESTER, MN
Editor’s Note: Visit
ihrsa.org/industryleader to read responses to more than 100 questions such as these, or to submit a question of your own to be answered. —|
108 Club Business Internat ional
| APRIL 2012 |
ihrsa.org
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