SWIMMING POOLS
GLL has invested in fun equipment to enable water-based assault courses that appeal to teenagers and families
We use the pool for other forms of exercise such as aqua circuits… The additional cost of an instructor is more than offset by the guaranteed attendance
day. We review the programme every 14 weeks, like the fitness industry, and always introduce something new.” Knowing the usage has helped both
operators to expand certain areas. For example, 1Life increased the number of sessions it offers for Muslim ladies, from once a month to once a week, based on demand. Sheffield City Trust split the pool during its child swimming lessons so parents could do some lanes – a great way of optimising the use of the pool and bringing in a different user group. And although early evening is busy,
there are times when the pool is barely used. Friday night and Sunday nights are commonly dead periods, so Sheffield City Trust has hooked in teenagers and young adults with a disco on Friday nights, with subtle lighting, dry foam and food colouring to dye the water. Meanwhile 1Life reached out to community groups and clubs to offer niche activities, including a disability group, scuba diving club and canoe club.
Innovation While the swimming industry is mired in tradition, things are beginning to change. To drive the industry forward, Mark Haslam, group swimming manager at Places for People Leisure, says it’s important to have a swim manager or
aquatics manager in place who can champion the pool, identify the issues and create a strategy. A funding manager is also an asset – someone who can tap in to funding to put on sessions for certain groups, such as the BME population. The Aquatics Centre in London,
which opened to the public in March last year, is one facility not held back by tradition. “Because it’s new, there are no strongly entrenched user groups or programmes, so no-one gets upset if we try something different,” says GLL’s managing director Mark Sesnan. One of the revolutionary changes GLL
has introduced at the Aquatics Centre is running school swimming lessons in crash courses, whereby school pupils come every day for a week. “We’ve found this has far better results in terms of children learning to swim than if they come once a week for a term and then do nothing in between. It’s easier for the school to sort out transportation, the kids like it, and attendance and results are better,” says Sesnan. He adds that GLL takes school
swimming very seriously, because if people can’t swim they won’t go on to be customers. For this reason, any children who still can’t swim after coming with the school are offered free top-up courses.
62 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital Clarke says pool operators also need
to make sure they have development pathways in place, so those who show potential can move on to train with elite squads or branch out into other sports such as diving or water polo. In addition, swimming is a very diverse sport that doesn’t stop at the point you can do 50 lengths: pools could be running lessons priming people for sports such as surfing and open water swimming.
New formats Following the lead of the fitness industry, a number of operators are starting to introduce more classes and formats into swim programming, broadening the appeal and tempting in health swimmers. Parkwood Leisure introduced Swimfit,
the ASA’s circuits class, to all of its pools last month. Marketing manager Graeme McLennan says: “We introduced Swimfit to further engage our swimmers and hook them in for another weekly session. We want to grow swimming participation by growing membership and by finding new ways of encouraging people to use the pool more often.” Places for People is also breaking
down the lane mentality and is repositioning the pool as another exercise area. “Swimming has always been seen as a sport, but we’re now
February 2015 © Cybertrek 2015
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