The number of racquetball courts a club has will obviously impact programming possibilities. A good average is from four to eight courts. Tournaments need at least four, and with three or fewer, the programming potential for leagues, round robins, open court time, lessons and clinics is diminished.
Staffing
Racquetball director. The person responsible for the development of the racquetball program needs to be motivated and enthusiastic and have strong organizational skills. He/she should have, or be willing to attain, some form of recognized racquetball professional training (AmPRO offers such programs). The racquetball director should only be responsible for racquetball programs — not three or four different club activities. Public relations skills and an ability to create press releases and coordinate a marketing program are helpful assets.
The director position commands a reasonable base salary with some type of stipend based on results. A good director can increase club income from lessons, leagues, court time, membership sales related to racquetball, membership retention related to racquetball, tournament revenues and pro shop racquetball-related sales. Take into account such income-increasing potential when hiring a racquetball director.
Support staff. The support staff should include certified teaching professionals and motivated assistants to help with programs and event operation. The part-time assistants can help with program planning, lead generation, program operational functions and event logistics. The support staff and the teaching professional staff can both derive income from soliciting tournament or event sponsorships from local businesses through commission-based agreements.
Team building. The final component of staffing is to create a team atmosphere. This involves making all staff members aware of every program offered, and knowledgeable enough to provide members with information on them. Far too many clubs lose opportunities simply because a staff member is unaware of an event or program.
Your staff must want to be proactive. If staff members feel that knowing about programs is a waste of their time, any initiative in this domain will be lost. The first step in team building is to be certain that you have a motivated staff with the desire to help in all aspects of your club.
Regularly scheduled staff meetings are good ways to motivate employees. Meetings should be used to update employees on progress and to train and plan for upcoming programs. Obviously some staff members will be less interested than others in attending these meetings. To motivate everyone, stress the positives related to attendance, and then make the meetings fun and interesting, and include refreshments. You may also want to give awards such as “employee of the week.”
Be sure to leave time for questions, comments and new ideas. Your service staff may have some excellent suggestions since they are the ones “on the front line” every day.
Another key element to team building is to motivate your staff to play racquetball. If staff members actually play, they may be more interested in what’s happening with club programs and the sport in general. Someone who is participating in what they are promoting will make a much more genuine plea for the sport.
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