Motor Midgets...Tippy 'N Tappy Toes...Munchkin Manners...Creative Movement...Wader Gator II. If all you're offering your junior members are old-fashioned, swimming lessons and nursery games, then you're definitely behind the times. Creative children's pro gramming-ranging from fitness classes and sports days, to fun camps and educational activities -- is fast becoming a hot new trend. The opportunity that the children's market represents to health clubs is truly enormous: There are 64 million chil dren under the age of 17 years in the U.S., many of them with two working parents in desperate need of wholesome, organized activities for their offspring. It is, therefore, no surprise that the Washington, D.C.-based International Franchise Association (IFA) reports that instructional exer cise programs -- particularly those designed for children -- is the largest growth market for health and fitness franchises.
Increasingly, health clubs are viewing the children's market as an attractive opportunity. Because good kids' programs can not only help attract and retain family mem berships, but also generate extra revenues. The Flagstaff Athletic Club (FAC) in Flagstaff, Arizona, for instance, grossed $19,000 from its 12-week camp this summer. Chicago's Lakeshore Athletic Club hopes to pull in $50,000 on birthday parties alone next year. Some clubs, in fact, are building entire, stand-alone facilities for their children's programs.
The need for such fitness and recreational programming is obvious. As the 22-year-old, single, club member of the 1980s has turned into the 33-year-old, married-with-children member of the 1990s, the demand for family pro gramming has risen rapidly. Also on the rise is concern about the state of children's fitness. The typical 6-11-year-old watches more than 20 hours of TV per week, according to Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, of the Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. At least 30-35% of school-aged children are currently at risk for heart or circulatory disease. Some 20% are overweight -- up 40% from 1971-according to Dr. William Dietz, director of the Growth and Nutrition Clinic.
At first glance, the two Flagstaff Athletic Clubs in Flag staff, Arizona, wouldn't appear to be ideal locations for children's fitness programs.
After all, this mountain community, located two hours north of Phoenix, suffers from chronic unemploy ment. And there's already plenty of free activities for kids to enjoy out-side skiing, fishing, and hunting. In addition, the schools and the local country club offer their own, competing programs for kids.
But nevertheless, FAC has had tremendous success with its Youth Fitness Program, thanks, in a large part, to Gwen Engel, the youth activities and pool director for the clubs. Engel, who came to Flagstaff seven years ago when the children's program was little more than a nursery, has just the right blend of talent, experience, and education for the job. She's a liberal arts graduate with a degree in education who has a head for business, an appetite for fitness, and a love of children: exactly
at Floating Hospital at Boston's New England Medical Center.
Imaginative and productive children's health and fitness program ming is a serious void that health clubs have the opportunity to help fill. Which is why CBI has put together this package of ideas and advice to help you tap this growing market and navigate its unique challenges.
As Jim Garretson, a co-manager of FAC will tell you, this is no easy add-on; it requires planning, patience, ex pertise, and a lot of creativity. But as the following sections --a Q&A with children's programming expert Gwen Engel and profiles of clubs that have been successful with kids' program ming-will show you, the payoff is well worth it.
Lakeshore Athletic Club A Growing Family Market.
The decision to get into children's pro gramming three years ago wasn't a very difficult one for the 185,000-square-foot, Lakeshore Athletic Club in downtown Chicago.
The reason: Many of the club's 10,000 members were asking for it.
Like many other clubs, Lakeshore already had a nursery. But surveys showed that members wanted more.
"Many of our single members have married and now have families," says Diane Hess, Lakeshore's director of program development (see "The Programming Capital of The U.S.," CBI, May 1990, pg 28). "A few years ago, maybe 20% of our memberships were family memberships. Now it's around 38%. And these days, families want to use their free time to do things together because, usually, both the mother and father work. Coming to the club is something they can do together."
In response, Hess formed The Little People's Club, which offered two hours of arts, crafts, music, and a snack on Sunday mornings. In the beginning, five kids would show up. But as the word got around, the group swelled to 25. So Hess thought seriously about expansion.
She developed the Fit & Fun Kid's Club, a year-long program which is broken down into a number of 8- and 10-week segments, including summer and winter camps and programs over Christmas break.
The program booklet (which now has twice as many offerings as last year) reads a lot like an adult-education course catalog, with classes in music, ballet and jazz dance, arts and crafts, all kinds of fitness and exercise activities, and swimming lessons. There's also a mix of special events, such as a Video & Pizza Party, an Apple of Your Eye, apple picking event, and a Splash Bash, water-frolics party. Hess and her staff also throw birthday parties to which members can bring non-member guests.
The response has been tremendous. For example, attendance at the first, summer camp three years ago was 20; now it's 200. And it's not unusual for the club to entertain 300 kids on a given week. The birthday parties alone bring in $224-$400 each, and Hess ex pects them to generate as much as $50,000 next year.
"The parents here have a strong network," says Hess. "It's not unusual for one to haul in 11 kids."
Hess's biggest challenge has been integrating the kids into the day-to-day operation of the club. "The members weren't used to seeing the kids on a daily basis. It was a little disruptive to some members' routines." To help the kids blend in, Hess posts signs around the club to let people know when an area will be used. Programs are held on the sun deck, the kids use a back stairwell away from the restaurant, and many programs are held off-site or during non-prime-time hours. "There's a growing acceptance," Hess says.
The problem should be completely solved early next year, when three racquetball courts are removed to make room for a 4,800-square-foot, Kidsports center. Hess says Gary Seibert, the founder of Kidsports (see "Kids & Co."), will help with the de sign and equipment layout, but since Lakeshore already has its own program, it will use that one instead of Seibert's. "We want to create a space that the kids can call their own," says Hess. "Even the doors will have two sets of handles-one for adults, and one the kids can reach."
Bel Air Athletic Club Investing in Kids.
The Bel Air Athletic Club in Bel Air, Maryland, considers its 1,500 junior members very important. So impor tant, in fact, that when the club ex pands this fall-from its present 35,000 to 85,000 square feet -- its children's program will expand right along with the rest of the facility.
When the project is completed this month, new amenities will include not only two, new, basketball courts, an indoor running track, a women's workout room, and two aerobics rooms, but also 6,000 square feet devoted exclusively to children's activ ities. The space will house a Kidsports facility which will open in early 1992.
It is that kind of emphasis on build ing quality children's facilities and programs that has made Bel Air a suc cess in the children's market. In fact, the staff have been serious about children's fitness for quite a long time.
"We knew from the very beginning we would be a family-oriented club, because of our demographics," says Elaine Ralph, co-owner of the 11-year-old, 8,000-member facility located 25 miles outside of Baltimore. "These days, you've got two working parents who want to spend quality time with their kids. We give them a way to spend that quality time at our club."
At first, the club offered only a free, baby-sitting service, available on a drop-in basis, plus swimming lessons and a few, occasional, special events for kids.
But four years ago, the club intro duced its first, structured program for children. Wonder Kids consists of noncompetitive games and events which are designed to enhance social and cognitive skills while building en durance. In one game, staff members put Hoola Hoops on the floor and ask the kids to jump from circle to circle.
The one factor that all the games have in common, says Ralph, is that they emphasize fun and are noncompetitive.
"Children get so much of that in school and in organized sports. We want to include every child, not just the ones who are natural athletes."
The new, children's facility will be a welcome relief, Ralph says. On an average day, 75 children may use the club, with the number sometimes topping 100. "We had been using our multipurpose room for children's fit ness. But that room was also used for martial arts and exercise classes. It was difficult for the program to grow because other groups needed that space during prime time."
As of now, Ralph is still designing a reservation system and fee structure for the program. Why did they decide to go with a commercial package like Kidsports rather than developing their own pro gram in house? For several reasons: For one, Ralph agreed with the programs noncompetitive philosophy. Also, she says the lesson plans are well-prepared, and the program offers on-going, instructor training, which gives the program continuity. "It seemed like a perfect union. Kid sports already had a track record. If we developed the lesson plans, we'd be reinventing the wheel."
But regardless of whether a club uses an in-house program or a commercial package, the decision to target the children's market in the first place all comes down to good business. Says Ralph: "One of the biggest reasons people don't renew is because they're too busy. So one of our missions is to make coming to the club as convenient as possible. We're trying to offer the widest range of programs, so that no matter when you come, there's something to do -- for everybody. We think that if the kids really like this program, their parents will want to stay."
