Female Come N Try for BMX

Female Come ‘N’ Try Day for BMX Hosting Guide //

2

Female Come ‘N’ Try Day for BMX

Introduction Sporting clubs from across the spectrum of the Australian sporting landscape are turning increasingly to Come ‘N’ Try Days as a highly effective activity for growing their club participation and introducing their sport to a whole new audience.

Female Come ‘N’Try Days are female-specific events held by BMX Australia affiliated clubs as part of membership initiatives for attracting women and girls to the sport of BMX. Both women and girls often experience lower participation numbers than males for many sports across Victoria, including BMX. However, behind these lower participation rates there exists a higher interest level in females wanting to get involved.

Women and girls respond well to encouragement, particularly from clubs that cater to their needs.

This guide is aimed at developing plans, policies and procedures to support inclusion and increase female participation.

3

Some of the benefits to BMX clubs of running Female Come ‘N’ Try Days are: yyGrowth of participation by females in BMX competition and noncompetitive BMX recreational activities; yyGrowth of club membership; yyIncreased gender diversity at all levels of club: competition, club administration, race administration; yyMinimal expense outlay; yyRunning Come ‘N’ Try Days requires broad club volunteer involvement in activities other than week to week club or race administration, and the potential for the development of new skills and knowledge; yySatisfaction of seeing tentative first time participants join the club as fully fledged members; yyDevelopment of stronger connections, particularly with families, in the local community; yyEnhanced standing as a leading community organisation; Come ‘N’ Try Days also bring broader long term benefits to the sport. At State level, more girls and women increases the depth of competition, which assists clubs and BMX Victoria develop a stronger annual event calendar. Nationally, stronger competition results in more elite athletes, and improved results in global competition.

4

Female Come ‘N’ Try Day for BMX

Common barriers which prevent female participation

yyCompeting interests, such as work, school, family commitments or other recreational and sporting activities; yyLack of opportunity for females who may want to participate competitively; yyFeeling uncomfortable about wearing sports uniforms i.e. self-conscious about body image; yyLack of female coaches and leaders within the club; yyLimited social or non-competitive activity options; yyPerception that males can be overly physical toward females during sport; yyLack of female specific facilities, such as female change rooms or sports equipment. yyClub ambience overly reflective of dominant male presence i.e. ‘too blokey’. yyA perceived lack of support structures in place to adequately assist newcomers, such as friends, induction programs, organised sessions for newcomers to increase confidence and skills in a non-competitive environment.

5

Planning your Female Come ‘N’ Try Day Come ‘N’ Try Days, like all good club activities, start with a committed and passionate bunch of volunteers. Planning is the key to running a successful Come ‘N’ Try Day. Steps to getting your Come ‘N’ Try Day off the ground might include: yyMaking sure your Come ‘N’ Try Day is approved by your club committee. Their support is critical. yyForming a ‘Come ‘N’ Try’ organising committee to oversee the planning and delivery of the event. yySpending time defining what your club considers to be a successful Come ‘N’ Try Day. Is success defined by the number of new females in attendance? The number of new families in attendance? The number of new members signed up? The number of email addresses or mobile phone numbers collected? The amount of exposure gained in the local mainstream media? The amount of money generated by canteen sales? The number of brochures given out? Or a combination of these? yyRecording the critical steps of running your event.

These would include marketing activities (see the next section), securing the date and venue, a run sheet of activities for the day, operational activities to be undertaken on the day (event set up, and pack up). yyIdentifying areas of risk posed by staging your event.

These might include limiting public access to certain areas, provision of qualified coaches to run activities, the presence of first-aid assistance on the day, the attendance of police or other security agencies. Does club insurance policy provide adequate coverage? yyAllocating tasks to each committee member to undertake, and record the progress made weekly on a spreadsheet.

6

Female Come ‘N’ Try Day for BMX

Marketing your Female Come ‘N’ Try Day Marketing your Female Come ‘N’ Try Day will have a major bearing on its success. Your club can develop a simple marketing plan to promote its Come ‘N’ Try Day using the following principles:

Product

define exactly what your Come ‘N’ Try Day will be. What experience is your club looking to provide? What activities will your club showcase? What will the day’s sequence of events be? Who are the club leaders you wish to put out there as the face of the club? What are the key words that your club would hope would describe the Come ‘N’ Try Day: happy, friendly, fun, safe, etc?

People

define your market. For example this might be families with young females 12 years - 18 years; single females 18 years to 24 years; married females 30 years to 45 years with daughters. Clarifying your market will help guide your key marketing messages and style of language the club uses in promotion.

Place

where do you want your marketing efforts displayed? Typical marketing tools commonly used by BMX clubs to promote their club are equally effective here: e-newsletters, club website, social media (particularly Twitter and Facebook); street signage outside the clubrooms and/or track; community noticeboards; local print media. Making and posting a simple of You-Tube clip of females riding BMX bikes might be highly effective, especially if promoted via social media, website and e-newsletters. Also, having information packs for attendees to take away with them can be highly effective, containing pamphlets, trinkets and other items local businesses or sponsors might like to donate do you want to charge a fee to participate in your Come ‘N’ Try Day?

Price

Promotion

Passion

what are the key messages the club would like to say about the Come ‘N’ Try Day? These might be: date, time, location, cost of attendance; club contacts to approach for further information; activities on offer; what participants can expect to get out of attending; who the club wishes to attract. Do you require attendees to pre-book to attendance can be staggered over the day? Consider approaching a sponsor to fund the event and providing naming rights, or similarly attractive package, in return.

Further, invite the local print, radio and TV media outlets along. They may well turn up and do a very positive story about your club, in the process providing thousands of dollars equivalent of air and print time for free!

A Come ‘N’ Try Day delivered with passion, energy and enthusiasm reflects very favourably on your club. As you know, members like to spend their time with peers who share their love of BMX. Never underestimate the power of a friendly smile, expert advice given and the small investment of a couple of minutes teaching a potential new member.

7

Delivering your Female Come ‘N’ Try Day In the lead up to your Come ‘N’ Try Day, make sure that all tasks to be done on the day are allocated and that volunteers know what they’re to do, and are suitably skilled to do it.

As first impressions generally last, make every effort to ensure the presentation of your Come ‘N’ Try Day event is first class. This could include: the general amenity and cleanliness of the grounds; club representatives wearing clean club uniform; equipment used - loan bikes, helmets etc - in proper, safe working order; easy vehicle parking access; spic and span bathroom facilities.

The passionate volunteers and club members in attendance on the day will be the face of your club. First impressions are critical as they last! Ensure that your club facilities are as presentable as possible.

Also, recording information about the attendees is important: ensure a club official(s) is tasked with this activity. Simple data collection would include numbers of attendees, names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. Attendees can be added to the club database so they receive club communications. The club can also follow up potential members at a later date.

Lastly, the data provides a means of comparison with Come ‘N’ Try Days run in subsequent years.

8

Female Come ‘N’ Try Day for BMX

Evaluating your Female Come ‘N’ Try Day

One of the final and most valuable tasks the organising committee can undertake is to evaluate the success of the event.

This is particularly important if the club wishes to run the event again in future, and continually improve on the previous event.

Key questions for the club to ask: yyWere the goals of the event achieved? yyWhat did the club do well? yyWhere can the event improve?

Your club might consider asking for participant feedback, via brief survey, to assist with the evaluation. This can be done on the day in hard copy, or even better, after the event using a simple online survey tool, such as Survey Monkey.

Keep as many records of your event as possible in an easy to access file (hardcopy or online with sharing access). This will make it much easier for the next organising committee to run the subsequent Come ‘N’ Try Day. Once your Female Come ‘N’ Try Day has occurred, BMXV requests that your club forward the numbers of female participants via email to admin@bmxv.com.au for recording purposes.

9

Is your club as inclusive as it can be?

Here are some ideas for making your club inclusive for females: yyProvide appropriate equipment and facilities, such as bikes and protective equipment designed for use by girls; provision of female only change room facilities; yyAim for gender equity on the club committee, sub-committees and other project groups; yyAcknowledge female role models at club functions or through social media, mainstream media, club functions and other promotional opportunities.; yyStay up to date with issues relating to women and sport; yyDisplay posters or images at the club or on social media that promote respect, integrity and diversity; yyConsider female members’ needs when planning and delivering training sessions, such as moderating competitive elements, adjusting language used, use of presentation and training styles likely to resonate with females, using female trainers; yyProvide leadership and training opportunities for women at the club, such as encouraging females to become qualified, accredited coaches and/or officials; yyActively welcome and encourage families and friends of club members to get involved in the club; yyInvolve females in designing the club uniform.

Further support Staff from Cycling Victoria may be available from time to time to assist with queries and can be contacted at the office via phone (03 8480 3000) or email (vic. info@cycling.org.au).