USA Water Ski & Wake Sports announced the winner’s of their 2018 membership growth challenges, and Purdue University Water Ski and Wakeboard Club won both their collegiate and club growth contests! Purdue will receive a club membership to USA Water Ski & Wake Sports for 2019 and 2020 for winning two of the contests, and a $200 donation!
The team won the challenge by signing up 50 new athletes for USA Water Ski & Wake Sports memberships. Purdue’s 2018 Club President Kent Kohart was one of the key people who spearheaded the recruitment effort. He shared some of the major recruiting tactics that he and his team used to grow their numbers.
Recruit Freshmen Early
“We recruited at our Be Involved Fair for freshman this year, which was a big pull for us. This helped us talk to freshman earlier to get them interested before committing to other clubs and extracurricular activities. We also brought our boat and trailer on campus as usual which always helps get people’s attention,” Kohart said.
Big recruitment classes help boost team dynamics
Kohart went on to say that the large recruiting class had an amazing impact on his team’s season. He said that one freshman had competed in the past, and her previous experience was a “huge boost” at tournaments. He also noted that the new members were a positive influence on the team’s social dynamic.
Overcoming Greek Life
Kohart mentioned, in prior years the team had trouble competing with Greek organizations when recruiting freshmen. The key to their successful recruitment against Greek life this year involved recruiting as early as possible.
A bit more recruiting advice from Kent Kohart
Get your name out there!
“The biggest advice is to try to get your name out there as much as possible. Connect with other clubs in your area (3-event or show ski) and keep active on social media platforms. There are a lot of people on college campuses that don’t even know their school has a water ski team. Getting the awareness out is one of the biggest things to get people who already love to water ski or hang at the lake to join the team.”
Pay attention to your dues to not deter growth
“One of the reasons we can recruit so many new members is because our dues are so low, as well as separated into different categories. The base dues include access to practice, then members can choose to pay extra to come to tournaments and be on the competitive team if they want to. The low base dues to practice help us gain a lot of new members who may not be interested in competing, but want to go ski for fun.”
Past Collegiate Growth Challenge Winners
- 2018 – Purdue University (also won club growth)
- 2017 – Purdue University
- 2016 – University of Wisconsin – Madison
- 2015 – California Polytechnic State University
- 2014 – University of Missouri
To see the winners of the other 2018 growth contest categories, view the USA Water Ski announcement. For details about the growth contests, see the contest announcement.
Photos courtesy of the Purdue Waterski and Wakeboard Club Instagram account @PurdueWaterski
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