We had our GOBs Annual Luncheon Meeting scheduled for this past Thursday (Sept. 15th) at Shore & Country. Due to COVID concerns, the Executive Committee was compelled to cancel the indoor event. Since this is the second cancellation of this important information exchange session, we plan to consider how to handle this function in the future.
Meanwhile, I provide the content of the meeting to our members in this email. Please hold all comments/questions/applause until after reading this email. LOL!
I. State of the GOBs
The state of the GOBs is considered on sound footing and strategically poised to face-the-future. Our Revitalization Program, launched in 2021 has elevated the stature of GOBs, given the membership a renewed sense of enthusiasm, and helped to ensure the group’s sustainability over the long-term.
II. 2022 in Perspective
We continued our Revitalization Program over the remainder of 2021 and throughout the 2022 season. The program was broad in scope and covered six key areas:
- Management Structure–expanded the management team and established roles of responsibility
- Look and Feel–redesigned our logo and provided new embroidered shirts and hats to project a vibrant image
- Information Repository–developed a completely new website with comprehensive content divided between ‘public’ and ‘members only’ sections
- Membership Character–integrated new 2021 members and 2022 additions, which has improved our overall skill profile and reduced our average age per member
- Member Experience–introduced new on-line tools to improve communications and productivity
- Playing Management–tested multiple play date formats, fine-tuned the pre-scheduled pairings process, and introduced Tourney play
Our primary priority for the 2022 season was improving Playing Management, the most important part of the GOBs. An important tool that was implemented to help in this area was the Play Date Registration (Sign-up) Tool. This tool gave the Host Captain a view of the expected turnout, allowing him to gauge whether arranging tentative pre-scheduled foursomes made sense for certain outings based on the mix of attendees and the skill levels of those members. Dick Paterniti and I worked closely with the captains on pairings, as we are in constant contact with them as well as any member involved in a pre-scheduled foursome. The objective in pre-scheduling is to essentially match skills to ensure a balanced foursome and a more enjoyable experience for all participants.
We recognize that we have to balance the potential of over-engineering a pre-conceived design with the latitude of adapting on the fly. But the work is necessary because effectively managing play dates is at the core of our retaining and attracting members. Regardless of all of our enabling innovations, what truly makes a play date work is the flexibility and cooperation of our members.
III. Membership Report
Our Director of Membership, Peter Carnes, provides the following snapshots of our membership over the last couple of years:
Date Active Sustainer Total
10/1/20 82 22 104
9/10/22 107 22 129
There have been 44 new members admitted over the last two years. During this period, we have also updated our Roster to reflect the passing of several members and transitioned others from Active to Sustainer status. Our Roster and membership statistics are now considered more reflective of our membership identity.
In addition to updating our Roster, there have been significant efforts invested in understanding the make-up of our membership. We now have a Member Profile for our group that includes, for example: age, skill level, annual play date participation level, and tenure with the GOBs. This information enables us to analyze our membership from multiple vantage points and helps us to formulate various actions. This information also helps us to better understand participation by Club and its current status and sustainability prospects. More importantly, we can detect trends and implement corrective actions to maintain a stable, long-standing relationship with each Club.
IV. Play Date Analysis
We had 76 play dates scheduled for 2022. Of these 76 play dates, 41 of them (54%) were in the months of August and September. A further breakdown of the 76 play dates reflects that 58 (76%) were morning sessions and 18 (24%) were afternoon sessions. We did see a more emphatic downturn in attendance during August this season, which we attribute to the frequency of play, excessive heat, and the pent-up demand to travel. However, we plan to look into this particular issue a bit more over the winter months so we have a more informed view of balancing play date distribution with availability/receptivity of our group to playing in August.
V. Playing Management
As previously mentioned, this is the single most important area for the group as it influences member satisfaction. We have developed a suite of tools/expanded programming that enable the Host Captain to help make the member experience as pleasant as possible. A representive sample of these tools/expanded programming are as follows:
- Online Sign-up List
- Skill Level List
- Pre-Arranged Foursomes
- Expanded Formats (singles when possible, multi-court swapping of winners vs. losers)
- Tourney Event
We will continue to monitor this area and identify additional areas for improvement.
VI. Programming Extensions
GOBs Tourney
We had about 30 members participate in this year’s GOBs Tourney. It is essentially an extension of our current play date model and affords those members who are inclined to do so play fun and spirited match-scored games. The results of this year’s tourney are as follows:
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Division
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Champion (s)
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Finalist (s)
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Singles, ‘A’ Flight
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Jim McGuire
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Roy Anderson
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Singles, ‘B’ Flight*
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Hans Peter K.
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Gerhard Gnaedig
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Doubles, ‘A’ Flight*
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Joe Carter
George Hamilton
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Roy Anderson
Jim McGuire |
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Doubles ‘B’ Flight
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Henry Cavanna
Gene Markowski
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Jim Lash
Ralph Newitter
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*Three-setter
We applaud all participants. Both the Champions and the Finalists will be awarded trophies (as soon as they arrive). We hope to see continued interest in the Tourney and have additional members participate in this fun-packed event in 2023 and beyond.
Indoor Play
Due to the gracious support of GOBs member, Dr. Tom Ayoub, we were provided the opportunity to offer four indoor play dates this season during the peak demand month of July at New Canaan Racquet Club. With these four indoor play dates, our total play count was actually 80 for the season. We will try and provide this opportunity, once again, in 2023.
VII. Social Activities
We had a spectacular Summer Social on Wednesday, Sept. 7th at Stamford Yacht Club. The setting was serene, the food was delicious, and the company was engaging. Major kudos to Jim Kelly, Joe Vermeer, and Tom Campfield for coordinating the event. We had a ‘body count’ of 84 people, which represents the single highest GOBs attended event in our history. We hope to break that record next year for our 40th Anniversary Celebration. Are you in?
We intend to do some extensive planning for a season-wide celebration for 2023, our 40th anniversary. There will be more details provided to our members on this subject as we approach the opening of next season.
VIII. Financial Position
Our primary source of revenue is from Dues and Initiation Fees (from New Members). Our key disbursement in the past has been subsidizing our social events. This past year our two largest disbursements were to Stamford Yacht Club for the subsidy of the Summer Social, and to the website designer for implementing the Play Date Registration Tool and providing annual maintenance support of the website. Our bank account sits at approximately $4700, which is very much in line with prior years.
IX. Recognition Awards
With our 40th Anniversary next season we decided to defer the presentation of any recognition awards to next year’s celebratory Annual Meeting.
X. A Look Ahead to 2023
As we all know, change is the only constant in life. We don’t have any preconceived notions of specific changes that will be implemented for next year but there are areas of the GOBs that both our Operating Committee (comprised of our Captains) and Executive Committee will delve into to assess whether there is merit for change/clarification to further improve the GOBs. A representative sample of areas that are on our radar screen are as follows:
Membership
- Identifying new members to invite to play
- Level of flexibility in admitting higher skill level players when Rosters are at full capacity (i.e., 8 active players)
Playing Management
- Number/distribution of play dates vs. low attended play dates
- Indoor play dates during July
- Merit of implementing minimial play date participation levels
- Defined policy about balanced pairings
Member Conduct
- Consequences of exhibiting unbecoming behavior at a play date
- Need for detailing expectations of members attending a play date
Club Partnerships
- Health of our current Club partnerships
- Actions required to improve current partnerships
- Due Diligence requirements for a Club expressing interest to join the GOBs
- Evaluation criteria for Club admission
Financial
- Electronic payment option (e.g., Zelle) for annual dues, initiation fees, and event payments
- Annual Dues adjustment
GOBs Apparel
- Current vendor vs. new vendor
- Policy for wearing GOBs apparel
- Moving the ordering of purchasing apparel to before the season
Website
- Currency of content
- Adding more electronic tools to improve productivity and data analytics (e.g., using Excel spreadsheets)
Social/40th Anniversary
- Engage a PR/Publicity specialist to assist in planning for 40th Anniversary
- Key features of 40th Anniversary Plan
- Implementation Plan for 40th Anniversary Plan
- Engage members and assemble a team of volunteers
- Annual Meeting ‘Future Model’
As you can see there are several items that the management team will be reviewing and making decisions on during the off-season, all of which are aimed at improving the GOBs experience. Let me know what other areas you may want us to consider as we deliberate over the upcoming months in preparation for launching our 2023 season.
This concludes our 2022 Annual Meeting. We look forward to seeing many of you on the courts over the remaining 2022 play dates. The Executive Committee will be meeting several times over the winter months in preparation for making our 2023 season a lasting memory.
A big ‘thank you’ to all members for their support. We will be in touch!
Best,
Jim McGuire
GOBs, President