CASE
STUDY
Reimagining Fan Engagement and Experiences
Case study
The importance of social media within five National Gymnastics Federations
Methodology
Qualitative research with semi-structured interviews
- 10 staff members of different national sport federations, who have something to do with innovation in their work.
- 1 interview with a staff member of NOC*NSF.
Methodology
Qualitative research with semi-structured interviews
- 10 staff members of different national sport federations, who have something to do with innovation in their work.
- 1 interview with a staff member of NOC*NSF.
Key Insights
- There is no one golden way that works to suddenly engage all 12- to 18-year-olds. It is a complex problem where multiple solution scan contribute to binding the target group.
- There are internally and externally-oriented reasons why this group drops out of sports associations.
- The most important recommendation remains to stay in good dialogue with members at all times and put their wants and needs first. That is going to yield the most results for member retention.
Key Insights
There is no one golden way that works to suddenly engage all 12- to 18-year-olds. It is a complex problem where multiple solution scan contribute to binding the target group.
There are internally and externally-oriented reasons why this group drops out of sports associations.
The most important recommendation remains to stay in good dialogue with members at all times and put their wants and needs first. That is going to yield the most results for member retention.
Field studies
Final Results
Externally-oriented reasons are that athletes today pick sports more to look better, quit due to injuries and because the sport is no longer considered fun enough.
Internally-oriented reasons, why 12- 18-year-olds drop out, are all things that sports associations can influence. The reasons are lack of flexibility, dissatisfaction with the trainer of coach, team format, favouring talents and too much emphasis on competition.
Sports federations are betting on training good trainers and coaches.
Many of the sports federations do have new forms of sports, with advantages like smaller teams and easier implementation and being more accessible than their regular sports. But they’ re still in their infancy and not offered to the group of 12- to 18-year-olds.
Recommendations are continuing the focus on good trainers and coaches, but also offering new forms of sport to 12- to 18-year-olds, give them a choice in what form they want to do the sport and organize sport more to members’ wishes and offer alternative memberships.