Top tips for setting up your sports business

Our latest Community Sport blog is written by Becky Johnson, General Manager and Head Gymnastics Coach of Planet Gymnastics. She set up her private, family-run enterprise in 2008 and here shares her top tips for setting up a new sports business.

•             Be prepared for long hours and late nights

When I first set up Planet Gymnastics, I was working 14 hour days – coming in at 8am and often not leaving before 10pm. But it is all worth it. Get a good support team behind you – staff, partners, parents, whoever – and remember that it will be worth those sleepless nights!

•             Persevere even when things get tough

Lots of things happen all the time with a new business. In the first year we were burgled twice, had the loos flooded several times and came up against several expenses which we did not account for. At times it felt that it wasnt worth it but with the support of family, friends staff and even customers we cleaned up and carried on.

•             If your business involves something you love its easier to work hard

•             Be prepared to keep adapting to your customer base

We send our customers regular feedback forms (especially for the after school club) and newsletters. We hold open days for parents to view classes and give us their feedback. We look at numbers in all classes and change classes if numbers are low for something new. The aim is to make every hour of the timetable work. We have a Facebook page where we share news with members. When we started we thought mother and toddler sessions would generate income for us in the day but there was too much competition in the local area. We now offer after school club and a nursery wraparound service instead to utilise the space in the day.

•             Our business runs like a family

We treat all customers as individuals whether they come for one hour a week or 20 hours a week.

Providing gymnastics and dance tuition for all ages, from babies to adult, Planet Gymnastics has ensured a sustainable income from CSSIW registered after school club care. After-school care includes school pick ups and a gymnastics lesson in a fully equipped Gymnastics and Dance centre.

Planet Gymnastics’ classes include Teen Gym, Cheerleading, Street Cheer, Tumbling, Parkour, Artistic Gymnastics, Adult Gymnastics and Pre-school and toddler gymnastics.

Find out more at: http://www.planetgymnastics.co.uk/

This blog was written in conjunction with the launch of a strategy for Community Sport in Wales.  If you’d like your say, get involved in the debate on twitter – using the hashtag #communitysport and you can mention us @sport_wales

What Community Sport Means to Me - Keith Towler

On 100 days to go until the London 2012 Games, Sport Wales is embarking on a series of blogs on Community Sport. Keith Towler is the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

Most Friday evenings I head to our local comprehensive school not for maths but to pretend for 90 minutes that I can still play with some skill, speed and precision. The reality is I'm not sure I ever really had any skill as I head there with a group of middle-aged men, from all walks of life, to play football.

Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler

We’re not the best, and we’re probably not the worst, but most importantly, we’ve become good friends, and so have our families. It has become part of our community life.

Sport has this magic ability to unite people – around clubs, communities and countries. It’s this ‘pull’ that Sport Wales wants us all to harness to create an environment where every child and young person in Wales can live in communities without barriers, without fears, without prejudices.

This new community strategy is a document with goose-pimples. Odd turn of phrase you might think, but when you read it you can’t help but want to encourage your neighbours, your local businesses, your local schools, your local halls, your community, to create safe, healthy and happy environments for our children. An environment that fosters opportunities for all children and young people.

Whilst access to play and recreational activity is a child’s fundamental right, let’s look at this as a wider opportunity to instil a sense of worth, pride and ambition in our children. And a sense of belonging – perthyn.

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Keith Towler is the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. He has also recently been invited to join an international group of experts to advise the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on its General Comment on Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on play. You can follow him on twitter @childcomwales

This blog was written in conjunction with the launch of a strategy for Community Sport in Wales.  If you’d like your say, get involved in the debate on twitter – using the hashtag #communitysport and you can mention us @sport_wales