Hoop Mountain Midwest summer camps
rock in spite of the weak national economy
By Ed Ross
Back in early May, the outlook for Hoop Mountain Midwest having a successful series of summer camps in 2008 was quite bleak.
Registrations were down about 40% compared to last year’s numbers for the same period. We were feeling the effects of the soft economy that had slowed businesses throughout the country.
Bob Schmidt of Hoop Mountain and I were ready to go into a defensive mode to do our best to reduce our anticipated losses.
We expected we would have to reduce a number of the coaches we had agreements with, reduce our guarantees with Illinois Wesleyan University, cut back advertising and promotional funds, etc.
On May 1, Bob and I agreed that we would make our decision on May 15, the date that we would have a previously announced small price increase go into effect.
We waited. Then two campers registered on May 5, two more on May 6, eight on May 9, 18 on May 12, 34 on May 15, 18 on May 16! Our decision was easy…go full blast ahead! The surge continued right up to July 18 when we stopped accepting registrations. Our final number of “camper-days” showed a 12% increase over last year’s very strong totals.
That’s an astounding turn-around!
Frankly, we still don’t know for sure what happened. We were told that many other summer basketball camps throughout the country were down anywhere from 20% - 50%. Some simply canceled their camps.
Here’s one theory that a pretty bright guy I know (MBA, Harvard) put on the table. He said that most families may have cut back on their summer vacation budgets…cut back, not cut out. Because most Hoop Mountain Midwest players have a great passion for basketball, he reasoned that their parents would make every effort to send them to our camps.
That may or may not have been the major reason for our highly successful group of camps at Illinois Wesleyan. For instance, I think the Internet may have been a big factor. It is relatively easy these days to surf the net for “basketball camps” and compare one camp with the others. Many parents and players tell us that we have the best and most informative Web-Site on line.
We don’t have a lot of razzle-dazzle graphics or ear-splitting heavy metal rock blasting away.
We are basketball purists who run no-nonsense instructional camps that appeal to young men who are passionate about improving their basketball skills and are eager to move to a higher level.
But there’s more, a lot more. For instance, Illinois Wesleyan expanded their air conditioning system at the Shirk Center this summer so that the Performance gyms and the Practice gym could be cooled. That was a no- brainer. We agreed to pay an additional $2400 annually to IWU to improve the comfort of our campers.
That’s in stark contrast to some summer camps that require their campers to play on steaming outdoor asphalt courts under the blazing summer sun. Plus all of our dorm rooms are air conditioned, as well.
Or take coaches, for example. One of our campers had just attended a basketball camp at a prestigious eastern university when he and his dad arrived at Bloomington. His dad said they had 12 coaches for about 430 players. A ratio of one coach per 36 campers. We had 44 coaches for about 350 players, a ratio of one coach per 8 campers. And that does not include our 10 counselors.
Incredible!
When you think about it, the basic reason why our camps did so well this summer might simply be that our campers and their parents did their homework and decided that Hoop Mountain Midwest offered a very good value. Our camps are not inexpensive. But, in this case, our well-informed customers prioritized their vacation budgets and placed their trust in Hoop Mountain Midwest.
We are very grateful to you for your continuing confidence and support.
