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facility have full-time positions outside of the
indoor sports business and were looking for
someone to manage the facility, as it was
not doing well. SFA determined that the
business was indeed viable and identified key
changes necessary to operate the facility more
effectively. Since 2012, Joe Reid has been in
charge of the day-to-day management of the
facility.
The first step for the facility was what Joe
calls, "getting back to basics"–understanding
what Bucksmont Indoor Sports Center is and
what it wants to be. This involved identifying
what the facility does well. "We kind of had to
peel all the layers of the onion off and say, 'This
is the base; this is what we do really well. Let's
focus on that–maximize our ability to attain
profitability from that point–and then build
ancillary programs around it." For the past
three years, the facility has been building its
core programs.
"This whole area is very soccer oriented,
and the facility–in years past with prior
management–was notorious for over-
promising, under-delivering. That was really
the first thing that we had to do–a reputation
rebrand."
Before joining the team at SFA, Joe ran health
clubs for about 10 years. Then, he ran a
sports complex in New Jersey. He remembers
the tagline of an equipment manufacturer.
"Precor has an awesome mantra: 'It's all about
me.' It's all about member experience. That's
really what I wanted to challenge our staff
to do–build stable programs like soccer, flag
football, lacrosse, and use our court space for
volleyball, field hockey, and basketball. Those
are the core sports."
From Joe's perspective, health clubs and
sports facilities are a lot alike. "When you
look at a health club, they all have treadmills,
ellipticals, free weights, machines. What
differentiates you is your customer service,
cleanliness and price. Those are your three key
principles. For indoor sports, it's very similar.
We all have some type of turf surface or court
surface, and what differentiates us is our
ability to execute."
