September 2018

2017 IC Business Report

Executive Summary

The IC Business Report is designed to provide the IC Council and all ICs of the World with a yearly update of the club’s members, events and general activities.

This year, the IC Council used ‘Survey Monkey’ to collect data in an easier and more efficient format. Consequently, there was an increase in completion rates, with 37 out of 40 ICs completing the new survey, which is a huge improvement on previous years.

Much like this year, the IC Council will distribute this survey annually, with the purpose of presenting the analysis at the AGM and producing an annual report for all ICs. It is also an effective platform for ICs to give feedback to the IC Council and one where we will be monitoring ‘issues of major concerns and general improvements’.

It has been noted that each IC should receive its individual responses to the survey. We are manually sending them out this year and will look to automate this upon survey completion from next year. We welcome all feedback and so if there is anything you’d like to suggest, please email both Gustavo Herrero (Honorary Secretary) and Tash Starling (Website & Communications) at the IC Council:

gustavo@herrero.la

ts@ictennis.net

This year, 37 out of the 40 ICscompleted the “Business Templates”, resulting in 92.5% data completion. There were no responses from the following ICs: Brazil, Bulgaria and Romania.

Throughout the years, the IC has been going from strength to strength. It continues to build and broaden members, increase activity, promote the objective of good sportsmanship and to enhance the lives of various disadvantaged young people.

Now in its 94th year, the IC is thriving and we look to continue to; increase activities, broaden the age and gender of members, encourage new nations to join, and enhance such a vibrant international tennis community.

Member Demographics

A total of 4,406 memberswere reported by the 37 ICs. (This is up on last year’s count of 4,032 members but note data was only collected from 33 ICs in 2016)
74% are male and 26% female. Gender distribution remains fairly stable over the five-year period (26-28% female members)
55% are over the age of 54
Age distribution of members has remained fairly stable. The aging process seems to suggest that special emphasis be placed on the recruitment of younger members. (See section 3)
27 of the 37 ICs (73%) recruited new members in 2017

*NB: Not all ICs provided full breakdown by age and gender. Therefore total numbers do not sum.

Younger Members

70% (26 out of 37 ICs) actively pursue recruiting younger members
Challenges cited include; requires funding, difficulties with families and time, lack of interest and focusing on professional careers
However, various ICs commented that they try to actively recruit through the IC Junior Challenge
Additional options are focusing on having a younger Board

Junior Challenge

43% (16 out of 37 ICs) participated in the IC Junior Challenge
The main objections stated were; funding and availability of players
This is a number we’d like to look to increase

Activity overview

The actual overall% of member participation is low, and is an area to improve

51% of clubs participated in the same number of events than in 2016 (the previous year), 22% increased and 24% decreased

Committee Members

92% of the clubs (34 out of 37 ICs) have female members on their Committee
Only 57% (21 out of 37 ICs) have Committee members under 45
However, 81% (30 out of 37 ICs) do hold periodic discussions of succession planning

Areas of Major Concern

The graph below shows the main areas of concern for all ICs, with the most prevalent areas being; the ability to attract or retain members and the demographics of members

Other cited answers include; attracting younger members, lack of women, concentrated membership (age or province), difficulty fielding teams, lack of willingness to travel, large country difficulties and multiple provinces, low participation of members in IC activities and difficulties communicating “what is the IC” to younger audiences