One of the buzz phrases that is frequently bandied about is “growing the sport.” Like most buzz phrases, its meaning is different for every person that uses it. But I’ll certainly agree that knowing who our rider membership is, and what they are doing, is critically important.
And the more riders we have, doing more events, the better off we’ll be.
The following information is derived from an analysis I ran on the SE USCF Rider database dump from 02/07/2006:
CCA Riders, Age Graded, Gender
Total Riders = 1291 (1170 M, 121 F)
Masters (30+) = 953 (877 M, 76 F)
Elite (23-29) = 176 (154 M, 23 F)
U23 (19-22) = 78 (72 M, 6 F)
Juniors (10-18) = 84 (73 M, 11 F)
Youth (<10) = 0
NC Riders, Age Graded, Gender
Total Riders = 1011 (910 M, 101F)
Masters (30+) = 756 (691 M, 65 F)
Elite (23-29) = 143 (123 M, 20 F)
U23 (19-22) = 63 (57 M, 6 F)
Juniors (10-18) = 50 (45 M, 5 F)
Youth (<10) = 0
SC Riders, Age Graded
Total Riders = 280 (260 M, 20 F)
Masters (30+) = 197 (186 M, 11 F)
Elite (23-29) = 34 (31 M, 3 F)
U23 (19-22) = 15 (15 M, 0 F)
Juniors (10-18) = 34 (28 M, 6 F)
Youth (<10) = 0
CCA Riders, Category Graded
Cat. 1 = 53 (39 M, 14 F)
Cat. 2 = 120 (110 M, 10 F)
Cat. 3 = 287 (263 M, 24 F)
Cat. 4 = 401 (329 M, 72 F)
Cat. 5 = 428 (428 M, 0 F)
This won’t answer the question of which groups we want to support or grow the most…
Or what programs will work to do that…
But it is a snapshot of where we are at the present, and we can use it as a baseline for discussion, and for measuring the success of future programs.