“Many commercial gyms offer memberships to teens, and children ages 6 to 17 are the second-fastest growing demographic of health club members, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Assn. But the teens themselves aren't sure that's where they want to be. Enter teen-centric gyms. Beginning to sprout on the nation's fitness landscape, they cater specifically to a younger crowd, offering more constant supervision, more video and game-related equipment and less of an age mix than traditional gyms. ‘The larger commercial gyms are trying to make [teens] feel more comfortable,’ says Joe Moore, IHRSA's president and chief executive. ‘Some have an adult area and a teen area and a family area.’ Why court this demographic? ‘More parents want their children to be exercising and watching their weight,’ he says. And, he adds, ‘the younger a person starts, the more they're likely to be a member for a long time.’”
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-teenfitness28apr28,1,2448182.story
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2 comments:
That is interesting. The teen demographic is also very involved with technology and specifically social networking and internet technology. An emerging trend is to keep the members involved even when they are away from the gym. There are a few technologies out there that attempt to do this, but the health club industry is behind others in this regard. You will see many technolgies emerging to tackle this problem and keep the member involved and thinking about the gym even when they are at home or at work.
As a follow up to my comments, I wanted to leave a link to our attempt at solving the problem.
www.GymChatter.com
Joey
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