Pooligan Games

How has this idea enhanced your club's operation, etc.?

The "Pooligan Games" was thought up as a way to boost team morale as the busy days during the hot summer season in Atlanta tend to take a toll on the staff.  Morale issues were always something that we struggled with.  The branding of calling themselves the Pooligans had helped over the years, but we wanted to take it further.  Through this summer long incentive/team competition we saw vastly improved training, member experiences, and staff engagement than ever before.

How was this idea implemented, and what have been the club members' reactions?

This idea of the "Pooligan Games" was implemented during our training weeks leading up to the opening of the pool.  We hosted a final presentation with the team in which we had a fantasy-style draft. Veteran staff members drafted strategically based off of what positions they needed to fill their teams.  Whenever someone was drafted, the "draft jingle" would go off and we would show an unflattering picture along with a funny fact about each team member on the projector.  We gathered this information from submissions by the staff.  This kick off really brought the team together to begin the season.  The friendly competition really pushed the member experience as that was a piece of the criterion.  We saw more positive member "instant feedback" than we have ever had at the pool!