Thomas McCarty, 59, moved to Anchorage, Alaska, also known as “The Last Frontier,” in 1977, and joined The Alaska Club over 10 years ago. However, he didn’t actually start using his membership until five years ago. Out of shape and unhealthy, he had paid his membership dues up until that point each month, but never used the club’s services or amenities. “At that time I was 300 pounds and I thought, ‘I really need to start using the facility,’” he said.
McCarty met with a nutritionist who recommended he work out at least three times a week. Determined to get healthier, he surpassed her recommendation and started utilizing his Alaska Club membership, going for 30 minutes almost every day. Encouraged by his progress, he signed up for a personal trainer. “They showed me how to use the equipment,” said McCarty. “I noticed other people in the club weren’t using the equipment properly, the way the trainers had taught me. I think having a trainer makes a difference.”
During one of his visits to the club, McCarty noticed a poster advertising The Alaska Club’s three-sport group training class. “I thought, ‘I probably can’t do that,’” said McCarty. Instead of listening to his negative inner voice, he talked to an employee at The Alaska Club who encouraged him to give it a try, and who said that if he couldn’t do it, they’d reimburse him fully for the class.
What McCarty didn’t realize was that the three-sport training class he had signed up for prepared members to compete in a triathlon. “After starting, I saw that I could do it, and when I realized it was a triathlon training class I thought, ‘are you kidding me?’ And then I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be nice to build up to an Ironman Triathlon?’”
He’s been training for an Ironman ever since — an intense race that consists of a 2.5-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26-mile run.
Since taking the triathlon training class, McCarty has lost over 100 pounds and has completely transformed his life. He ran the Boston Marathon in April, and works out at three of The Alaska Club’s facilities fives times a week. Currently, McCarty is training for the swimming portion of the Ironman, and takes private swimming lessons with an instructor at The Alaska Club. “When I first started I went down a quarter of a length of the pool and was extremely winded,” said McCarty. He can now swim for up to an hour each day.
Part of what drew McCarty to The Alaska Club was the club’s number of facilities scattered throughout Anchorage. The Alaska Club has 18 different locations, which appealed to McCarty by giving him access to several locations he could utilize while at work, or when closer to home. “The Alaska Club is on par with anything available in the lower 48 states,” said McCarty. “It’s state of the art and world class.”
McCarty is also pleased with the encouragement he’s received at his goal of completing an Ironman Triathlon. “The thing that’s really nice is all the people are really easy going and nice, and have always been helpful,” he said. “They’re just there to help. I think they’re that way because they want you to have a positive experience.”
How can your club target members not using their membership? If you notice that a member hasn’t used your facilities very much, or has been absent from the club for a longer period of time than normal, be proactive in contacting them. Update these members on new classes and amenities that they may not have noticed due to their absence. In McCarty’s case, finally using the membership he’d paid for, for years, led him to discover a class that encouraged him to reach for goals that he previously had thought unattainable.
McCarty expects to be ready for an Ironman Triathlon in about five years. “It really is just a question of doing it,” he said. “Not can you do it? I think I can.”
By Rachel Zabonick
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
