Starting a Dive Club

[RoadRacer1978]

We have a lot of Oklahoma City area SCUBA Divers on this site and many more divers in our area, but no dive clubs close to us. The idea of starting our own dive club has been tossed around some and I think this is a great idea, but have no idea what we need to do to really get one started. I'm planning on doing some research through the winter and trying to get something arganized for next year. If anyone out there has any links or suggestions on exactly what I would need to do to get a club organized it would be very helpful.

Some questions:
Obviously some of these would have to be decided by the group as a whole once things got started.

Dues. Do your cubs charge dues to be a member? IF so, what types of things do the dues go to. My thoughts would be something like charge a very small amount and use that money to buy food for cookouts during diving events the club does throughout the year. Or do you believe it would be better to take donations for each event instead of charging dues. Or maybe charge a small fee for the event and use that money.

How do you go about getting the LDS in the area involved?. Such as getting them to put the word out about the club to their divers. Possible donations for events. Organizing dive trips.

Do your clubs have some type of elected governing body? Such as a president to get things organized. As treasurer to deal with any funds either through dues, donations, or fees.

Meetings? Do your clubs have meetings for everyone to attend, or is it just a word of mouth type thing to get everyone together for diving events?

This is really all new to me and I would like to get something going that would last and be a great benefit to all our local divers, not just some fly by night scheme that won't amount to anything.

Also anyone from Oklahoma, especially OKC and surrounding area, let me know your ideas of what you would like to see get started and any ideas you have would be helpful. Also any volunteers once things get up and rolling would be great.

I'm sure these questions are truly just the tip of the iceburg and once I really get into my research and as you all introduce your ideas and thoughts I'll be coming up with many, many more questions.

Thanks to all in advance for your help and suport.

[Ohmdiver]

Hello,

I belong to the Auburn Skin Divers Association, started in 1959. You are heading in the right direction.

I am going to give you some short answers as most of your questions will need to be addressed in detail by the group. And these are soley my opinions.

Dues- Yes we charge dues. We charge $25 per year. From April to April. The money is used to make donations as the club sees fit, pay for some of the food and utensils used at various club functions and as petty cash for reservations for club funtions.


LDS- I kinow SSI has a thing called Club Aquarius (sp) But we have found that all the local dive shops support us in one way or another. We are lucky as there are three in our area.

Officers- We have a president, vice president , treasurer, and a scribe (thats me)

Meetings - We meet once a month from Feb- Dec. more as needed. It is typically held some where we can squeeze in a dive too.

This should get you started, somewhat.

[RoadRacer1978]

Thank you for the quick reply. I have been searching the net and have found very little info on actually starting a dive club. I have been looking over the sites of many clubs and that is helpful, but not very informative on actually gettin one up and running from the ground up.

[fireflock]

In some cases, less is more. I'm a part of ncdivers.com, which is kind of a club, but not really. You become a member by showing up somewhere to dive. You stay a member by showing up again to dive. At the same time, no one keeps track of who is or isn't an official member. Leadership isn't determined by nominations or elections. People who are knowledgeable on a particular subject and willing to put in the time to pull something together become the de facto leaders. Group trips are, for the most part, handled by having each person deal with the dive op directly. In other words, a group of divers will plan to show up at the same time and the same place. We don't have any dues, but most of the active divers toss in a few bucks when they can to help keep the lights on.

I'm sure that sounds a bit nuts, but check out the webpage and see some of the things we've pulled off. It's pretty cool, I think. We spend very little time on administrative stuff and a lot of time diving. It's a different approach, but in this case it seems to have worked.

Rich

[Ohmdiver]

Fireflock, sounds like a good set up too. We have a core group, a group with in a group, that take care of their own. I am glad to say that I am part of that inner circle too.

Clubs are also a great way for new divers to meet experianced divers and people to dive with. It is also a good way to get your log book a boost.

If it weren't for the club I would have never been very active in this sport.

I guess the first thing to do is see what kind of support is out there.

Can a club be 3 people?

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by fireflock

In some cases, less is more. I'm a part of ncdivers.com, which is kind of a club, but not really. You become a member by showing up somewhere to dive. You stay a member by showing up again to dive. At the same time, no one keeps track of who is or isn't an official member. Leadership isn't determined by nominations or elections. People who are knowledgeable on a particular subject and willing to put in the time to pull something together become the de facto leaders. Group trips are, for the most part, handled by having each person deal with the dive op directly. In other words, a group of divers will plan to show up at the same time and the same place. We don't have any dues, but most of the active divers toss in a few bucks when they can to help keep the lights on.

I'm sure that sounds a bit nuts, but check out the webpage and see some of the things we've pulled off. It's pretty cool, I think. We spend very little time on administrative stuff and a lot of time diving. It's a different approach, but in this case it seems to have worked.

Rich

in the car community, I was much more about this type of "group" or "club" instead of something that required cash and set leadership... once you get into the money and leadership thing, it gets political... I stay away from that...

[rox@ucf11]

uhh the UCf dive club lets see all we really use is facebook a social network, and email its not really that much work we just say hey lets go have our meetings like every two weeks here and then email or call up and say hey wanna dive so and so place this weekend

[rox@ucf11]

oh we also have a forums but thats is never used, but that could be your social network and there are 150 members in it but... only probably 15-20 members in the core i am one of the core, alot of them never dive, but its soo much fun. I would suggest have a place to meet say 6 on wednesday, and like 2 weeks later 7 on thursday, and again 2 weeks later again at 6 on wednesday etc, but if you dont plan to dive too much ( we go almost every weekend) maybe just once a month is sufficent

[chace_nicole]

I would love to help you out once things get started. I local group would be great because I do not have any friends who dive & that keeps me from diving as frequently as I would like. I know the shop were I got my cert from emails out a newsletter, maybe they would include a mention of a local dive group once its established? I can ask them if you like. Did you do your training locally racer?

[RoadRacer1978]

Originally Posted by chace_nicole

I would love to help you out once things get started. I local group would be great because I do not have any friends who dive & that keeps me from diving as frequently as I would like. I know the shop were I got my cert from emails out a newsletter, maybe they would include a mention of a local dive group once its established? I can ask them if you like. Did you do your training locally racer?

Did my OW training in Moore with Clearwater divers, not there anymore...

Just finished AOW with Bluewater Divers in OKC.


I have a ton of friends that are all certified, but none of them dive. None of them own any gear and are not active in the sport at all. I can't find anyone to dive with on a regualr basis, and that is my motivation for this endevaor. Hopefully we can get some things rolling.

With my research so far and the input from everyone here I am leaning towards something real informal. Just some type of setup with a webpage, e-mail list, and monthly newsletter, and of course diving. Once we really get things going and hopefully have a lot of participation, then we can see if the group would want to have any type of monthly meetings, other than meeting for diving. We'll see how things go, and I will keep everyone interested in the progress.