A comment left against the post “Three Day Weekend Tournament Survey” on Friday asked a fair question. To paraphrase, Jack was wondering if there was a difference between the scheduling preferences of people who are retirement age and people who have yet to reach that milestone. The glaring admission was a real dope slap moment for me.
The most logical break point to answer that question, based on the demographic data collected in my survey, is 55. That age is when early retirement becomes an option, at least in the eyes of the IRS. That break point also picks up people who are later in their careers that are likely to have more vacation at their disposal.
Editorial Note: If you don’t see a pie chart immediately after this paragraph, then your email privacy settings are likely blocking images. I recommend viewing this post directly on fiendatcourt.com because the words will probably make more sense with the pictures.
66.67% of people under the age of 55 prefer a Friday start.
76% of players over 55 preferred the Friday through Sunday schedule. That is a discernibly stronger response than players in the younger demographic. However, it represents fewer overall players. Just for fun, (I am a real riot at parties), I decided to further narrow down the results for players who are over 70. It is ridiculously easy to do using my survey service provider.
It is a small sample size and certainly not statistically significant, but the older players had the least strength in preference and signaled a higher degree of flexibility. I think that players in that age range are happy to be playing competitive tennis on any day. #lifegoals
One thing that haunts me is that this site’s readership is heavily weighted with tournament players. Active tournament players have already conformed to the de facto Friday through Sunday schedule. It is potentially not representative of the entire candidate pool for tournament participation.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a great solution for reaching current non-tournament players. However, I am thinking about it. A lot. I am also open to ideas and suggestions on how to effectively engage with that demographic.
Thanks for presenting the age-based analysis. I will call out that the Sat-Mon responses were nearly 4x more positive in the under 55 cohort and the no preference responses increased 5x in the over 55 cohort. I believe the former reinforces the preference of working folks to reduce unnecessary vacation days and the latter adds weight to your #lifegoals comment.
BTW, what is your definition of non-tournament players? I ask because in Florida we have adult USTA teams competing in leagues throughout the year with the goal to winning the region and advancing to the Florida sectional tournaments. We also have players who compete in USTA weekend tournaments and may or may not play on regional teams. There are also players who participate in non-USTA flex leagues/ladders who may or may not play any USTA events. The flex leagues/ladders end their seasons with a playoff that could be described as tournament play. My point being, there aren’t many social only/non-tournament players in my working age tennis orbit.