Get feedback from players who quit or retire

As an organisation knowing the reasons why players leave your club or quit the sport helps find ways to improve your retaining program.

Why is this feedback important?

Losing an athlete after a successful career is quite dramatic for a team or an association. This person has probably a lot of experience and knowledge about the game and structure that could be shared with others ( ). Such dropouts very often indicate that the association is not able to offer a pathway for athletes after their active career to keep them engaged in the association in another role.
An association should be particularly interested in collecting the individual reasons and experiences that caused these athletes to leave, apart from objective reasons such as injury or moving to a different city. According to a gender equity survey of the European Ultimate Federation, the lack of integration in mixed teams, both on and off the pitch, is one of the biggest reasons why many women matching players decide to stop playing a mixed team sport. With this knowledge, mixed teams can make the effort to ensure changes are made within the team to ensure that these issues are addressed appropriately. By asking your outgoing players if there is anything that caused them to leave, you will gain a great insight into any underlying issues that are experienced within the team.

How to get feedback?

Interaction is important, you can collect this feedback with a survey or through direct conversations. The Team or association should make this some sort of priority and communicate to all the players that the goal of improving exists. These steps can already start the conversation that leads to fewer dropouts and also creates awareness for when people want to leave the sport. Whenever you ask someone why they decided to stop, make sure you ask for (Remember the rules if you ask for feedback) and there should be no pressure to keep or prevent a player feedback from leaving. If you as a coach don't have a good relationship with the player, make sure that someone with a good relationship with the player asks for feedback. The common goal is to keep more players in the sport. Having a conversation partner who is trusted will help surface problems that should be addressed.

How to use this feedback

As an association, it is advisable to take into particular consideration the reasons why women matching players quit and take proper measures to get them back or to remove the problem to ensure this pattern is not repeated for other players. This introspective feedback will positively affect future players and will contribute greatly to the club culture.
As an association, you should have clear structures on how to collect and bring this feedback to the decision-makers within the club and how to handle this feedback and take appropriate action with the information collected. Making these changes will improve the morale and retention of members.
Be aware of different age groups, if a junior leaves your program this can have a totally different impact on your organisation than when a senior player decides to quit. Both scenarios are connected to your retaining strategy.