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m o hs k- ms, g r ble - ce y ss t , www.PowersportsBusiness.com SOLUTIONS Powersports Business • September 9, 2013 • 37 DOLLARS & SENSE For recreation or play, never forget about 'The Why' Patti Freeman has a Ph.D. in recreation. a big smile on your face. How about that? I never knew there was Dr. Freeman, currently professor and such a thing. A Ph.D. in recreation. Who would department chair of the BYU Recreation Manhave thought? But there is. And she has it. agement Department, has some good ideas I happened to catch a speech she gave about this recreation thing. She actually puts recently about her chosen field, and it has words to what we do, and begins by talking caused me to re-think this business we about play. are in. We say, constantly, that we are "Play," she says, "is essential." It in the "recreation business." But I allows us to experience the world at don't think we have a clue what we our own rate. Play teaches persistence, really do. which is learned by doing hard things. We sell bikes and nuts and bolts Ever watch kids on bikes building a and tie downs and trailers. We fix jump on the sidewalk? They had to them; we haul them; we run find the boards and the bricks. They them from the back to the worked on the incline and the front every morning and back strength of the ramp. When things to the back every night. We didn't hold together, they had to HAL ETHINGTON cuss them when they won't come up with a new design and start, and we sing their praises try again. They then experimented when we make a jump, or clip off 500 miles in with the speed and the approach angle. And a one-day run across a whole state. after all of this, they competed to see who We do all this. Day after day. We deal with could get the most air. Think this would have the machines, the parts and the repairs. And application in the real world? Of course. we never think about — The Why — people Those kids didn't call this "work." They come through our doors. called it play. And we call it recreation. Come on. These things are not necessiPatti quotes author David E. Gray who ties. You're sitting out in the open, exposed to defines recreation as: everything, your clothes flapping in the wind. "Recreation is an emotional condition You've got a hot bucket on your head, and within an individual human being that flows sweat running down your neck. Your kickfrom a feeling of well-being and self-satisfacstand sinks in the hot asphalt, car drivers never tion. It is characterized by feelings of mastery, see you, and you are always on super defense. achievement, exhilaration, acceptance, sucWe won't even talk about the cold and the cess, personal worth and pleasure. It reinforces rain. You know all these things, and yet you a positive self-image. Recreation is a response still get on one, and in five minutes you've got to aesthetic experience, achievement of per- P36x37-PSB11-Solutions.indd 37 sonal goals, or positive feedback from others. It is independent of activity, leisure, or social acceptance." And there you have, exactly what we make possible. "Recreation business" is not an oxymoron. We provide tools and equipment, but with those tools and equipment, our customers create time, space and memories with people they love. I was driving past the sand dunes at the southern tip of the Oquirrh Mountains just west of Salt Lake. Dad was at the base, standing, watching, coaching. Son was on the bike. Looked like a little CRF80, and the kid was about 10. Halfway up, and he tips to the side. He walks it down, and Dad helps him start up again. A little over halfway, he loses his balance and kills the engine. Back again. Dad talks to him, and he tries once more. This time, to the top. Play. Fear. Persistence. Success. Confidence. It all goes together to build character. Recognizing its power for good, Patti lays out four ways to create and protect recreation. First, she says, we have to make recreation a priority. We have to believe that it really is an important element of a good life, and make it happen. Free time could be spent in leisure. It could be spent in a "vacation" which implies loafing, hanging out, or passing time. Or, it could be spent in a time of re-creation, a time of renewal, a time of self-discovery. The highest purpose of play, she says, is re-creation. And guess who sells the play toys. Patti's second element of recreation is to create time and space for it. Media and technology are not recreation; they are distractions. "Often," she says, "they fill time that could be used for more meaningful interactions." Recreation, she notes as her third point, is as much a state of mind, as it is an activity. And fourth, it can be more easily found in a simplified life, than in one that is filled with diversions. In the past 40 years I have sold tens of thousands of bikes, tie downs and T-shirts. I have employed hundreds of people, and traveled the world with people who had done the same. But when remembering the best of it all, my mind always goes back to that one moment that would happen each fall: My riding buddy Ron and I sit on two Gold Wings, packed and ready to roll, but stopped for a moment at the exit from my parking lot. We pause, take out a coin and flip it. We look, grin and head north. Simply north. No destination. No timetable. And no agenda. And for three days we ride fine machines through new places, have new adventures, meet fascinating people and see the world not from inside the wagon, but from the back of the horse. For three days, pure re-creation. Freeman's remarks are used here with her permission. PSB Hal Ethington has been associated with the powersports industry for more than 40 years. Ethington is a senior analyst at ADP Lightspeed. Contact him at Hal.Ethington@adp.com. 8/28/13 11:09 AM