HOW DOES ASA STACK UP AGAINST THE COMPETITION?

ASA VERSUS ONLINE MATCH MAKING SERVICES
Well, of course, this depends on what you’re looking for first off. If your entire motivation is to meet someone for a one-on-one relationship and you don’t really care about getting outdoors and meeting groups of people then we would have to say you are probably going to be better off by giving the online dating services a try. The ASA philosophy on being single is to enjoy your freedom and to enjoy this time in your life as this could be an opportunity of you to learn new things, meet interesting people and truly enjoy being single. But if you’re still considering ASA versus Online Matchmaking, these are the comments our members are sharing with us about their experiences with these dating services:

• The profiles may not accurate. Meaning people are posting photos that are not current, their ages are not correct or they are even married.

• It feels like work. First there’s the siphoning through all the profiles and responses to your profile. Then when you meet a new person it becomes a question and answer session.  Do you want kids? Why did you get divorced? Etc, etc.  It’s not really all that much fun.

ASA VERSUS ONLINE GROUPS
Sure, there are groups that you can get involved with that use bulletin board-type systems where people post activities and you show up for their “event”.  You might find a hike or bike ride or even a happy hour by searching online. But these groups can not possibly give you what ASA does. Here are the major differences:

• ASA spends hundreds of hours researching and planning our events and picking competent leaders who will greet and make introductions.
• None of the online groups compare with our comprehensive assortment of activities. We offer private house parties, huge annual parties, weekend trips including water-skiing, snow-skiing, Rosarito, Ensenada, Palm Desert, river rafting, kayaking, hiking trips or cultural events, special ticketed-type events or vacations that ASA does. You will also be very impressed with how these events are organized and coordinated with the information you receive. We take our jobs seriously and strive for complete member satisfaction. Every time someone new comes on one of our weekend trips or vacations they let us know how impressed they are with the itineraries and how all the details were handled.
• ASA offers exciting, well-planned vacations.  If you enjoy traveling, you’re going to love ASA. We typically offer 10 vacations a year and with our membership base of over 1,500 members we are easily able to fill up these trips. In 2007 we have traveled to Rio, New Zealand, Croatia, Panama, Belize, Aruba, Costa Rica and Thailand. In addition to these trips we also had ski vacations, a 3-day hiking trip into the Grand Canyon and all of our weekend trips. You will not find any other club or organization that offers more trips than ASA.
• ASA has full-time office staff to sign you up for events and to answer your questions. If there is an event that requires you to sign up in advance, you can do that either online with our event shopping cart by entering your credit card or you can just call the office and speak to someone.
• You can not expect to meet the quality of person through online groups than you can by being a member of ASA.  Our $375 membership fee is reasonable and a very good value, but it also serves as a raised bar to help insure the quality of our members. Our typical member feels that their social life is worth investing in. What sort of person does an internet group with no membership fee attract? Are they even single?  In our 22 year history we have never had a case where someone paid their membership fee who turned out to be married or in any other way was hiding something. We like that and so do our members. We’re also active in the screening process if we do not feel that a certain person is “right” for our club.

ASA VERSUS SPORT SPECIFIC CLUBS
Okay, so you’re into tennis, or bicycling or hiking – why not join one of these clubs.  And it’s not a bad idea if you’re really looking for some competition or a strong workout and you don’t care if the other participants are single. Many of our members are also members of other sport specialty clubs. But ASA will give you plenty of variety in these and many other sports while also toning down the competition factor, which most of our members appreciate.

WHAT DO I GET FOR MY MEMBERSHIP FEE?
Membership in ASA is a very good value and will actually pay for itself in a year’s time. Besides the personal attention we offer with our office staff and the quality of our 52-page newsletter magazine, here are some other key points:

• We negotiate group rates for every event that does have a charge. Most of our events are free such as volleyball, bicycling, hiking, happy hours, etc., but when an event does have a cost such as kayaking or a theatre event, we’re always working to save the members money. For example, we were able to get over 30% off on tickets to Cirque du Soleil just recently. We’re also happy to lock in tickets in advance for our members to guarantee an event will be successful.
• Lots of free events. Most of our events cost nothing at all. Even our house parties, where people bring something to share. We supply volleyball and softball equipment. We offer free tennis lessons and even have members with sailboats who take us out sailing at no cost.
• Communication – you will stay informed. We send out weekly emails that condense down our newsletter and give you everything you need to know about the events coming up this week in ASA. Our updates include recaps on the weekend events, any changes to events that you need to know about, reminders to sign up for our special, ticketed events, links to photos taken by members at our events, the “At a Glance” section with a quick look at the events happening this week, and the trips section with an update on each trip and how many are signing up as well as links for more information on each trip. We’ll even send out additional updates getting closer to the weekend if anything else should change.
• Members who make things happen. We can’t say enough about our members. Our members are opening up their homes for fantastic parties and inviting us over to their homes for weekend water-ski trips. For example, we go to the Colorado River on a monthly basis and stay at a members’ 5-bedroom waterfront home, have 2 ski boats and provide all the food for just $119 which includes the gas!  We have another water-ski trip to Big Bear in July at another amazing waterfront home.  Not only do no other clubs offer these type of trips, but these events represent huge savings even if you were able to put them together yourself.
• Find members and get in touch with our online sport database. Once you are a member we will give you an ID number to log-on to our database. Want to find a tennis partner who lives in your city and has the same ability level of yourself? No problem, you’ll have this and 19 other sports at your fingertips. Met someone at one of our events and didn’t get their phone number? Just look them up online. We do not offer email address or photos on our database.
• Save hundreds of dollars with our group vacations. If you took just one vacation with us you will have at least the cost of our $375 membership fee – guaranteed. Not only are our trips well-organized and well-attended, they are terrific values with group savings of hundreds of dollars. There’s power in numbers and we’ve been planning vacations for 22 years now. 
• It adds up to a free membership!  Free tennis lessons, free sailing, free house parties, discounted tickets and vacations saving you hundreds of dollars – your membership in ASA will easily pay for itself AND you receive all of our personalized services. This is why our retention rate is so high. Many of our members have been in the club for several years.  This is the sincerest form of compliment. Our goal is to earn your renewal, and we will. By the way, renewals drop down to $275.  There are also opportunities to get involved in our leadership program and earn discounted or even free renewals for leading events.

We hope we have made our case for why you should invest in your social life and not waste you time or money on other groups. There’s a reason ASA has been in business for 22 years. Give us a try. Join today and become a part of our club and begin your new, active lifestyle.