People on Tri Teams.

In my neck of the woods there is a difference between a "club" and a "team."

The local team is a pay-to-play where it's structured around coaching and group training. The cost is in-line with what you would pay for a one-on-one coach for the duration of a season ($500-$600). They typically pick a 70.3 and a 140.6 race to train for and travel to together. I throw this in because they are recognized by USAT as a club and typically win the regional club championship points races - even though they have a nontraditional high entry pay-to-play structure. I do love their kits.

The local club is very minimal membership ($25/year) and they provide very little value in my opinion. A few clinics from sponsors per year but no group training and no group racing to speak of. They do put on one of the more popular races in the area, though. I hate their race kits.

I used to be a member of the club but didn't renew a number of years ago as I just wasn't getting anything out of it. It seemed the clinics were just masked as sponsors trying to sell me chiropractic services or something and with no group training opportunities I wasn't sure what I was paying for.

The team is run by one of my good friends and if I won the lottery and my target race was theirs for the year I would absolutely be on board with them.

I'll just say that clubs are definitely a regional/individual experience, because my experience with the Cleveland Tri Club is that it is an excellent group.  Tons of group training events all over town, organized training and racing events (indoor tri's, regular OWS's, usually followed by a group ride, track days, hill repeat days, ad nauseum), cookouts & other social functions, race-specific training days (like a course preview ride for Rev3 Cedar Point), etc..  AND they offer a pretty groovy looking team race kit.    I am a member, and I don't use their kit (I race for Team RWB) - and I attend very few of the group activities (somehow, they always conflict with my scheduled workout or other life event), but I have met quite a lot of incredible people that I enjoy seeing at events.  

That alone, to me, makes it worthwhile.  It makes a race feel like a reunion.

The team/club I am on is more than a triathlon team. We are a cancer awareness team that uses endurance sports to bring awareness. The founder of our team was a stage 4 survivor for many years until she passed last spring. We do group rides together and stuff like that and we meet up for races. We don't not really get anything out of being on the team per se, but one of the requirements for the Warriors is that you do 2 pay it forward projects a year. Those projects include doing things for people battling cancer, whether it is bringing them meals, doing yard work, cleaning their house or the team even simply brings baskets to patients with goodies in it for when they are getting their chemo treatments. A lot of the races we support and race are tied into St Jude Children's Hospital.

Not every member of the Warriors is a competitive racer. We do have some awesome race kits though. It is perfect for what I am looking for, and it has some of the best people around. And if you ever met the founder (Jessica or her husband James), you simply would just want to be around them, they are great people.

I am on a triathlon team, and I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can.  I'm not sure what a team wrench is?

- Over the years there have been various logos on our team kits, so I assume they have sponsored us in some form over the years, but what is more obvious is that we get discounts at local shops, the same way local clubs do.

- There are members who do regularly podium, and probably an equal number who are pushing course cutoff times.

- During winter, the races the team trains for are marathons / half marathons / 10K.  There are a few swims on our schedule as "B" or "C" races.  Plenty of people do races other than what's on the team schedule, including stand-alone run, bike and swim events.

- I love our team kits.

- Yep, we travel to big races that the team votes on. I believe we had 60 athletes at IMMT this summer.

- With so many people, we do often come in at the top of team competitions a lot.

- I'm not sure who manages the website.  We have 2 head coaches, but a pretty large support staff, including swim coaches, ride leaders, etc.. I'm guessing there's somebody on staff that does this, possibly in exchange for discounted membership fees.

- We have booths at a lot of local race expos, and large tents at any race the team travels to.

- Pricing is ~$70-80/month depending on if you pay month-to-month, semi-annually or annually.  Swim fees are extra though.

- Membership includes training plans, a coach/leader at each workout, ride sags, team atmosphere.  The local clubs in the area also have a ton of group workouts and kits, so I guess the difference is mainly the training plans and atmosphere at races.

I'm on a club/team of sorts.  Actually has caused a bit of an issue since my coach has a kit and considers everyone coached as part of their "team"... but i'll get into what my club team does/has below:

Outside of your coach(s) who get all the sponsorship ? 
All members of the team benefits from the sponsorships; next year and elite team with race reimbursement may happen

What kind of sponsorship do you have ? 
We get funding from some local businesses and discounts from local cycling/running stores 

What kind of sponsorship do you want ?
I'll take what I can get.  Some local cycling teams have nutrition sponsors like Gu, that would be nice.  There are of course some local ones I don't want... but I digress.

Does your team have people who regularly podium ? 
Yes, but that is not a requirement for the team and while it is nice, is not a concern of the sponsors so much as being a source of good publicity and representing them with a positive image to the community.

Do members of your team do other events ? Swim or bike .. We all run. 
I think I'm the only one, and I had to work in that I wear my cycling team kit during bike races instead of the tri team kit. 

Do you like your team kit ? 
Yes, it's awesome.

Do you travel as team to "big" races ? What I mean is do a majority choose a race and all sign up ? 
We mostly choose local races for large turnout purposes to be "team events".  I believe next year a select few  events will be laid out as "mandatory" and might have some sort of reimbursement attached to them. 

Who manages the website ? 
We currently only have a group facebook page, the club organizer manages it. 

Do you have a team wrench ? 
One of our three title sponsors is a bike shop and we get service from them

How do you recruit new members ? 
Social media and through group workouts in the area

How much is your membership ? 
Can't really disclose that, probably could, but don't feel like throwing it out there.  it's just enough to make sure that people signing up are doing it to be a part of the team and not just for the perks.  

What do you get with your membership ?
I received 2 cycling kits, 1 winter cycling kit, 1 tri kit, 1 running tech shirt, 1 running singlet.  In addition to the apparel we get discounts both a local bike shop and running store as well as a coaching business and computrainer studio.