Community sports are not like they used to be 20 years ago. With the introduction of technology, it’s much harder to put together a local team of people who are interested in the same sport that you are. The biggest issue with community sports is a lack of volunteers because when the grassroots sport clubs try to put together community events, trying to find people to help staff those events is not easy.
Everything from hiring a sports team charter bus to having volunteers on site to pour a coffee can be a struggle to arrange. However, there are other compounding pressures to consider. At their core, most clubs are still really doing things the way they were doing them in the 90s, with minimal planning, traditional fundraisers and a committee structure. But right now you can get your club back on track with our tips below.
- Have a plan. Your community Sports Club is going to be easier to manage if you have a goal. Are you looking to earn more money for local charities? Are you looking to earn money for newer facilities to use? You need to make game changing improvements to your club, but you have to know what those improvements are so that you don’t lose sight of it. Planning how to get where you want your sport to go is really going to make a big difference, so you need to have an eye to the future. Volunteers, for example, can get so caught up week to week that they don’t get the chance to look forward and feel excited.
- Don’t do it on your own. If you want to level up your community Sports Club, you really do need to gather everybody together. It takes a lot to run a successful club, but it takes the work of more than one person to do it. Volunteers are facing burnout like never before, so if people are putting their hands up to help out, spread the load so that everybody is doing something without anybody burning out. You don’t want to have a committee turnover that’s too high, and you don’t want to end up with volunteers burning out too quickly. If you want your community Sports Club to go somewhere, get as many parents and friends on as you can to help you run it.
- Work hard and smartly with fundraising. A fundamental aspect of any community Sports Club is fundraising.But The thing is, if you’re spending all of your time trying to raise funds, you’re not doing it smart enough. You should be able to be out there training those on the team, having fun, playing and winning competitions. You need funds to do this, so make sure that you are moving your fundraising online to save time and effort. And anybody on the team should be looking to their workplaces, their schools and their friends to do some fundraising too. Again, it’s called spreading the load. It’s not trying to tackle the whole thing by yourself.If people want the club to remain alive then they have to be a part of breathing life into it.
- Get yourself online if you want to level up your community Sports Club. Your website and social media platforms are the first place that any participants, volunteers or members will see your club. You need to make sure that you’re making a great first impression with your brand and your club online because if people are going to see you there first, they’re going to want to contact you afterwards. Having a good club website should highlight everything from your history to your achievements and what you’re hoping to achieve in the future. You should have a brand message and a mission in place. You might be a community Sports Club, but your whole goal is to be something and make your team something, so putting that online is going to inspire others to want to sign up and help.
- Manage your budget effectively. You can level up your community Sports Club by managing your budget to be able to afford those sports charter buses and be able to afford the facilities you want to afford. You have to consider how much it costs to play on those courts or fields depending on the sport that you’re playing, and you have to make sure that you’re realistic in your financial goals too.
You can level up your club and really be something – and win!
