Zac Herr, Author at Sports Office

How to Increase Youth Sports Participation (and why it matters)

Sticky | November 22, 2023 Zac Herr General, Sports Office Resources No comments yet

After a large decline during COVID, youth sports participation is back on the rise.

But overall, participation is still down compared to pre-pandemic levels. And even worse, the United States has a less-than-stellar report card when it comes to youth physical activity.

Participating in sports has been found to increase both physical and mental health among children. In fact, a recent study shows that 58.4% of parents found that their child’s mental health greatly improved as a result of involvement in sports. And, 71% cited improved social well-being.

Unfortunately, 27% of parents reported that their child lost interest in playing sports all together.

As a coach or trainer, you can play an important role as a motivator, and can help facilitate positive relationships with sports that keep young people active throughout life stages.

Here are a few ideas to help you cultivate positive experiences at your business that encourage youth sports participation.

The first step: determine how to motivate your athletes

Success requires motivation. Sports are no exception. Improving youth sports participation starts with motivating your athletes. First, it is important that you find out how they are motivated. Are they intrinsically motivated, fueled by a love for the game and to see what they can do? Or, are they more extrinsically motivated, driven by trophies or recognition. There is no right or wrong form of motivation. But, it’s important to distinguish, as this should influence the way you work with your athletes.

3 ways to increase youth sports participation

1. Keep training fun

For many athletes, especially young ones, they want to play. They want to compete. They want to be the best. But, as you know better than anyone, there is a lot of consistent hard work and preparation that leads up to these moments. While training won’t always live up to the “hype” of competitions, there are ways you can make it more exciting, where athletes look forward to showing up to your facility.

So, how can you keep training fun? Explain the importance of drills. Show athletes how these movements or skills can really benefit them in competition, and improve their gameplay. In addition, you could consider adding a little healthy competition in practice. For example, if you operate a baseball hitting academy, host a “home run derby,” posting a leaderboard in the facility. Not only will their athletes get reps in, but it will help them find fun in practice.

Bonus tip: you can share some of these fun challenges on your social media platforms. Check out this article for more social media content ideas for your sports training business.

2. Give feedback (and celebrate small wins)

In addition to making the training fun, it’s also important that you provide athletes with empowering, motivating feedback. Feedback, both positive and negative, is essential to athlete development. But, it also has a great effect on a child’s experience with their sport.

Celebrating little victories and giving praise is essential to keeping athletes motivated. For young athletes who may just be getting introduced to a specific sport, it’s important to find positive ways to give feedback. As an athlete continues to develop, you can continue to offer constructive comments to help them fine tune a specific skill or refine their technique. There are times to dig into your athletes, and there are times to uplift them. A great strength is recognizing when and where each are appropriate.

For more tips on giving effective athlete feedback and evaluations, check out the Ultimate Guide to Effective Feedback & Evaluations here!

3. Make it easy to get involved

Another way to help increase youth sports participation is to make it easy for parents to register their athletes for various programs. Using a youth sports software will help you reduce barriers to entry and make it easy for athletes to find the program, lesson, or camp that is the right fit for their age, skill level, or position. The best scheduling app for coaches will make it easy for potential athletes to get information on your offerings so they are able to make the most informed decisions.

A poor user experience, or complicated scheduling process will ultimately lead to athletes taking their business elsewhere. Or, even worse, giving up on sports all together. Investing in a sports facility booking app will help you streamline your business operations. As a result, you’ll be able to invest your time and energy into creating inspiring and motivating programs that improve not only a child’s athletic skill, but their physical and mental well-being.

Bonus tip: With features such as auto-renewing memberships or repeat booking, sports software such as Upper Hand can make it even easier for your clients to make sports training a consistent part of their lives. Here’s what to look for in a sports management software..

What’s next?

As more and more life is found online, sports remain a great way to keep children active and connected. And, as a sports business owner and coach, you have an incredible opportunity to influence a child’s experience with sports.

Athletes exist on a spectrum. Some are in search of friends or an energy outlet. Others are looking to make it to the big leagues. No matter where your athletes fall, you can keep sports training fun and exciting. By keeping your programming fun, feedback positive, and business accessible, you can continue to encourage young athletes to stay involved in sports.

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Sports Office Resources- Club Capital

Sticky | September 29, 2023 Zac Herr Sports Office Resources No comments yet

What Services Does Club Capital Offer?

Industry-Specific Tax Services:

Club Capital’s Tax Services help clubs navigate complex compliance regulations, prepare and file tax returns, and avoid costly penalties. With experience and knowledge in non-profit and for-profit taxes, our team can ensure your organization remains compliant while maximizing your tax benefits.

CFO Services:

Should you hire another coach? Should you start a winter program or a summer clinic? Will my club have enough cash to run until fall registration? As club directors/board members, these are the questions you ask yourself every day, and our CFO services will help you determine how these decisions will impact your club’s future success.

Monthly Accounting:

Take away the guesswork and empower your club with monthly financial reports and quarterly meetings designed with your dedicated account manager to help your club achieve its goals.

Interested in learning more? Check out the Club Capital website HERE

Protecting Your Athletes: Staying Vigilant Against Social Media Scams

Sticky | August 23, 2023 Zac Herr Social, Sports Office Resources No comments yet

In today’s digital age, social media has become an integral part of our lives, connecting people from all walks of life, including youth athletes. However, with the rise of social media, there has also been an alarming increase in scams targeting these young talents. As a parent, coach, or organizer involved in the sports community, it’s essential to educate ourselves and our young athletes about the dangers of social media scams and how to stay safe online.

Understanding the Threat: What Are Social Media Scams?

Social media scams encompass a wide range of fraudulent activities that exploit individuals’ trust and naivety. Scammers often create fake profiles, pages, or events that appear legitimate, targeting youth athletes with promises of scholarships, sponsorships, or opportunities to enhance their athletic careers. These scams can lead to financial losses, identity theft, and emotional distress.

Red Flags to Look Out For

Too Good to Be True Offers: Scammers often dangle offers that seem too good to pass up, such as full scholarships to prestigious universities or lucrative sponsorship deals. Encourage your young athletes to verify the authenticity of such offers through official channels.
Urgent Requests for Personal Information: Scammers may ask for sensitive information like social security numbers, bank account details, or passwords. Remind your athletes never to share such information online.
Poor Grammar and Spelling: Many scams originate from non-native English speakers, resulting in poorly written messages. If a message seems suspicious due to its language quality, it’s wise to be cautious.
Request for Payment: Legitimate opportunities rarely require upfront payment. If a supposed opportunity demands money in exchange for promises, it’s likely a scam.
High-Pressure Tactics: Scammers might create a sense of urgency to coerce young athletes into making hasty decisions. Advise them to take their time and consult with trusted adults before committing to anything.

Tips for Prevention

Educate Your Athletes: Organize workshops or discussions on social media safety to ensure that young athletes understand the risks and can identify potential scams.
Verify Profiles: Teach your athletes to verify profiles and organizations before engaging. Genuine entities will have a strong online presence and a history of interactions.
Use Privacy Settings: Encourage your athletes to set their social media profiles to private and control who can access their information.
Two-Step Verification: Enable two-step verification on their social media accounts to add an extra layer of security.
Trust Instincts: Emphasize the importance of trusting their instincts. If something feels off, they should distance themselves from the situation.

Reporting Scams

If your young athlete encounters a potential scam, make sure they know how to report it to the respective social media platform. Prompt reporting can prevent others from falling victim to the same trap.

In conclusion, as a part of the virtual sports management community, it’s our responsibility to arm our young athletes with knowledge about social media scams. By educating them about the red flags, prevention methods, and reporting procedures, we can help ensure their online safety while they pursue their dreams. Together, let’s create a digital environment where young athletes can thrive without the fear of falling prey to scams.

Always be sure to reach out to your social media support lines to report and aid in removing social media scams:

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How to Get a Youth Sports Team Sponsorship

Sticky | July 19, 2023 Zac Herr General, Sports Office Resources No comments yet

Did you know that youth sports teams can obtain sponsorships just like professional teams? Check out some tips on how to start the process for your club below inspired by LeagueApps!

1. Define Your Team’s Goals and Needs

What is it you’re trying to achieve by securing a sports team sponsorship? What areas do you need support in? Consider equipment, uniforms, travel expenses, and coaching fees as a place to start.

2. Create a Sports Team Sponsorship Proposal

Potential sponsors are more likely to engage with your idea if you outline why it will be beneficial for them. Include where there name would be featured, information about your team, your team’s achievements, the demographics of your target audience (who comes to watch games), and how the sponsor’s brand will gain visibility through your team’s games and activities.

3. Identify Potential Sponsors

Create a list of local businesses or organizations that align with your team’s values, mission, or target audience. Consider local sports stores, restaurants, healthcare providers, or companies with community involvement programs. You can also approach larger corporations with a local presence. Collaborating with parents of your players can be a great way to tap into the businesses that parents go to or are even connected to—they can help facilitate introductions and provide referrals.

4. Make Contact

Reach out to your potential sponsors with a well-crafted email (this can be templatized to make the process easier) or by visiting them in person. Don’t forget to introduce yourself and your team, express your interest in establishing a sponsorship relationship, and be clear about the benefits and what their support will do for your team.

If you don’t hear back immediately, don’t get discouraged. Politely follow-up via email or make a phone call. Persistence and professionalism without seeming impatient can make a difference.

5. Offer Different Sponsorship Levels

Create a range of sponsorship options to cater to different budgets and needs. For instance, you can have different tiers of sponsorship with varying benefits, such as logo placement on uniforms, banners, or promotional material.

6. Provide Exposure for Sponsors

Show your potential sponsors how you plan to give them visibility and acknowledgement—like logos on team uniforms, on your website, your social media, and in other ways at events. You can even promote their brand during games by selling their product or hanging a banner.

7. Build Relationships

Remember: sponsorship is not just about financial support, it’s about building long-term relationships. Treat your sponsors like partners and provide them with regular updates on your team’s progress and community involvement. Don’t forget to express gratitude and recognize their contributions when your team experiences successes.

8. Explore Crowdfunding or Fundraising Events

Consider organizing fundraising events or setting up crowdfunding campaigns to supplement your sponsorship efforts. By using LeagueApps E-commerce features, you can easily connect donations right within your registration flow. You can also share the links to your listings with their family, friends, and community to encourage donations for their favorite young athlete’s team.

Securing sponsorships takes time and effort. Tailor your approach to each potential sponsor when possible and don’t forget to make them feel valued in the partnership!

The 7 Day Registration Checklist

Sticky | April 20, 2023 Zac Herr Sports Office Resources No comments yet

Building a registration form can be difficult, especially if you’re doing so by yourself. Check out our 7-Day checklist inspired by TeamSnap!

1. Find a Good Platform

Finding a good platform to set up your registration is the most important step in staying organized. A good platform will allow you to collect as many data points as you need, collect a payment, and track all the happenings of who is registering and when. Getting a good system in place will save you a lot of time and effort in the end!

2. Find out what needs to be recorded

Data is the quintessential piece to your registration setup. Without the appropriate information, you’ll get disorganized and things will start to fall apart. It’s important to take some time to think about what you may need to do with the data in the future and set out some of the major data points you need to be recorded.

3-4. Begin building your form

Once you have found a good foundation and set some time aside to take notes on your registration fields, it’s time to get to work building it out. Take some extra time to really make sure that you hit every point when building this out. Incomplete or difficult registration will only make the lives harder for yourself, coaches, volunteers, players, and parents. Building something simple and easy for parents to complete is the ideal goal when formatting. There is no need for anything too flashy on the registration side of things.

5. Run Through Tests

Now that your registration form is complete, have yourself and a few others run some tests. You may find you missed a data point or find you want to add or remove certain items. You also want to make sure someone other than yourself can run through these tests to get a good outside perspective on the ease of the process.

6. Begin Marketing

After the registration building process is complete, you aren’t done yet. Marketing your program is just as important as the initial setup. Marketing your program can be done either through social media, email marketing, flyers, or whatever your preferred method may be. The more your program is marketed, the more traction it’s going to get.

7. Launch, Promote, and Track

You’ve built out your registration, marketed it, and now it’s time to launch. Once your registration is active, it’s not time to slow down. You’ll want to keep active on things, especially in the first few days to make sure everything is running smoothly. Keeping a watchful eye on things as time passes will help you prepare for the actual program you run. This will also give you a good idea of things you may want to change in the future the next time you set up your registration!