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

Sticky | November 22, 2023 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 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

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The 7 Day Registration Checklist

Sticky | April 20, 2023 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!

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Best Practices for Running a Youth Sports Club

April 11, 2023 Sports Office Resources No comments yet

It’s also necessary for all players and parents to know what is expected of each of them. Players and parents should each sign and read the team’s code of conduct.

In the U.S., about 37 percent of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 play an organized team sport on a regular basis.

While one-in-three kids seems like a high rate, this number – published in The Aspen Institute’s State of Play 2017 report – has been declining in recent years.

What does that tell us? There are many reasons why kids might be opting out of organized sports such as finances, skills and location. But that also means it’s more important than ever for sports organizations to ensure kids have a good experience when they do participate.

To do this, youth sports clubs need to be organized and well-managed. When evaluating your organization, take a look at the following best practices for running a youth sports club.

Establish leadership and governance

Youth sports clubs need organization, and this starts with establishing governance. Most clubs have a board of directors, usually comprised of parents and community members. Make sure your board is clearly identified and the roles of each person are made clear.

According to GoalNation.com, board members are needed from a leadership standpoint, but it’s also important they know when to let the director and coaches handle issues. Micromanaging staff members can hurt productivity and morale.

Also make sure the club’s mission, values and code of conduct are published and distributed. These will help define who the club is, what it stands for and what behaviors it will or will not tolerate.

Set expectations

Every person on the club’s staff and roster should know what is expected of them.

Before the season begins, make sure all staff members and coaches are aware of the club’s expectations. From a behavioral standpoint, this could include following the team’s code of conduct and embracing its mission and values. Coaches could also be expected to attend clinics and seminars to ensure they are enhancing their coaching skills.

It’s also necessary for all players and parents to know what is expected of each of them. Players and parents should each sign and read the team’s code of conduct. This will make each individual aware of what is expected of them throughout the season, and what rules they’re expected to follow. This also gives teams written documentation to fall back on if action needs to be taken during the season.

Establish lines of communication

Teams should make sure there are open lines of communication between the club and its members. Establishing communication creates transparency throughout the squad as players and their families know the team wants to hear their opinions. It also gives directors, coaches and staff members an organized way to talk to the athletes and their parents.

To ensure each person has a chance to be heard – and to prevent staff members from being bombarded with phone calls and emails – teams should set boundaries on communication. This includes how communication should take place and when. Determine if a specific team phone number or email address should be the go-to for communications from parents or players, or if coaches and directors can be contacted via a personal phone or email address.

SportsRecruits.com also recommends determining when communication can take place. Are parents and players limited to making contact during business hours, or are phone calls and emails during the evenings and weekends allowed?

Be transparent

Sports clubs need to be as transparent as possible with athletes and their parents. With so much emphasis being placed on fairness and openness in youth sports, teams need to give players and their parents as much visibility into their club and its processes as possible. This can include giving clear instructions as to how rosters will be determined and how tryouts will be run. It can also include communicating information as needed throughout the season as issues occur, including roster or schedule updates.

One way to add more transparency into your club is by using sports evaluation software. Apps like TeamGenius allow clubs to evaluate players during tryouts without listing player names. Instead, players are listed by only their tryout number. This can prevent evaluators from knowing the identity of the player they are scoring. This solution also allows coaches to send results to players after tryouts so each player knows how they scored and what criteria the staff will be using when creating the roster.

Hire the right coaches

Running a good youth sports club can come down to the people. How a player interacts with their coach could make or break an athlete’s experience with the sport and your club. Putting quality coaches in place and ensuring they have the support they need can create a successful environment for coaches and players. Coaches can be supported by receiving training, being allowed to attend clinics and seminars, and other events where they can enhance their skills. They should also know they have the support of the director and the board of directors and that the entire club wants him or her to succeed.

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New Financial Tools in Sports Engine

Sticky | March 15, 2023 News, Technology No comments yet

Sports Engine is releasign new financial tools. Need to know how they work? Check out the full breakdown including videos!

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