Best Practices for Running a Youth Sports Club

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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Youth Sports Program Planning

Planning is the cornerstone of any well-run youth sports program. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! Proper planning prevents poor performance! Planning is extremely important in coordinating any high-level program. Planning can come in many forms and most all plans are open and customizable to how you want to operate. Below are some tips on different plans you should have in place within your youth sports programs.

  • Scheduling: Schedule out your program dates at least a year in advance. If you run multiple sports leagues organize your dates in a program calendar to give you a picture of the entire year. If you are coordinating programs all year round, you also want to have a solid programming plan in place. Once your schedules are set for the year communicate it!
  • League Documents: No matter what types of documents you use in your league make sure you have your templates ready to go well before your next season. These include things like parents’ packets, rules books, forms, flyers, administrative spreadsheets, etc. Plan out all the documents you need and keep them accessible and organized in one area.
  • Marketing: Marketing plans can come in several forms but at the very least have a calendar or outline on when you want to start to market your programs and what marketing channels you want to use. Narrow your marketing efforts to each of your target markets for more effective marketing and communication. Market to past participants as well as the local community.
  • Budget: Your budget is the planning tool for your finances. Sound budgeting will ensure you only spend what you are able to spend based on your forecasted revenue and expenses. Once your budget is created, stick to it as close as possible and track EVERY expense that comes in to make sure you stay on track.
  • Staffing: If you are a larger organization and have the ability to staff your games with part-time staff or scorekeepers, have a plan to staff your programs. You may also have your own in-house referees or work with an officiating association. Falling short on staff will have a direct effect on your game days and may leave some fields unsupervised or canceled altogether. Make sure to know your optimal staffing levels and have a plan to ensure you never fall short!
  • Staff Training: Training and education is an ongoing process and should be taken seriously. You don’t have to do all your training in-house, as there are tons of resources out there to provide staff trainings. Regardless of how you want to do it, have an annual training program in place to make sure you get the most out of your most valuable investment, your staff.
  • Volunteer Management: Volunteer coaches are the heart of your league and no youth sports league can happen without them. It is extremely important to have a plan to recruit, retain, educate and train your volunteer coaches or any other volunteers that may be a part of your program. The best programs generally have the best volunteer base.
  • Parent Management: Plan on how you are going to manage your parents. This includes education, game day expectations, and your code of conduct.
  • Fundraising: Many youth sports leagues will rely on some type of fundraising to help subsidize your registration fees and provide enough revenue to keep the league running. Have a fundraising plan to keep your fundraising goals on track.
  • Maintenance: If your organization also maintains your sports facilities, create a maintenance plan that focuses on your preventative maintenance for every aspect of your facilities. A sound preventative maintenance plan will keep your facility aesthetically pleasing, increase the lifespan of your assets, and help you identify how long things are supposed to last and when they need to be replaced.
  • Risk Management: Regular inspections, having proper insurance, and creating emergency action plans are all part of your overall risk management plan. Limiting your liability will prevent a catastrophic incident from closing down your program for good.
  • Equipment Inventory: Have a plan for managing your equipment inventory so you always know how much you have on hand and when you need to order more.

To raise awareness about the benefits of youth sports programs, NRPA has also developed a communications toolkit, in partnership with the Walt Disney Company, to help park and recreation professionals make connections and encourage participation in park and recreation youth sports programs. This toolkit provides data-backed messaging, sample social media posts, template graphics and more.

All of the above can be put together to form part of your organization’s business plan and comprehensive strategic plans. Short-term planning can take place a year in advance with long-term plans going out 5-10 years. Regardless of how long you are planning out you should always review and adjust your plans on a regular basis. Lack of planning will always show, so remember if you put in the extra planning work up front, it will make your job easier, your operations smoother, and your overall programs better in the long run!

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Recruiting Volunteers for Youth Sports Programs: 4 Tips

Your club’s volunteers are essential to keeping your youth sports programs running smoothly. They’re the coaches, assistants, and other cheerleaders that create a positive experience for the young athletes in your community, helping kids develop lifelong skills and friendships. 

But as a park and recreation professional, it can be challenging to recruit enough qualified volunteers to help out. You must find individuals who not only want to support your programs but also have enough free time in their schedules to actually do so. 

In this post, we’ll highlight four effective tips for recruiting volunteers for your youth sports programs: 

  1. Reach out to a wide range of audiences. 
  2. Use a multichannel approach. 
  3. Share the benefits of participation. 
  4. Set volunteers up for success.

Effective volunteer recruitment starts with connecting with the right people using the right message. What does that look like in reality? Read on to learn more!

1. Reach out to a wide range of audiences. 

The first people you probably turn to recruit volunteers for your youth sports programs are the athletes’ parents and guardians. But as you know, these individuals are often busy and may not always be looking to take on the responsibility that comes with volunteering. 

Therefore, make sure your recruitment strategy is wide-ranging and inclusive to give parents a break and ensure you aren’t overlooking any enthusiastic potential volunteers. Target your recruiting efforts to reach: 

  • Past volunteers: This includes past coaches, assistants, concession workers, referees, and other supporters who might have let their involvement lapse. You never know who might be interested in coming back!
  • Former youth sports program participants: Depending on how long your program has operated, you might have program alumni who are willing to contribute their time to create a great experience for this generation’s athletes.
  • High school or college student volunteers: High school and college students are often looking for ways to get involved in the community to earn service hours. Volunteering in a youth sports program can be a fun way to earn these hours. 

While these individuals might be a highly receptive audience for your recruitment efforts, don’t leave parent/guardian recruitment out of the picture entirely! Caregivers are often excited to engage in their child’s sports journey, making them a perennially helpful audience to turn to.

2. Use a multichannel approach. 

You won’t be able to reach all prospective volunteers by marketing your opportunities on just one platform. Take a multichannel approach and pursue a variety of recruitment platforms, including: 

  • In-person: Recruit ahead for next season by talking with attendees at games and practices. 
  • Traditional advertising: Post recruitment ads in your local newspaper, create flyers to hang in popular areas such as your local library or create direct mail postcards to send to prospective volunteers. 
  • Online marketing: Use your social media pages and email newsletters to spread the word about open positions. 

Use each platform to reinforce your message, boosting the chances that your target audience members will see and engage with your outreach content. 

3. Share the benefits of participation. 

Although they won’t be getting paid, that doesn’t mean your sports program volunteers won’t receive anything from their volunteer efforts. Your recruitment marketing materials should highlight volunteering benefits, including opportunities to: 

  • Help youth members of the community thrive in a constructive environment.
  • Fulfill volunteer hour requirements for a club or class. 
  • Get to know more people in the community.
  • Access any special volunteer perks you offer, such as free concessions or appreciation gifts.
  • Potentially be able to contribute a monetary donation to your organization via a volunteer grant

These benefits might provide the motivation some individuals need to not only get involved but also stay involved in your program for years to come. 

4. Set volunteers up for success.

Your program’s volunteers won’t want to head into a new sports season feeling unprepared, especially your new volunteers who are participating for the first time. Ensure your recruitment materials describe the type of support volunteers will receive before the season starts, including: 

  • Training: Offer a thorough pre-season training session for new coaches and assistants. 
  • Equipment/supplies: Provide volunteers with training equipment, such as cones, pinnies for scrimmages, goals, whistles, clipboards, etc. 
  • Participant waivers: Offer an online waiver system for participants’ guardians to sign digitally, taking the stress of getting waivers signed off your volunteers’ shoulders. 

Be responsive to questions early on in the recruitment process. Also, once volunteers sign up, use your volunteer management software to offer them a streamlined scheduling process that makes it easier to know where to be and when to be there. 

Enthusiastic, empowered volunteers can make all the difference when it comes to running your youth sports program. Be sure to reach out to a diverse group of potential volunteers and equip them with the proper resources to succeed. 

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Preparing for a New Season- The Official GotSport Guide

GotSport is a tool used all across the country to get teams carded and ready for another year of competition. GotSport is an essential tool in the mixed bag of running a sports organization. But, this tool becomes more complicated when you’re using an external registration platform. Whether a new club admin or volunteer or a season GotSport Vet; sometimes you run into problems and need a refresher. At Sports Office 365, we know how daunting GotSport can be at times. We’re helping out clubs by sharing the official GotSport article to help prepare you for a new season in GotSport! In the section below, you’ll find helpful tips, tricks, and direct links to GotSport articles.

Steps to Prepare for Season Transition if Using a Non-GotSport System for Registration

21/22 to 22/23 Transition FAQ: 

Will I have to create new teams? No, you can register your same existing teams to your league and adjust your rosters accordingly. 

What can I expect if I am uploading players to the system? 

You should have three different types of scenarios. Here is an FAQ for each scenario: 

Scenario One –  Players that played in my club last season: 

  •  As long as Affiliation, First Name, Last Name, DOB (with correct date format in the file), parent name, and email are the same; any other information will just update. 
  •  You may end up with a duplicate player profile in your player list if your file has a different name, gender, or DOB than the player that is already in your club’s player list in the system. If for some reason the data does not match, you can update the player profiles to match your spreadsheet or update your spreadsheet to match the player profile and reupload. 

Scenario Two –  Players that are brand new to the GotSport system: 

  • These players should upload and accounts will be created as long as you have the required columns in your file. 

Scenario Three – Players that are currently in the GotSport system, but played for a different organization last season: 

  • Data from the GotSport system matches your spreadsheet (Affiliation, First Name, Last Name, DOB, Gender). This will create a role for that player in your club, and you should see them in your Club Management Players list. 
  • If a parent does not get added to the player, it is because the parent email already exists in the system to someone else. 

What can I expect when adding coaches or managers to my club? 

You should have three different scenarios when adding coaches or managers to your club. Here is an FAQ for each scenario. 

Scenario One – Coaches/Managers who have a GotSport account already: 

  • If you are uploading, As long as the First Name, Last Name, and Email in your file match what is on their existing account, the coach/manager will be added to your club. 
  • If you are manually searching/adding these coaches and managers, and their First Name, Last Name, and Email matches the information you are searching for, you will be prompted to send a Role Request Approval email. If you search the additional optional information (Date of Birth, and Zip Code) you can bypass the email request and add them directly. 
  • If you have all the required information, you can bypass the email request by adding them directly to a team. This will give them the coach or manager role in your club. To do this, go to Club Management – Teams – Click on a team – Click Roster – Click coach or manager – search by First Name, Last Name, and email. 

Scenario Two – Coach or Manager does not have a GotSport Account: 

  • An account will get created for them via the upload or you will create the account for them if added manually. 

Scenario Three: The addition of a coach or manager fails because the email/user ID is already taken. 

  • This means there is an account in the system that already has the email that you are trying to add them with and the account does not match the first or last name. 
  • You can try to search for different variations of their name (Ex. Mat, Matt, or Matthew). 
  • Check your player’s list for that email. Make sure the player’s email is set in the contact email and try again. 
  • Add the coach/manager with a different email/userid and attach the email you have in their “contact email” box. 

Logging In and Adding Admins  

Account Login: See how to create and login to your GotSport User Account 

Create Club Administrators:  Adding Administrators 

Adding/Editing user title: Add a Title To A Club User 

  • This is a new requirement for all Admin users from last season

Editing an Admins Permissions: Editing an Admins Permissions 

  • Important when separating tasks/what is available in your User’s admin accounts if you would like to limit permissions/access.

Locating Required Governing Body Forms: Locating Required Governing Body Forms 

  • Any form made available for you from your governing organizations. For example Affiliation/Transfer Forms

General Club Management 

Players/Coaches/Managers 

Archive Players previous year players

Uploading players to your club- Note that if you do not include a competitive level or affiliation, you will not see your players initially after you upload and will need to adjust the filters on your player list for them to appear.

Any previously archived players that were uploaded will return to the active player list as long as their uploaded information matches the existing player profile that was archived.

Manually Creating a Player 

  • If you are manually creating players, use the existing player information and login from the previous season to avoid creating unnecessary duplicates
  • Search the player’s DOB, First Name, and Last Name to see if an account exists.  If yes, then add in the email and postal code to bypass the role approval process and directly add the player.
  • If a player does not appear when searching with additional fields (email, postal code), then the email or postal code data that was searched does not match what is listed on the player’s account.

Adding a Player Photo 

  • The player photo from the previous season will appear on the profile by default.  If it needs to be updated, follow the steps in the link above to add a new one while removing the old one.

Add Documents to a Player 

  • If needed for any reason, proof of birth document can be added to a player with the steps above.

Coaches 

Archive Coaches

Coach Upload 

Creating Coaches 

Managers 

Archive Managers

Manager Upload 

Creating Managers 

Duplicate Coach, Manager, and Player User Check – If duplicate player/coach/manager accounts have been created unintentionally, these can be merged as long as the first name, last name, gender and DOB match on both profiles 

Teams  

Archive Teams (If wish to)

Resetting the team player list

Creating a Team Account– When creating a team, set the team age to what the team age is the time of creation, not the next seasonal year’s age.

Team Lock

Roster Lock

Hiding Player List

Team ages do not need to be changed manually.  When the new season begins on August 1, all team ages will update automatically in the system.  If a team age is manually changed, the system will then have the team “age up” again on August 1 and the age will be incorrect.

If Team Rosters are the same from the previous season with minor changes

Team Rosters Starting from Scratch – 

DO NOT CLONE AT ALL – Players From the Previous Season will be removed during the next steps

When you’ve completed building your teams, sync your team rosters – When you sync your rosters, any players that are not on any current or upcoming event roster will automatically be removed from the team.

Printing off Official Rosters and Player Passes

Click here for the full article on the GotSport website

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