When you’re trying to grow your sports league whether it’s new or established – one of the biggest challenges you’re likely to face is acquiring new members. Let’s talk about your existing (warm) players first. It’s no secret that sports are a social activity. people joined your league to play their favorite sport, but they come back every season to see their friends/teammates. Thus, it’s vital to the long-term success of your league that you foster a community for your players.
So how do you make people become friends? The best thing you can do is to create opportunities for your players to connect. Once your members have the opportunity to get to know each other, friendships will be able to grow organically. There are a few ways to do this.
The first thing you should do is help your players communicate with each other. Whether it’s through text or social media, this helps them get more engaged in the league. Expand on this by opening up your personal communication (whether it’s your own phone number or social media handle) and encourage players to reach out with questions and comments. This not only ensures that you are able to connect to your players one-on-one, but also provides a confidential outlet for players to voice their feedback.
Additionally, we encourage you to host events outside of your typical games/practices. Many leagues are already hosting end-of-season parties but to help players meet each other out of the gate, try hosting a season kick-off social! This event is especially effective at integrating new players into your league. 먹튀검증 Other events to encourage social interaction include organizing pick-up games, hosting mid-season tournaments, or having a single day in your season where you mix up players from all your separate teams. Anything that can help your players get to know each other in a positive setting is great to try. We’ve even heard from the Toronto Ultimate Club that they found success by introducing spirit/enthusiasm points within their adult leagues.
So now your players are all friends with each other. How does that help you grow? First of all, improving the culture of your league drastically increases player retention, which will make it easier for you to project player numbers season-to-season. Secondly, emphasizing social experiences in your league encourages your players to bring their friends to future games and events. One event that we’ve found works wonders for growing your league is running a free pick-up game for your players. This not only gives your members a chance to meet others players in the league, but if you encourage everyone to bring a friend, it will also give you direct access to a pool of potential new players.