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From: "BARRY O'KANE" <9363680@mull.sms.ed.ac.uk>
To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 17:36:20 +0000
Subject: RE: Student teams - freshers fair
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Hi,
This is quite a burning question for student teams - but really it is
not that hard (with a little work and planning) to attract new
players - the BIG problem can be keeping them.
I wanted to put this on britdisc as I think it may be of some use
(though maybe not) - sorry if you're not interested.
I will discribe what has worked well for us (Sneeekys) in the past -
though it is important that you find what works in your club.
**************************************
I am looking for someone who would be able to collate this
stuff and other useful material for inclusion with the 1998 Student
Ultimate pack - can anyone help?
****************************************
The actual freshers fair:
Try and have an eye catching stand - loads of discs, colour posters, photo's
videos and music all help. Esp. if you have a cool video (I know of
people that use two or more running at the same time) and photos as
it gives people a more accurate idea of the game.
Have LOADS of hand outs for interested people (we hand out about 500
to 600 over 2 days) - they don't have to be
a work of art - a simple A5 sheet with a small blurb on Ultimate and
the times/dates/place of practice and a contact phone no or email.
Copies of the colour flyer are still available from the BUF get hold
of a couple and photo copy - or if you are capable of producing
something more substantual yoursleves then do so (if anyone is
interested I can send you a copy of the one we used).
And then have a couple of willing volunteers to stand in front (more
effective than sitting behind) of the display and talk to EVERYONE -
be enthusiastic - describe the game, talk of how much fun it is before,
during and after play - rave about the tournaments - point at the
video - persuade them that (with practice) anyone can play - and give
them a flyer! It is also good if you can have both male AND female
vols to do this.
After the fair:
As I said above it is hard to keep players sometimes - but do not get
disheartened - it is worth it in the end.
The main reasons for losing players that only come along once or twice
can be easily sorted.
1: Make sure that you organise a couple of first time or begginners
practices soon after the fair. The aim of these practices are not for
you to go and play ultimate but to teach and to get to know your new
club members. Get them together at the start - welcome and thank
them for coming - describe the game (again) and then do some throwing
and catching practice (make sure that there are plenty of people to
mix with them and teach how to throw a forehand etc..) - and then
PLAY - that is after all what they are there for.
Split them into teams (coloured bibs can be useful if you have a lot
of people) - with a couple of more experienced players on each team -
and play a series of short games. Between games get the experieced
players to take their team aside and try and teach the basics of the
game - very simple stuff - get them practicing forehands - making
sure they know to mark man-on-man - and generally running about
having a laugh. That is perhaps the most important part - people
play ultimate because they enjoy it; so if they don't enjoy
themsleves they won't come back.
2: Social stuff - go out as a club after practice - or organise
parties, or pub meets or whatever you want - get to know the new players
and get them to know each other - you will find that this improves
attendance at practice, the general interest in the club and their
interest in learning more about ultimate.
After a couple of these introductory practices you should really be
stepping things up a bit - don't make the mistake of stopping to
teach and improve the skills of everyone in the club. We find that
this means running seperate practices for the more experienced who
want to play ultimate at their standard - but is up to you how you
work things.
Student clubs traditionally suffer from a lack of organised practice.
Don't neglect to improve the skills of your whole club - try and deal with all
tastes - those that have only started and want to get good, those
that are just playing for a laugh and those that have been playing
for a while and need practice at more advanced stuff. This can be
quite hard - as I am sure you know - but if is the only way that
your club can grow both in numbers and in ability. As I have said
before we try to tackle this by running different practices;
1: 'for a laugh' - were we just play and then go to the pub -
but even here it is important that you try and improve the standard
of the game - get the more experienced players to point out mistakes
and improvements between points and when subbed off - do some
throwing and catching practice at the start and end etc. Also, it is
always useful do do some simple warm-up drills - if you don't know
any them ask - or I can send you some. This means that everyone is
properly warmed up and helps to teach the basics. Oh, and NEVER
forget to strech and warm up and warm down.
2: 'more serious' - we run these practices for those people that
have been playing a little longer and want to train for a tornament
or whatever - proper streching, warm-up drills, fitness (ha ha)
practice drills and plays, run through tactics other than the stack
(which for us means a zone - though there has been a lot of comment
recently about the lack of imagination in british ultimate so I
suppose we should all be trying to learn more) and so on - most clubs
are capable of running these practices themselves but if you think
you can't them find a more experienced player and get some advice -
once agian I have a (very) few drills etc that I can send if your
interested - anybody else have anything useful?
NB:
I done have some material that may be of use - let me know what you
want. Also, the BUF do have other bits and bobs that are slowly
being pulled together - watch out for videos, posters and so on soon.
OK, I'll stop now - I seem to have gone on for a bit - I hope some of
it helps - please fell free to point out to me if you think I have
got it wrong or missed stuff out - or have different suggestions.
BARRY