At this time of year UK teams are recruiting players for
their next season, the success of recruitment is essential for the success of
the team.
Recruiting for Youth and Junior teams has its own challenges
when it comes to reaching and retaining new players, given the relative
obscurity of the sport as well as the costs and risks of playing a contact
sport under the age of 18.
Lee Griffiths, Head Coach of the Birmingham Bulls Youth team
has an excellent coaching philosophy of inclusion and uses highly innovative
methods of recruitment alongside the conventional means.
Will Sargeant has
completed his first full season as the Head
Coach of the Chester Romans Academy in 2015 and has more than doubled the
size of the Youth team through the use of leaflets, social media and
co-operation with local school PE departments.
These HCs answered some questions regarding their
recruitment strategies:
1) Where do you
recruit players from?
LG: The club is active on FB and Twitter, plus we
have our own website, so push recruitment through these channels. We have a Senior and Youth team, and the
recruitment days are for both age groups.
Last year we had a number of Youth and Senior players in
full kit at a Game store in the city centre, to coincide with the launch of the
new Madden 2015 game. People could
challenge the players for a game and anyone who won went in a draw to win a
free copy of the game. Both Game and the
Bulls were very active on social media to publicise this and there was a lot of
people coming in during our 2 days there, and Game gave flyers to anyone who
purchased a copy of the game. In between
games players also handed out flyers to the general public.
These rookie days are our main source of pro-actively
recruiting players, but as we are active all year round we do get enquiries at
other times, and are always on the lookout for new players.
WS: We recruit
through Facebook and word of mouth, we are increasing our use of Twitter and
after the academy starting a successful Schools program last year our intention
is to continue to work with and recruit through schools and local Council
Sports co-ordinators.
2) What promotional
material do you use?
LG: We also get a
load of promotional flyers printed which detail the dates and location of the
rookie days – we normally have 4 dates, 2 weeks apart. We encourage players and coaches to
distribute to various places. As I coach
the youth team I also send a batch to a number of schools in the area local to
the club.
WS: Promotional
material that worked for us last year was posters and fliers sent to local
schools and colleges, Facebook events, YouTube videos.
3) What sort of
things do you do on rookie days?
LG: On a rookie
day we normally have around 8 “stations”, each station runs a particular drill
relating to a particular position, and is manned by at least 2 people, be they
players or coaches, who can demonstrate and coach the rookies in each
particular skill. So drills would
include things like catching, throwing, blocking, tackling, agility, coverage
and kicking. We try and run different
drills for each session, so if anyone attends more than 1 (and it’s not unusual
for rookies to come to multiple recruitment sessions), they aren’t doing
exactly the same thing each time. I have
attended every session for the past 2 years and we always have the youth
players in their own group so they aren’t going against adults, even when the
drills are non-contact and unkitted we need to be careful. We end each session with a game of
“passball”, this is non-contact, 3 receivers versus 3 defenders, just for a bit
of fun, and to whet their appetite and add a competitive element to the day.
WS: We make our
rookie days fun and give new lads a chance to try out at different positions
but also put an emphasis on working hard, discipline and team work so they know
it will be a great worthwhile challenge.
4) How do you keep
the less naturally talented/able players keen so they don't leave?
LG: Once
pre-season training starts in January I don’t treat anyone any different to be
honest, my philosophy is one of inclusion, so everyone gets equal reps, and if
there are less able kids then they will get additional help and coaching in
between their reps. I’m full of
encouragement, as are my fellow coaches and the experienced players, for me
it’s important to have a good atmosphere and to integrate the new players as
early as possible so they feel they are part of the team, we’ll do some
icebreaking drills too where we pair up a rookie and a “veteran” player and
they have to find out things about each other than share their findings with
the group. I think if the player feels
part of the team they are less likely to want to leave, regardless of their
skills or abilities. Plus I use the
existing players as examples of how much progress can be made in a short space
of time.
WS: We keep less
able players keen by setting goals, working on improvement at training and
keeping them informed of how they are doing.
5) How do you keep
players keen at the end of one season going into another?
LG: We have a
Facebook group which is the main way I communicate with the players away from
training. This is active all year, so I
can post videos, links to NFL stories, highlights, that kind of thing, as can
everyone else in the group. Fortunately
the NFL season coincides with our off season so we can have plenty of American
Football related banter in the meantime.
A number of players also come along and help out at the 4 recruitment
days. By the time the off season arrives
they have been together for at least 9 months, and we have a great team spirit
in the camp so they can’t wait for the next season to start. Its not how do I keep them keen, it’s more
like how do I stop them pestering me to start training again!!
WS: As this is
only our second year as an Academy it will be our first off season but we have
already set ourselves the challenge of entering a Junior team next season so
everyone is working hard towards this but we are setting challenges to second
year players to help out at rookie days and set examples to new players and
also for everyone to use the time to improve and get stronger and fitter.
Social Media and word of mouth seem to be key to youth team
recruitment, keeping players invested in the team and making sure that all
players feel included and have room to grow and improve, maintaining this
philosophy will also encourage younger players to graduate to the senior team
once they have reached 18.
If you are a coach or part of youth team and have a
successful recruitment technique not mentioned here, please let me know by
emailing me on nia.wright@hotmail.com
