Tuesday 3 November 2015

What's its like, and how easy is it to recruit new players in the Youth game?

Article by Nia Wright


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

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