footbag.org

[Neil Green (feyn)]

Hey there,

I'm thinking about approaching Emory University (I train on their campus) about starting a Footbag Net club. In August, there will be a flood of undergrads to sell Footbag Net to, so I'd like to approach the universities athletics directory soon.

That said, what advice do you have for starting a club? Some things I've picked up from reading this forum:

-- Start with a bigger ball/bag (Sipa?)
-- Start with a lower net
-- Encourage them to buy the proper shoes
-- Allow multiple touches to just keep it in play
-- Allow for more body parts to touch (excluding arms)
-- Encourage doubles play as it's easier than singles

What I really need help on is:

-- How do you approach the institution (in my case a university)
-- How often do you meet?
-- When do you meet?
-- For how long?
-- Do you do half drills, half play, or some other mix?
-- Where do you play? Does it depend on the season?

If this has been covered in this forum before, my apologies.

Thanks for your help,
Neil Green

[Matthew Johns (Elliott)]

hey neil. the sporque club is also a college club, so i'd like to think that i know a thing or two about this. our college campus here in Nashville has the largest undergratuate student population in the state with 23,000+. there are plenty of hacky sackers around this place but the problem i find with most of them is that college students are generally lazy with their spare time. they are perfectly willing to kick in a circle for 10 minutes between classes; unfortunately that's as far as most of them go. when i try to convince someone to come to one of our weekend practices they tend to look at me as if i'm asking them for money. so i make flyers with my contact information and list our practice times and locations. although i must say of all the flyers i've passed out... they never seem to do any good.

[Robert Lavigne (Bob)]

We in Montreal have had a succesful recdruitment drive in the college where we practice during the winter. I would imagine that at the beginning of the semester, when all those new freshmen arrive, there are a few days dedicated to signing up for classes and extracuriculur activities. Set up a table with a TV showing some crazy NET videos, a few pictures, some flyers and a sign-up sheet. This will require some investment of time, but with enough members you will get all sorts of benefits from your school.

According to legend, this is how CHAOS got started, so maybe PT can add some advice...

We got something like 30 names, and a few actual new players out of our efforts. Since your school is about ten times the size, you should get a few bites.

Once you have your members, schedule one regular practice session a week, about 1.5 to 2 hrs long, and school them in the basics.

Another way to get players is to find the busiest possible area in which to set up your net. I have seen people who were very impressed at watching some beginners play in our parc, so you don't need to be pro to be spectacular.

Also use catch phrases like "new alternative/extreme sport", "high-flying", "very big in Europe right now", etc etc... when talking to school officials as this will give you an air of credibility and

Watch for our new training vids coming soon: The Montreal Method(working title)

Bob

[Matthew Johns (Elliott)]

the best way to attract people is to play net on the campus. we've gotten more members doing this than posting flyers or even playing in circles on campus. last year we set up a booth at all 10 of the freshmen orientation sessions, where we handed out contact info and played videos of net and freestyle. we got tons of e-mail addresses from people and a number of them seemed excited about it. although when the time came for practice none of them would show or even respond to an e-mail.

so what we've decided to do this time around is pay attention to all the orientation sessions and set up regular practice times around them. we've been playing 2-3 times a week for the past month; it seems to be working because people passing by on the sidewalk stop, and every practice this past month we've had 1 or 2 new kids just walk up to us and ask to play.
i don't want to mislead you though, we certainly don't have a huge net scene here. we only have 5 dedicated members. emily & myself who have only been playing 2 years, alex 1 year, and ben & brain for about 6 months. maybe if we had some open players here we could hold peoples attention longer, but i am confident that we can get a couple new dedicated members in the coming semester.

the trick for us is getting new players to come back again. if anyone has an answer for this i'd really like to know. the worst thing about being in a college town club is that people are always enrolling, flunking out, transfering, graduating, and moving. this is the reason our club never really grows we just seem to find replacements and that's all.

if you are a student of Emory University then you can probably set up a club yourself. we went through all the paperwork of becoming a sports club last year. we can get $300 from the school/semester for equipment and traveling funds. however, money is all the school will supply us with. they will not advertise sports clubs and they haven't updated the sports club webpage in a year. also, we are only allowed to use the money for equipment or traveling to tournaments and if you haven't noticed there are only 2 annual tournaments here in the southeast.

[Matthew Johns (Elliott)]

Neil in answer to your questions:
1.) "how do you approach the university?" we are all students and i'm not sure if a non-student would be allowed to start a sports club. most every university has a recreation center and this is probably where you should get started. ask if they have a sports club director and find out what all of the criteria are.

2.)"how often do you meet?" when the school semester begins things become pretty hectic and schedules are conflicting. so during the school year we only have one solid practice time on Sunday afternoons and that's because people are more flexiable with their schedules on the weekends. sometimes we set up something in the middle of the week usually later in the day for those hardcore members.

3.) "for how long?" we play for at least 2 hours. if we get more than 4 or 5 people like last Sunday, we were out there playing footbag for almost 5 hours then we tossed around a disc for another hour. it just depends on how many people you have and where you play at.

4.) "do you do half drills, half play, or some other mix?" once again this is dependant on our turnout. if we only have a 4-5 people then we run some drills, and play a few games. if we can get 6 or more then we tend to just play several games.

5.) "where do you play?" the only other advantage of being in a sports club is that we can reserve indoor space at the recreation center and outdoor space on the intermural fields (where all the sports clubs play). luckily the intermual fields are located on the campus so we get a number of people passing by. since we live in TN we're outside about 10 months out of the year.