Hi All Where I write this from a UK standpoint, keen to get as much advice as possible. I coach and help run the club that I helped started. We are at a point where we are struggling to get volunteers to do anything apart from coach. For the clubs you help with, how are volunteers rewarded eg not, reduction in subs if they have a child etc. I totally understand that times change and people have less free time, its just how as club helpers and organisers we handle this going forward. I am sure one model does not suit all hence keen to get as much variance as possible. Thanks
This has been an issue on just about every team we've been a part of. Never heard of anybody giving out rewards for volunteering. For this season's pre-team meeting the coach basically said "Nobody leaves this room until all volunteer positions are filled!"
My kids' club doesn't ask for a ton of volunteering - just a team manager for each team (only reward for that is a free piece of spirit wear each year - quality stuff too - this year was a Nike 1/2 zip jacket with the club logo) and volunteers for the tournament it hosts each fall. Every family has to donate 4 hours of its time towards the tournament. Each team that fulfills a very high percentage of its tournament volunteer obligation is awarded a $ amount per team member (usually around $50 a player) from tournament profits that they, as a team, can use towards winter indoor league fees (not included in your club fees) or towards an extra tournament in the Spring. Basically no parent wants to the "the one" who ruins it for the rest - so virtually everyone volunteers. There are other volunteer opportunities - tournament committee, etc, but those are just there for people who want to do it.
S Lewis how did you get your start up money to start your club and how many fields do you have to play on? My original clubs here in Brooklyn I worked for were started like in the U.K. The club founders usually owned a business like a restraunt or a bar. People who went to the places became supporters of the club. They were ethnic places where the people were already in love with our game and not converts to our game. Later I founded a couple of clubs you did not need a lot of teams to start a club. To do it even for one team you need start up money and you need time to do it all. I originally worked nights and I always had trouble sleeping during the day and I was fortunate enough to have money and a few of my partners also had money. A new club is hard because you don't have a name that soccer people know. So it is hard to find players. do a lot of teams you need a lot of people to help. Do one or two teams to start with you don't.
When I first moved here I became an adult player on our adult club. I spent a lot of time at our field at the time. They had Kid teams I liked helping them with their game. People noticed me helping when a youth coach became gravely ill they asked me to coach that team. I played on Sundays the kids player on Saturday. I did not even have to think about it I just said yes. No coach was paid to coach back then except the men's team. Later on another club the founder and the coaches ran the club. Again no one took a salary. That was the most fun I had coaching the coaches were all friends. We all helped running the club most of us had business of our own so we put our own money into the club. Some of the older coaches left money in their wills to the club. We had man of the year dinner dances to raise money for tournaments.
nicklaino - we are non profit, not one gets any money from it. Most of those small number who help run it are either self employed or work for someone and yes, we do end up putting our own money into it. Problem is, we are finding those now willing to help more, especially at a committee level are getting less and less. It not getting to a point where if something happens to one of us, the club may not continue. Do any clubs sub out key work? Eg if you have your own grounds, do you pay for the grass to be cut by x company? Wondering instead we look at a business approach to certain areas and sub out those and take the hit on the money.
We owned businesses like soccer stores I was a part owner of three of them. We had dragonetti lawn maintenance things like that. We had a friend who was the head of amature soccer here in eastern NY. He had permits for a lot of fields. We got soccer grants to light up our home field for free. Things like that.
Small clubs do go under if the people that do the actual work leave. That is why you need to coach on a club that has a name that people know. No shortage of players who want to play for you. Those clubs have their own money. A lot of immigrants here new to the country wanted to Americanize themselves when they came here. They even changed their names to make it easier to get work. They dropped soccer for baseball. That was why there were a lot of Italian baseball players at one time here. The Italians that loved the game so much that they could not bring themselves to stop playing and coaching. Who formed Italian clubs and the Italian leagues are today in the soccer hall of fame here.
On fields-- we have a cooperative agreement with our local government to do most field maintenance (they own the fields and give us permits to use them). We do line fields each week (or as needed). We largely use volunteerss for most tasks but have a paid staff to things like the game schedule
Jmnva that is how a lot of clubs got fields. On game schedule when you join a league here you put your field and game schedule well before the season started. What we did was home games were every other week. So all our teams played on every Saturday up to under 14 the rest played on Sunday under 16 to under 19. Sunday's was adult games we played then usually that game was an early game 8 am. So you had to be displined as an adult player. Our home field we even had an ambulance there at those games Bravo ambulance just in case. Like I said home games were the most fun for us. We all watched each other's games. Coaches sat together and commented on the games. We all helped trained those teams. So you could have 4 coaches helping a team during practice. If we saw something we did not like one of us talked to the teams coach. Our imput was not always appreciated by the teams coach. Well we did it any way So on schedule it was not a problem the league made the final schedule based on the info We gave them. But we did make accommodations from opponents team when neccessary. But they had to do the same for us in return. If they didn't they never got one from us.