I'd like to talk about the next step for The Crocketteers. We've done an excellent job getting the word out, recruiting people, putting together a soccer team, a webpage, a facebook page. But we can't stop there if we want to keep on growing so we have to talk about the next step to keep on growing. I believe that the next thing that we have to do is have fun activities that will guarantee that people are gonna want to "get together with the Crocketteers" again. I think that there are 3 things that we can do: - Have a "Crocketteers watch party" every 1-2 weekends. We could have a poll on the webpage to let people vote on the game that we should watch. But my only concern is picking a good place to watch games, keep in mind that if it's too expensive it will discourage some people - The other thing is to have "kick-arounds". There's many people that don't want to pay $80 to play in a league and would be glad to go and play some soccer. We just need to find a place that would be convinient for everybody. - The last thing that I think we should look into is making working out a deal with somebody to make t-shirts that have our crest and say "San Antonio, TX" to promote the group. (Just like the t-shirts at market square) I think our crest is really nice and people would buy those t-shirts. What do you all think about it?
Where I'm from we went as a group to the games of other sports teams to get the word out, and did chants at the matches, even wrote to the local media, before our first season in the national league started. Central Coast Mariners in the A-League for the record. While the Spurs might not work for the getting the word out thing, but might be a fun outing, there's a lower league Ice Hockey team in San Antonio isn't there, perhaps that's another option? Just putting it out there, they may be lame ideas, but it's what we did to keep ourselves and the locals interested.
Daniel, Thank you for taking the time to post your great ideas. Like I said over the weekend and since you have access to our blog, post on our website about the watch events. If you want help with polls, I can help with that. Also post on the facebook page and here on bigsoccer about the same watch events. That way you can track who will show up. For the kick arounds, why not invite people to our Wednesday McAllister Park practices. WE have some Crocketteers who are not a part of the team and league who show up to kick the ball around with us. What do you think about that? We really don't go strong and are not too serious about practice. We can kick it around/do fun drills. We will have a an update to our logo soon and I will unveil our cafepress store where we can buy tshirts with the logos. But if you want to have a lot of tshirts that we can use to promote and not have to pay out our own pockets, then please do as you said and look for an organization/business that is willing to sponsor the tshirts.
http://www.crocketteers.com/2009/09/29/quick-update-2/ I want to collect as many ideas as possible. Let's follow in Daniel's footsteps. Obviously we will not do everything we receive but we will discuss.
Although not a full month since our last meeting, we will shoot for October 20 or 21 for our next meeting. It will be midweek meeting and I am looking for a suitable venue that is quieter than the last. Most likely we will reserve a room like the dungeon at Lion & Rose. Early next week I will finalize the details and send out invites on facebook as well.
I think the T-shirts will be a good idea, especially if the shirts have the web address on it, and something like "2 b 1 ask 1". That will make people search for the website. Also, and although I am not a fan of them "bumper stickers" or “windshield stickers” with the logo on it can also be a good suggestion. These will make the Crocketteer crest shield visible in San Antonio, especially if we wear the shirts on the weekends and drive around with the stickers on the vehicles all the time. I think we should set goals before we keep moving forward. Let’s set a number of members by a certain date, and then move to another goal, etc, etc.
Dman, I hope you can make it to the next meeting to present your ideas... Everyone will have good ideas and we can only implement some. Be prepared to come to the meeting to present a few of your ideas as others will also do the same. You will have a voice at meetings. The decision to implement any idea will involve the members of the Crocketteers. I will first explain the process/methodology for seeing anyone's idea into a reality. Implementation of ideas will require members to step up to see it through.