Establishing a Club

This guide is intended for anyone thinking of starting a new community sports club for adults or juniors. I takes your through 10 simples steps and through some of the questions and processes that you need to consider if you are to establish a successful new club.

Step 1: Check whether there are existing clubs in the area

There is little point in duplicating something that already exists. So no matter how good your ideas are for a new club, please first check around to see whether anything already exists in the area. Some places to start are

• Local Sports Council who help and support sports activities in the borough
• Local Authority Leisure Services will have a good idea what is already out there and what is needed
• Local newspapers to see if there are any reports from established clubs

Step 2: Make sure there is a reasonable demand for a new club

There is a minimum number of people required to make any club viable. This number very much depends on the nature of your sport. You can probably start a table tennis club with just five or six people, but if you want to start a cricket or rugby club and field a realistic team each week, you'll need at least 15 to 20 members to get going.

You probably know two or three other people who share your interest in forming a new club. Now is the time to build a list of potential members. At this stage you're not asking people for subscriptions or playing commitments; you want to build a potential membership list of people who might join any new club.

There are many ways of doing this:

• Organise an open meeting and publicise it well through local papers, sports centres and other outlets
• For a junior club, talk to local junior schools in the area and ask people to get in touch
• Publish your ideas in local papers and ask people to get in touch
• Arrange a leaflet distribution around the area and ask people to get in touch

Step 3: Ask for help from your sport's Governing Body and your Local Council

There are four organisations that should be able to help you as each of them is committed to helping develop sport throughout the community. You should make contact with each of them and find out what practical help they can offer. They are:

• Local Sports Council brings together many local sports clubs; there is a wealth of expertise that you can draw on to help you get off to the best start
• Local Leisure Development Team; they can help with information on hiring and letting of facilities as well as offering small grants and the officers may be able to give you practical advice and support
• County Sports Partnership are the local network for boroughs and districts and can be on hand to help with information on clubs, facilities, events and coach development
• National Governing Body; most governing bodies employ development officers whose role is to help local clubs

Step 4: Put the basics in place

Whilst some very small clubs can run along with just one person running the show, it is usually a good idea to recruit a few people to form a small club committee. This helps to spread the load by dividing out the tasks and responsibilities and also brings different ideas and skills into your club. Once you give your club a name and form a committee, you have effectively what is known as an 'unincorporated association'. With a simple constitution and some club officers you can then open a bank account to manage your club's money.

As your club grows you may need to consider other legal structures but you can return to these at a later date.

Step 5: Secure the initial funding and facilities

This can be one of the hardest parts of getting started. Most clubs begin with some initial funds from memberships and then realise that they need additional monies and resources if they are to become successful. There are probably more sources of help they you have imagined

• The range of funding options include club-based fund raising activities, local authority support, Awards for All, sponsorship, other lottery funds and collaborative agreements with other sports bodies
• Funding the right premises and facilities can sometimes be difficult, it is best to hire facilities to start with before thinking about obtaining your own
• Finally, don't forget to approach your Local Sports Council as they will have invaluable advice to get you started

Step 6: Get an attractive sports programme going

What bring people into clubs is an interesting and enjoyable  programme of sport. So the first thing you need to focus on is getting a sports programme together. Depending on your members, you'll need to decide whether to pitch your activities at novice, junior, senior, experienced players or elite ones. With only a small number of members you probably need to focus on a limited number of level; if members are always against people of different skills and abilities, it can be hard to sustain motivation. As your club grows, you will probably want to develop a more coherent 'player pathway' to encourage progression from recreational to more competitive and experiences levels of play. Don't forget that many members enjoy the social side of any club and the opportunity to make new friends, your programme may also include social activities.

Step 7: Join local competitions and leagues

Many of the more experienced players will want to have some competition and for this you're likely to have to look outside your own club. With sufficient members, you can organise your own internal club leagues, ladders and competitions. In many sports there are also inter-club leagues and competitions where you can play against other teams and individuals.

Step 8: Develop policies and procedures that will support your club

Whilst most members don' want to spend too much time on club administration, there is a certain level of procedural work that you will need to do if the club is to keep running along smoothly. Some of the questions that you may be faced with include:

• Who do we want to encourage to join us as members?
• Are we going to involve juniors in the club?
• If we do have children and young people, how do we protect them?
• What are the health and safety considerations that affect our sport, our use of equipment and our premises and facilities?
• How do we support the volunteers that are contributing to out club?

Step 9: Start to plan for the longer term success of the club

If your club just keeps the same members and doesn't review it's activities, it runs the risk of becoming static and eventually withering away as members drift off. A healthy club is one that has a regular influx of new members and a periodic change in committee members on the committee. It has a mix of recreational, competitive and social activities and is regularly thinking about the future. You don't have to be ambitious, provided you keep reviewing what your club is doing for the current and potential future members. If you look around at other clubs you'll find that they may be recruiting more younger members, looking to expand facilities, starting new competitions or joining leagues or providing more training and coaching for their members.

Step 10: Have fun and celebrate your successes

It can be hard work as well a rewarding to be involved in the establishment and running of a community sports club. So don't for get to take time out to enjoy it and celebrate all your successes. 
 
For further information on establishing a new club please do not hesitate to contact Sport Guildford at info@sportguildford.co.uk