This season we had our lowest number in a long time. We also had 4 people quit which has NEVER happened either. I'm looking to recruit a lot more boys and girls for the next season along with the track season. I have tried sending notes to soccer players, one of which actually joined thanks to a teammate. I've also talked to kids who are fast in their PE classes but nothing seems to get them to join. What are some other methods to get more kids to join??
A good team culture. Encourage the team captains to organize activities the entire team is invited to, get parents of kids to be on board. If possible do organized team gatherings (pizza nights, etc) to develop a cohesive team of your current members. Once it becomes a "cool" team to be on, then more kids will join. Make sure there is plenty of word being spread through the school, are you a teacher at the school?
Make sure any success of the athletes is highlighted through the school, so there is appreciation of your current members' hardwork and so they feel appreciated. For example morning announcements highlighting successful meets and results of the top athletes on the team.
Not a teacher exactly, but I work full time in the building.
We have a REALLY great team culture, it's just people don't know that until AFTER they join. So that is something I should try. We do have team activities like that, we also have some in the off season. Our AD doesn't give us a lot of attention but we are working on it
Have a pediatric neurosurgeon come and do a presentation on TBIs for the football team parents.
I knew a guy who built a really solid girls team just by sending home flyers listing all the kids on the team over the years who got college scholarships to run XC/track. It was just a handful, but parents flipped out and pushed their kids to join. Doesn't work for boys as scholarships are rare these days for distance boys.
Otherwise, I think middle school is where you build your program. By the time they get to high school, they have bought into whatever the sports culture is at the school and are very difficult to move. Schools that have low XC/track numbers are usually either schools where sports are not a big deal and kids don't really care much about getting a letter jacket, etc. or are schools where the big team sports are huge and everyone looks down on the distance runners. But if you are doing a good job getting kids interested when they are in middle school, the team will pretty much build itself in high school. Middle school kids are more likely to join as freshmen because they want to have a social circle and be part of something as soon as they hit high school.
UnmotivatedSchool wrote:
This season we had our lowest number in a long time. We also had 4 people quit which has NEVER happened either. I'm looking to recruit a lot more boys and girls for the next season along with the track season. I have tried sending notes to soccer players, one of which actually joined thanks to a teammate. I've also talked to kids who are fast in their PE classes but nothing seems to get them to join. What are some other methods to get more kids to join??
Visit the feeder schools with your coolest kids and let them know how much fun it is. If they middle schools have XC or at least running clubs, go to one of their races and cheer them on. Invite them to summer practice and let them know that XC kids come into HS with a lot of friends in all grades. Then make sure it happens.
Once they get there, be a great coach and reward kids for being good teammates. Win and celebrate often.