Starting a Team at a Community College

[Mike Bentley]

I was wondering if anyone here had any experience in starting a team at a community college. My efforts so far have not been very successful. I've run a facebook ad for several weeks now that hasn't yet received any clicks, and I also put up flyers and sent out a few e-mails for a first info session but didn't get any response.

One thing I've thought of doing was to maybe run an intramural tournament between student groups at the school, but it's not entirely clear how I would translate interest in this tournament into interest in the team.

[The Goffman Prophecies]

Mike, is there a Student Life office or something similar? You might want to talk to them about getting started and helping to promote the tournament. Even though we never were able to generate any interest in a team despite advertising through several channels, they were supportive and offered resources and assistance.

[Edward Elric]

I was wondering if anyone here had any experience in starting a team at a community college. My efforts so far have not been very successful. I've run a facebook ad for several weeks now that hasn't yet received any clicks, and I also put up flyers and sent out a few e-mails for a first info session but didn't get any response.

One thing I've thought of doing was to maybe run an intramural tournament between student groups at the school, but it's not entirely clear how I would translate interest in this tournament into interest in the team.

I've been trying to start a team at my community college but unfortunately having it be a 2 year school and also the lack of interest hasn't helped. It's actually been a bit disheartening. I only know of 1 other student who has actually played before and in all of the classes that i've asked, most people either don't have the time or don't want to start it when they are going to leave the college fairly quickly.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

I would like to hear from people at long standing community college teams about how they make it work, because I have always been suspicious that given the extremely fast turnover, it seems like it is very improbable that you can build a totally student run organization that will last more than a year or 2. In a four year institution, especially one with grad school, it seems like there are major factors in its favor - undergrads stay longer, there can be some extremely experienced grad students floating around to help run things that the youth may still be grasping with, and if you have an established club it can be easy for freshmen to come in and not have to worry about being in leadership roles for a couple years because there are upperclassmen or grad students acting as president, so you can retain more future leaders by allowing them to grow in the program over a few years - that simply are not there in a community college. It seems to me that these sorts of factors are why regular colleges rarely need coaches, but I feel like without them, you sort of hit a situation like at high schools where mitigating factors make it impossible for a club to live without an involved faculty coach who is willing to do the long term work of recruiting and administration. I realize that I have not actually been involved in a community college team, but for those who have, would you say that these are accurate descriptions of some potentially crippling hindrances to getting a team going if you don't have an involved coach?

[Theory Of The Leisure Flask]

I would like to hear from people at long standing community college teams about how they make it work, because I have always been suspicious that given the extremely fast turnover, it seems like it is very improbable that you can build a totally student run organization that will last more than a year or 2. In a four year institution, especially one with grad school, it seems like there are major factors in its favor - undergrads stay longer, there can be some extremely experienced grad students floating around to help run things that the youth may still be grasping with, and if you have an established club it can be easy for freshmen to come in and not have to worry about being in leadership roles for a couple years because there are upperclassmen or grad students acting as president, so you can retain more future leaders by allowing them to grow in the program over a few years - that simply are not there in a community college. It seems to me that these sorts of factors are why regular colleges rarely need coaches, but I feel like without them, you sort of hit a situation like at high schools where mitigating factors make it impossible for a club to live without an involved faculty coach who is willing to do the long term work of recruiting and administration. I realize that I have not actually been involved in a community college team, but for those who have, would you say that these are accurate descriptions of some potentially crippling hindrances to getting a team going if you don't have an involved coach?

Virtually all CC teams have faculty sponsors/coaches, as well as established leagues which are at least somewhat separate from the "circuit". I don't think any CC has succeeded long-term without these factors.

And I can say from experience that even four-year liberal arts schools tend to have trouble maintaining continuity, due to their a) small size, b) lack of grad students, and c) (sometimes) related transportation issues- I think Carleton may be the only liberal arts school which has maintained a continuous circuit presence every year since I first started playing at the collegiate level, and they also have a coach. Even my alma mater, which had a team since the early 90's, spent the 2006-2007 year with no team.

[ValenciaQBowl]

I'll echo what Charlie and Chris have said above. As a matter of fact, the only CC team I've ever heard of that seems (seemed?) to exist without clear faculty/coach leadership was last year's J. Sargeant Reynolds wrecking ball. But Dan and George were motivated already and had QB experience.

The two methods which have always worked to get new Valencia players are putting up flyers (I'm always surprised how many people who show up at a practice say they did so because of our cheesy flyers) and faculty recommendations. Mike, you may be able to get the latter by getting in touch with the Faculty Senate/Council at the college and presenting them with a very streamlined flyer explaining the game and what you're looking for in players. Then some faculty can not only recommend your group to their whole classes but also find the right people to send your way.

And a note about flyers: ours have worked much better when put up actually inside classrooms. At CCs, few people are just hanging out, and they're walking too fast to pay attention to kiosks and bulletin boards in hallways. At Valencia every classroom has a small bulletin board, and those are much more likely to draw attention.

Not much, but I hope it helps. Let me know if I can be of any service; sometimes a letter from a faculty member at a different CC to a student activities coordinator may get traction.