Sporting Central Blog

Keeping true to form

sportingcentral — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:48:03 +0000

Sport is a favourite past time of the Australian culture. It is embedded in all different aspects of our lives. The number of news bulletins that have opened with a sports related story is too many to even begin counting! I got involved with sport from a very young age. From being involved in a variety of aspects and at a range of levels, I believe in what sport is able to accomplish, both on and off the field. Most of this is very positive as sport crosses all boundaries. One this that sadly destroies and is like a bad bush fire is when politics of sport along with a person’s ego, become greater than the club and what it is trying to achieve itself.

Politics is a word that people don’t put positive conitations with, instead very negative. I have both seen first hand and also heard of many times when a person or a group is more worried about their own ego’s rather than working for the greater good of the club. Sport is about having fun and striving to achieve success. The committee, structures and club itself is there to support one another. Not to be destructive and work against each other. This is wasted engergy and has a negative impact that takes overnight to destroy and many long hours and years to rebuild.

Remember why you are involved with the club and what the whole club wants to work towards achieving success. Very infamously there is a saying “No I’s in team”. As true as this is, all to often people forget this. Create goals and strategics to achieve these and this way the whole club can do their part in helping achieve these.

Does your club have a 1, 3 or 5 year plan?

sportingcentral — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:13:37 +0000

I was speaking with a sports club the other week and at one point in the conversation I asked the club, does your club have a strategic plan? To my surprise, from this successful club the answer was no! This club has approximately 400 members and ever season looks for new ways to grow their club, though they have no big goals on club numbers, structure – anything! All they know is that they would like to go up divisions in the sport, but with no plan on how to achieve this.

Does this sound familiar?

Personally, I think sports clubs need a similar structure to small businesses. As with any business, if you have a good board or senior management team, the business is 9 times out of 10 doing well. Whilst if there is poor management, the business is usually 1 pay run away from closing the doors. Similar can be said for clubs, even at the elite level. Hawthorn Football Club a few years ago had a number of management issues and now look at them today – at the top of the ladder! A well structured committee with clearly defined tasks and roles is something simple that can make a big difference to your club.

Sporting clubs must continually look for innovative ways to attract new members and develop. There is too often a change in committee though, with a plan and vision for the club, the committee is able to continue the good work going forward. Below I have outline some questions to assist your club in developing a vision.

1. Marketing: Who is your target market? What is the current demographic of the existing members? What marketing initiatives have been successful in the past?
2. Survey existing members: Have you conducted a survey of existing members to get their ideas where they see the club going in the future? Report on findings in the club newsletter.
3. Communication: How do you communicate with your members? (Email/SMS/Letters/Website)
4. Members: What has your growth been over the past 5 years? If these trends continue, where will the club be? How can the growth be improved?
5. Finance: What are they key expenses? Is the club viable?

This are a few questions at the very tip of the iceberg!

I would be interested to get your thoughts and feedback regarding your clubs structure and vision. Please email me at carina@sportingcentral.com.au.

The power of the Internet

sportingcentral — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:50:03 +0000

Today I had a meeting with a national sporting organisation. This was a very positive experience and one that was great to hear people see the true benefits of Sporting Central. Through the power of the Internet, people are able to market their sports club, business, or organisation 24/7. You can’t buy that type of exposure and the insights you can get through the Internet. What is more so, it is so easy and inexpensive to get online! It is sad to hear that people are not utilising the power of the Internet, even when it is free.

The sports industry I believe is 10-15 years behind commercial business. For this, the power of the systems, processes and being open to change is powerful! Maintaining a website isn’t a chore, but instead its should be maintained by someone who has an interest in learning new skills and open to change by emploring new marketing initiatives. By adding news stories, events, results, or a profile, it can provide a big insight into your club. It doesn’t take very long to do. If you keep an eye to ensure all the content is up to date every week, this is only a small time committment for a tool that is marketing your organisation 24/7!

In summary

* Have up-to-date content on your website

* Check the site every week

* Include information that will be useful to market your organisation such as upcoming events, results, or schedule

* The power of the Internet for promoting your organisation is huge!

A message from Carina Jacob

sportingcentral — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:07:14 +0000

Sport is ingrained into society, where volunteers can lead to the success or failure of an organisation, businesses look for innovative ways to support athletes achieve their goals, and where endless time is spent raising money to help lead teams to victory. Sporting Central, works to support, grow and connect sporting communities online.
A largely under utilised resource by many organisations, the Internet connects billions of people together around the world. There are over 15.3 million Internet users in Australia alone! Increasingly more media attention is given to health and well being. In Australia, there is approximately 10 million of people exercising or playing sport at least once a month. From this, grass routes sport all too often does not get the publicity and attention it deserves.

Sporting Central brings together sporting clubs, businesses, participants, fans, future participants and everyone in between to use the online sporting community to access information and resources for the benefit of organisations. It might be through the club and business directories, reading the sport news feeds, speaking with like-minded people in forums, checking out upcoming events or exploring tools to reach new levels. Sporting Central aims to have something for every sports enthusiast at the one site.

Your feedback is vital to develop an online sports community that will benefit you the most, please email us at info@sportingcentral.com.au.

Help spread the word of Sporting Central.

Kind regards,

Carina Jacob
Founder