The Power of Plannning - Founding of the Club Part 1 (Projecting & Planning)

"Why do you want to start a club?"

It sounds like a simple question, but when you take a closer look, you realize how complex the answer is. My first motivation to start a team handball club was to create a training program for myself and to find students who wanted to play handball with me. So I thought about how to motivate students to exercise and play handball while teaching them my passion for the sport. This is definitely not the only reason to start a club, but it is a good one. However, you cannot do it alone. You need supporters and friends who want to join and take responsibility. So I found three other people who were willing to take on responsibilities, and with the help of the sports club office, we were given questions to answer in order to submit our application as a new sports club. These questions helped us as a board to start thinking about our goals, which is why I want to talk more about this here. This thought process is very important when starting a club. The questions lead you in a guided conversation about your club and help you set specific goals. It is important to think and write the reasons down, to get 1) to a common opinion, and 2) talk about your goals as club.

The first and most important question is: What is the indented purpose/objective of a collegiate sport club/this club? For the Cortland Handball Club, our main and primary objective was to promote and develop the sport of team handball in the community. In addition, we wanted to teach members the rules and skills necessary to enjoy and compete in team handball. Through practice and competition, members will experience the rewards associated with small group interaction, training, and competitive play. The club will focus on the current and future development of the sport of team handball at the collegiate, regional, and state levels. Our goals during the first year of existence were: 1) Basic skill development (technical and tactical level) and knowledge transfer, 2) Create a base of several players to compete in local, regional competitions, 3) Create a sustainable community within the first semester (find supporters/advisors on campus).

As you may have noticed, I sometimes write in the singular and sometimes in the plural. This is one of the most important things in the process. It all starts with one person's idea, i.e., starting a club, but you also need the people to support your ideas and walk with you along the way. Right, this is mainly leadership management and keeping people motivated and engaged. I will talk more about recruitment and leadership in a future article. Getting the board together and discussing plans for the future was key since they had only heard my pitch at the interest meeting. It was time to explain my vision and mission and share my motivation for the project so they could start recruiting people and promoting the sport. Everything was largely driven by me, which was stressful because who guaranteed that what I was doing was right? Right, nobody, you just have to do it and try. I would say this is the most critical point when experts or exchange students come to the US, start a project and stay for a limited amount of time. You need people from the area around you who are committed and want to continue to promote the sport and the project. This can be difficult with a less popular sport and the high turnover in the college.

With that being said we come to the point why is your group interested in establishing this club? Our group was interested in establishing the club because we were all inspired by the sport and wanted to play and develop our skills in team handball at SUNY Cortland. At this point I would describe it more like the group was interested in supporting my project and seeing where it goes. The sport of team handball gives us students the opportunity to experience the game, practice, and commit to regular practices during the week. Starting the club helped us find friends with the same interests and connect with people at SUNY Cortland. We wanted to start the club because of the opportunity to learn and improve our handball skills while improving our fitness. It gives us the opportunity to participate in a sport that we can identify with. It also teaches us how to work and communicate as a team and how to deal with wins and losses.

It always comes to the point where you have to think about if the club meets the needs or interest that are not already being met somewhere else on campus. For sure, if you already have a basketball team on campus, you do not need a second one unless it targets another group, i.e. men vs. women. For our purpose the club met the interest for an exercise offer specifically focused on the sport of Team Handball. Team Handball is a new sport offer that has not been addressed in the last 10 years, with a high potential in this area. USA Team Handball is actively looking for colleges to promote and incorporate the sport of Team Handball to bridge the gap between young high school handball players and future active adult handball players. What contributions/benefits would this club provide to the campus community and the Sport Club program? With this new sport offer the Sport Club program can widen their offer in team sports to get more people actively involved supporting the physical and psychological wellbeing of students. It will support a sustainable skill development from high school to higher performance levels and can help recruit future students. The club offers the chance to build a connection to the national governing body and develop potential players for Team USA Handball.

How dangerous is Team Handball? This is really important for your college because of the insurance and inherent risks associated with playing handball. Team handball is an intermittent, high-intensity sport characterized by sprints, jumps, cuts, changes of direction, and body contact. This can result in bruises, contusions, muscle strains, torn muscle fibers, ankle sprains and anterior cruciate ligament tears. To ensure safety and minimize muscle damage, a proper warm-up following the RAMP protocol (Raise, Activate & Mobilize, Potentiate) will be included. Injury prevention exercises will also be incorporated into the warm-up to minimize the risk of future injury. The coach will ensure a step-by-step introduction and proper skill development. Knowledge transfer and education is also an important part of creating a safe playing environment. Proper athletic attire and footwear are required. Wristbands, watches, and other hard equipment are prohibited. ACL injuries often occur in non-contact situations due to overuse of the structure. To minimize the risk of these injuries, a resistance program is recommended and overall fatigue and task level will be considered in practice.

Below are some of the ideas we had for promoting the club, recruiting new members, and raising money. Stay tuned to see how we did and how successful the ideas were.

Ideas how the club should advertise/market itself to the campus community – Collaboration with other existing clubs (APEM Club) and workshops. Open practices where anyone can come and try the sport. Participate in the Club Sports Fair and other events to represent the club. We also wanted to promote the sport on Instagram.

Ideas how the club plans to recruit new members – through workshops and teachers at SUNY Cortland. Advertising in campus athletic facilities. Flyers in the freshman dorms with information about the club and practice times (no experience necessary). Networking with other club sports to see if any of their players would be interested in cross-training. Weekly newsletter from the Recreational Office. Reach out to international student organizations, International Student Office at SUNY Cortland to see if there are any exchange students who have played in another country who would be interested in starting in the US.

Ideas what fundraising activities the club would conduct to generate revenue – t-shirt fundraiser, raffle, pie a dancer

The next blog post is about "The Power of Planning - Founding of the Club Part 2 (Constitution / Budget". So stay tuned and enjoy the last couple of days until the semester starts again.