Many youth soccer leagues do not allow player recruitment, in other leagues it is necessary to survive. Player recruitment cannot be ignored, it is the lifeblood of your team.
Most of us don’t have big hiring budgets to do big newspaper ads.
Here are some inexpensive “guerrilla marketing” recruiting methods you can use:
Flyers to the Schools: (Chapter 4 of the book shows you how to get around the school rules that block this tactic)
Punt Pass and Kick Contest: The winners competed in the halftime of our local professional indoor soccer team.
School Assemblies- Much easier than you think
Featured shows in the school cafeteria: with a portable DVD player
Other sports Sporting events- Hand out flyers
School Open Door Booths
Church bulletin announcements
Press releases
newspaper articles
radio interviews
TV Coverage “Work Event”
Player “Rewards” – Offer your players $5 for each completed application or entry to a pizza party.
Church or School Carnival/Festival Booths
Saturday grocery store chart or flyer
websites
posters
Parades: Your team marches in uniforms and hands out flyers.
Trophy displays at school
Jersey Days at School Team Game
Our Organization grew from 1 team to 16 in just 5 years using these methods. We ran only one very expensive newspaper ad during this time period (it gave us little return).
Details on how to make it all work, including free press releases and radio interviews, are in Chapter 4 of the book and include samples of our brochures. Our Nebraska youth soccer team website is
http://www.screamingeaglefootball.com
The website was developed for free by a talented volunteer.
Copyright 2007 Cisar Management Services Reprints are allowed if the resource box and links remain intact.