School Club and School Funding for Footbag!

[Guest_1]

I go to NHCC and am starting the NHCCFC!

We can get funding and everything! To make sure we get the funding we desire, I'm even going to run for the Student Senate to push votes my way

This was all devised this afternoon as it was happening.

We're going to try and get several serious folks to join, I'll donate a few hacks, and use the school's $$$ to buy a few kids shoes.

Has anyone else (Ken) done something like this before?

[C-Fan]

Yeah, it's been done. Stanford is probably the most successful example of a college footbag club, but others have popped up from time to time. Currently, Cornell has a pretty well-organized club. This is almost entirely due to our President, Luis Lipchak, doing all of the thankless, essential gruntwork of filling out paperwork, getting signatures, and showing up to the appropriate meetings for clubs.

There's not much to getting a college footbag club set up. The main thing is learning the rules (what you have to do) to become a club, and either do everything they ask, or find people to help you. The most important thing is momentum. When I got to school last year, there were only 3 footbaggers and a handful of hacky slackers on campus. Once I met up with Luis and Pascal, we began playing in public spots and recruited a few interested students. Once we had enough people to found a club, Luis filled out the paperwork, and we became recognized as an official club. This was not the final goal, but rather just a step towards helping us reach our final goal. Once we had club status, we were allowed to set up a booth at next year's club fair, which is the best place to recruit new members. This helped us increase our club numbers. Our official status not only helped us recruit more members, it also allowed us to submit a budget and receive money from school.

Holding events is another good way to get publicity for your club. It's a way to get your members excited by giving them a specific event to focus on and look forward to. It also exposes them to the footbag community that exists beyond campus, and can help motivate them to take their involvement to a higher level. Running events also makes your club look more organized and serious, which is helpful when recruiting new members, as well as when you are presenting your club/asking for money in front of a school body.

You should also do your homework when it comes to researching the school's rules for clubs and funding. At Cornell, for example, we cannot receive funds to buy food for the club. We also cannot buy equipment to give to club members. We can only buy equipment for the club itself (like footbags) which must be stored on campus, and stay within the club.

[janis]

I'd highly recommend that you try to set a club up on campus!

In 2006 I set up an official club at Melbourne University, so far the club has been a great success. Being an affiliated club has given us funding and many other benefits.
Over the last year the club has steadily grown, we now have over 70 members.

here's our website:
http://www.footbagclub.com/

A few things that we have learnt from our club experience:
-Make sure that you have a regular meeting time and place, without this your club is almost certainly doomed to failure.
-Playing in public places is great, the more exposure your club can get the better.
-Its important to always have good quality footbags available at the regular kicks.
-Social functions are a really good idea, especially to get non shredders involved.

Once we had club status, we were allowed to set up a booth at next year's club fair, which is the best place to recruit new members. This helped us increase our club numbers.

this is particularly true, make sure you get involved in the club fair days, they are an invaluable promotion opportunity.

[Guest_1]

WoW! Great responses! I'm getting pumped!!!

[Rieferman]

Hey Josh,
It's been awhile since my college days, but one of our best ways of gathering interest during "club days" (or similar types of events) was to play Takraw (which we called Buka). It could be anything really (4-square is a good current example) but the point is to give Joe/Jane Public a chance to try kicking something that's not quite as frustrating as freestyle can be for beginners. Once they know you, your chances of getting them to return later are improved.

edit: Oh yeah, I forgot.. One more reason to do something like this: The school looked kindly upon our group for offering an activity that would encourage general participation. They gave us more premium placement at the event, or would otherwise hook us up. Remember, a lot of things are negotiable, even when you're talking to the school.

Good luck!

[monkeybilla]

im only in high school but me and my friend ben a.k.a. benzilla are trying to get a club together. we asked the principal and he sounded pretty intrested so he asked us to find some articles for him to read about the basics rules of footbag so we found them and hopefully the club will happen.