One of the best parts of playing sports is having an enthusiastic and loyal group of supporters who cheer you on and help meet your needs as a player and as a team. A lacrosse booster club can create team morale and also help with logistics, such as fundraising.
Additionally, creating a lacrosse booster club is a great way to include a greater selection of students in athletics. Just because a student doesn’t make or try out for the team, it doesn’t mean he or she can’t have a part in enjoying the sport! Why not widen the net of who gets to participate by creating a lacrosse booster club?
Though lacrosse has been around for almost a thousand years, it’s sky-rocketed in popularity specifically over the past decade. And with the presence of a lacrosse team at most high schools in the U.S., the sport is only becoming more popular. If you’d like to harness the energy of the sport and ensure that your school’s lacrosse team feels supported, then we’d highly recommend launching a lacrosse booster club.
Lacrosse Booster Clubs Keep Players in the Game
A report by US lacrosse claims that nearly half a million youth in the US play lacrosse, 330,000 high schoolers participate, 43,000 college students play, and 11,000 keep it up after graduating. Needless to say, there are plenty of laxers (lacrosse players) out there.
You also may notice in the numbers above, the older the category, the fewer the lacrosse players. This means many people drop out of the sport as they age. While busyness may account for a significant amount of the sport drop-outs, it’s also likely that lacrosse players aren’t being adequately supported in their efforts.
Athletic booster clubs are the perfect solution to this problem. Whether a team is struggling, a booster club for the lacrosse team can rally around them and keep the players in the sport.
The lacrosse booster club can help the team acquire updated equipment, such as masks, helmets, sticks, and goalie gear. They can initiate fundraisers to help with the team’s travel expenses to and from games and tournaments. They can also make sure each player has a proper uniform. The lacrosse booster club can also research and recruit for special training and coaching for the team. They can collaborate with local businesses to increase community support and visibility. Additionally, they can spread the word among the student body to ensure increased attendance at matches and tournaments.
There’s a Place for Everyone With Lacrosse Booster Clubs
Some students feel discouraged when they are unable to play a sport at a varsity or junior varsity level. They feel that they have no place in their school’s athletics program. Yet, extra curricular activities can be very helpful not only keeping students out of trouble, but also teaching them values such as team work, tenacity, discipline, and encouragement.
And while not everyone can run the three miles that the average lacrosse midfielder does in each game, anyone can have a part to play in helping the lacrosse team thrive. Fundraising can take many forms and organizing, launching, and succeeding in fundraising endeavors requires many different ideas and skills. So, it’s easy to imagine a situation where a particular student doesn’t have the capacity to play, but is more than capable of planning a car wash, bake sale, or collaboration with a local pizza restaurant or the school’s theater program.
Likewise, if students are passionate about the sport but have limited time (due to an afterschool job or family obligations) and cannot commit to a full practice schedule, they don’t have to be excluded from the lacrosse team entirely. Being a member of the lacrosse booster club can be one of the best ways to show support and offer legitimate help to the team, without committing a full ten hours a week.
It’s clear to see that lacrosse booster clubs can be an alternative way to get students involved in something they don’t otherwise have access to. And the result helps the players feel supported and the booster club members to feel included.
Athletic Booster Clubs are Fun
Sports can create community for students through a shared sense of camaraderie and purpose. In every athletic game, there’s a clear objective: To win and have fun in the process. When schools have rivalries and play games and scrimmages against one another, it can help strengthen and motivate each team in a fun, unthreatening way.
Rivalries give students a clear goal to work towards, and they must work together in the process of achieving it. Lacrosse booster clubs can be especially supportive in the days and weeks leading up to rivalry games by making sure the rest of the school is aware of the game and even has the information and transportation they need to get there. And once the big games come, the lacrosse booster club can break into action with cheers and support—making their lacrosse team’s draws, assists, shots on goal, and crease rolls unstoppable.
Not only do lacrosse booster clubs make the games more exciting for the players, they are able to bring the whole school in on the fun through game advertising and school spirit campaigns (like everyone in the student section wearing the same color to the games). The lacrosse booster club can act as a bridge between a fifteen to thirty person team to the entire student body.
How to Start a Lacrosse Booster Club
If all of these benefits have you convinced that a booster club for the lacrosse team is just what your school needs, then you’re probably wondering how to start one. For ideas on creating a booster club website, partnering with local businesses, leveraging specific holidays, ways to make the club extra fun, and fundraiser ideas, browse through our blog.
Sports Booster Clubs are a True Win-Win
Everyone wants to find a place where they feel like they belong and their contributions matter, and this is especially true of high school students. When your school launches booster clubs, it helps the athletic students feel affirmed and encouraged while playing their sport (and can even be the reason why the programs maintain funding).
Furthermore, the students who participate in the booster clubs, notice that their efforts are having an impact on the players and they learn valuable skills while supporting the team. Booster clubs also function like ambassadors between the athletic team and the rest of the student body. When the booster club is excited about something, the whole student body will be too!
