A volleyball booster club provides important support for young athletes. High school volleyball teams are an opportunity for young adults to stretch themselves in fitness, teamwork, and goal-setting. The challenge of this athletic environment also helps young people stay more focused, achieve better grades, increases attendance and improves their graduation rates.
Even with those positive impacts, many sports teams are on the chopping block due to budget issues. Sometimes struggling teams are cut first, when they serve the most underserved students. Sometimes more teams should be available for a larger program, but there are only a couple teams with limited jerseys.
A volleyball booster club impacts young lives in a dramatic way. But it doesn’t just benefit the athletes. It provides an opportunity for parents who can serve to do so. It boosts the morale of the school. And it builds community. Here are some important ways a volleyball booster club impacts lives of students and the community as a whole.
A Volleyball Booster Club Raises Funds
It’s easy to understand that a volleyball booster clubs are a great source of fundraising support. But why are these funds so important? They matter because a booster club can raise funds for a specific need and get the money quicker than through a typical local beauracracy.
Trying to buy needed items through athletics departments and school districts can take a lot of time. It’s good to use those funds when you can. But they are dwindling every year, and the purchases take a while. Many times, athletic department funds are needed for universally used athletic facility items such as bleachers or turf improvements.
By creating a booster club, you can raise funds specifically for the volleyball team and their needs. While it’s a nice thought that the school budget pot is always split perfectly, the reality is that sometimes teams benefit more when they have their own additional source of funds.
The funds that a booster club raises are available almost immediately. When a team gets invited to a tournament, wants to run an extra clinic, or has some other special need, a booster club is an important source of funding.
A Booster Club Builds Community
Volleyball booster clubs aren’t just for fundraising. They are a liaison between the athletic director, coaching staff and the team. They build community around the team by increasing communication, addressing issues, and holding meetings to make sure activities, dinners, and other events happen.
Without a booster club, the burden lies on individuals who may or may not be organized to put on dinners, buy uniforms, and put on tournaments. These things bring a lot of joy to parents, athletes, and the community. But they are not a lot of fun to work away on into the wee hours by oneself.
It’s always better to get a group of people organized. Both the burdens and the joys are shared.
A Volleyball Booster Club Has Strength in Numbers
When it comes time for tournaments, things can seem scrambled as people try to get everyone ready and furnish the building. There are meals, snacks, water, swag, and more to prepare. Who better to meet the challenge of such a long list of to-dos than a booster club?
Booster clubs just make sense when it comes to getting things done.
Showing Leadership, Building Leadership
Booster clubs for volleyball teams, like other clubs, can draw criticism if the same group of people are in charge for too long. While things can always be addressed if this is the case, very often a four-year term by one person works in everyone’s favor. Your club leadership not only should be fluid, but should respond to the specific needs of the community and volleyball team while helping to guide the program forward.
In many cases booster clubs are working with athletes and parents that are new to volleyball as well as very knowledgable. It’s important for Volleyball booster club leadership to make sure that everyone is operating with the same expectations and understanding no matter their experience. Not only does this inclusive leadership style maintain the peace, it also helps to grow the club and sport itself within the community.
Beyond managing parent and athlete expectations, volleyball booster clubs primarily function to lead any and all fundraising activities, marketing of the team and its events and continually grow community outreach. From coordinating fundraisers, to building local business support to expanding media coverage – your leadership team should continually be implementing strategies that address all of these areas.
There is one other area volleyball booster clubs are often tasked with that is often overlooked – building student athlete leadership and teamworking skills . Leadership is an important aspect of any athletic endeavor, volleyball included – and by supporting coaching efforts to build strong athlete leaders booster clubs are positively impacting the sport! It takes strong leadership to build a strong team, and working together it will often define how a team faces its challenges. It’s a tough but rewarding sport that teaches important life lessons as well as fitness.
Team Spirit
Team spirit matters for the athletes, the school, and the community. There’s not much point in playing a team sport if people don’t develop team skills. These types of skills stick with athletes for the rest of their lives.
If there’s anything important student athletes should learn besides how to play the game well, it’s the value of team and in turn, team spirit. Kids who play these kinds of sports grow and learn life lessons, not just athletic lessons, when they learn to work together with other people, celebrate team values, and feel the pride and strength of a supportive community behind them – win or lose.
A sports program booster club builds team spirit in so many ways. One important thing they do for athletes is to help the parents join together in supporting the goals of the team. Parental support makes the world of difference in student focus, effort, and overall participation.
Volleyball booster clubs boost the visibility of the team within the community. They can increase enthusiasm from current supporters, increase event attendance with advertising, and help make people aware of the team who didn’t know about it before.
Volleyball booster clubs also acquire media partners and host events to increase support. They are a hub of activity that draws interest on behalf of the volleyball. These are projects that benefit from the archives, resources, and experience that can be found in a booster club.
A Volleyball Booster Club Preserves the Team
A volleyball booster club does so much to organize the efforts of the team’s support network. Through raising awareness and directly supporting the team with fundraising, they can keep a team going for as long as there are athletes.
Volleyball booster clubs can draw in support from parents who may not realize what an impact their participation has, thereby transforming the experience into a life-changing one for athletes.
The volleyball booster club’s irreplaceable enthusiasm, volunteerism, and hard work provide a focal point of leadership for the athletes, parents, and community alike.
