The remaining Wisconsin clubs have, at best, an ambiguous relationship with its local park and recreation department and/or local school district. I have often heard coaches complain about the difficulty they have in negotiating the relationship with local school officials and the negative impact this has on the club's ability to "get the word out" about their club. While an Internet presence goes some way in circumventing this problem, this communication channel presupposes that someone is aware that club rugby exists in the local community and that they are searching for the club online. So, what are local high school rugby clubs to do? I want to throw out some strategies and pointers from my experience --for what its worth -- and briefly discuss your rugby club's "rights" within a public institution. However, be forewarned, exerting your "rights" is not the ideal method. Rather, collaborative and positive relationships are the way to go.
So, some basic pointers:
PLAYERS AS LEADERS:
- Give your players the recruiting mentality. Remind your players that responsibility for the growth of the club rests with the players. They are the best source of new players (see the post about the Black Ferns... peer recruitment was the #1 reason for joining rugby).
- Encourage your players to facilitate positive relationships within their school. Players (as members of the student body) have greater access to the school community than "outsider" coaches. For example, some recent successes by the Brookfield team, that can only be achieved by student-athlete leadership are: (1) the Brookfield Central players convinced the year-book editor to include a page dedicated to the rugby club (even though the club is not an officially recognized sport); (2) the school paper included an article about the rugby club in their upcoming issue. (Remember -- our athletes are not just rugby players-- they are year book editors, members of the school paper, members of the student council). By encouraging players to utilize their networks, we are actually helping players to develop important self-advocacy and leadership skills that go beyond rugby. (As an aside, don't be afraid to write letters of recommendations to college for your players and high light their off-the-field contributions, as these really demonstrate leadership. "so-and-so was not only a stellar athlete, but also did x, y, and z to demonstrate her leadership skills" --some players shy away from rugby in the fears that being part of a non-school sponsored sport will not contribute to their college admission application. However, the opposite is true. Rugby is a great opportunity to take responsibility and develop leadership skills).
- Let your players lead the way, but always maintain a hand in the image that your players present. Remember, our role as a coach is to help facilitate positive youth development (so don't let your players portray in image that is counter-productive to the growth of the sport in your community).
- Don't forget that parents are another important key networking component: "My daughter plays rugby... and I'm proud of her" is a very powerful recruitment statement.
- Don't let rugby be marginalized as a "rugby club" versus "school system" mentality. Always remember that, at our best, we are, like the school system, interested in the positive development of our players. Therefore, we are partners not competitors in the process.
- Don't let rugby be seen as "taking away" from other sports programs. Often, I've heard athletic directors and other coaches characterize rugby as "stealing athletes" from other legitimate sports. The script for rugby coaches should be that we (1) offer choice to student athletes; (2) by offering rugby, some students who might not otherwise play a sport is give an opportunity to get active and get involved (e.g. it is very difficult for a high school student who hasn't been playing soccer for years to walk onto a competitive high school team. Rugby offers these players a new opportunity, no experience necessary).
- Be responsive to school administration concerns. (e.g. when posting rugby posters-- do your players always use the appropriate administrative procedure and get the appropriate approvals).
- Always frame the conversation in terms of what rugby can offer and not what rugby wants. It is counter-productive in these days of tight budgets and program cuts to think that rugby can (or should) get financial support from the school system. But, most clubs don't need much (we have balls, jerseys, volunteer coaches, etc...). By partnering with the schools, we can add to the school community -- bringing resources, not taking away. What does the club need from the school? access to the communication network, access to playing fields, and already existing no-additional cost resources. What can rugby add? A new, low-cost, exciting sports program for the school, contributions to field maintenance costs, partnering to raise funds for new goal posts...? we are only limited by our imagination and willingness to ask, not what the schools can do for us, but what we can add to the school.
- The rugby club has the same right to post flyers, distribute mailers in school communication vehicles (e.g. stuffing mailers in middle school take-home packets) as any other similarly situated group. Thus, if your school district allows the local church to distribute flyers about summer bible camp, the rugby club likely has a constitutional right to distribute hand-outs about rugby (subject to the same time, place and manner restrictions). Obviously the negative corollary is also true: if the communication tools is only open to officially school sponsored activities, then the non-school sponsored rugby club has no "right" to communicate. Find out what your school district rules are (very respectfully) and follow school policies. If the rules really prohibit the use of these communication vehicles by out-side groups, respect that policy and explore alternatives.
- Remember, not all information is private -- try a direct mailer. If your schools distribute a student directory -- try and get the names and addresses of incoming students and try mailing them all a post card prior to the season. Often, your players already have access to these documents. Moreover, this information (depending upon local school board policy) is often publicly available. For example, FERPA (the federal law which protects the confidentiality of student records) does NOT generally protect the confidentiality of "directory data", i.e. information including student's name, address, school most recently attended, etc. Most states have "open records" laws or sunshine laws that allow members of the public to request records which are not otherwise protected by confidentiality laws. Thus, you may be able to ask your school district for a list of the names and addresses of students and create a mailer to incoming students in your district. (This is a tactic used by people marketing services to high-school students -- such as year book photographers).
- Always remember, it is not optimal to exert your "rights" when interacting with a school district. But I think it's helpful to know that there are creative ways to overcome the structural deficit created by being an unofficially recognized sports. The best way is to always be collaborative.
- Finally, don't forget the local paper. Often times, the major newspaper in the area is too busy covering "major" sporting events and officially recognized sports. But the local community paper is often looking for things to write about. Posting weekly box scores in the community based paper is a great way to remind people that rugby exists in your community. By cultivating relationships with reporters, you may even get a feature article and a couple of photos.
