Club Tennis 101: Steps 1 - 5

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Step 1: Apply to Be a Recognized Club

This is the most important paperwork step along the way. You need to officially apply to become a recognized sport club with your recreational sports department. Talk to your recreational sports director to get more information about this. He or she will have specific information tailored to your school—and perhaps your club. Every school is different when it comes to this process. At some schools, you may simply have to fill out a form, while at others you may have to organize yourselves and function as a non-recognized club tennis team for a year before you can become recognized. Collegiate recreational sports departments often give minimal funding to recognized sport clubs, and in some cases student leadership organizations may also have funds available for recognized sport clubs. Talk to your rec-sports director for details at your school.

Step 2: Build a Website

Setting up a website is a very easy and efficient way to help organize your sport club. It can be used to attract new members, update current members, keep members in touch with each other, keep statistics for the club, raise awareness of your sport club on campus and in your community, keep past members in touch with the club, etc. Things that you may want to include are a team roster, pictures, practice information, contact information, schedule, directions to your tennis facility, etc. Setting up your website early on in this process will make life much easier on you. You will be able to advertise your club and distribute up-todate and accurate information to interested people. If you do not know how to create a website, talk to your recreational sports director or campus computing department and ask them to point you in the right direction. It is also very likely that once your sport club is formed there will be someone who will be well-versed with things of this nature and will be able to take on some of these responsibilities. A great way to build buzz or increase participation in your club tennis team is by showcasing your club tennis team on the Internet. First, be sure to check our College Club Tennis Team page to see if your campus has an updated team profile. Don't see your college club tennis team on our map or club list? If you have a Tennis On campus program on your campus already, have your club president fill out the TennisOnCampus.com Team Profile Form. If you are looking to start a new Tennis On Campus program, email us at tennisoncampus@usta.com and make sure to check out our Resource Page. Connect with the USTA Tennis On Campus program through Facebook and Twitter!  "Like" and follow us now to make sure you don't miss out on exciting Tennis On Campus oopportunities, exclusive merchandise discounts, college club tennis tournament updates, and more! Then create your own club team group on Facebook to post pictures, chat with teammates, and more.

Step 3: Hold an Informational Meeting

The most efficient way to find and coordinate students who are interested in joining your new sport club tennis team is to organize an informational mass meeting. Talk to your recreational sports director for help with this; they should have plenty of experience with them. First, set a date for the informational meeting. Make sure to give yourself enough time to let people know about it and to organize the information that you want to distribute, but do it soon enough so you can get started quickly! Next, secure a large room (your turnout will be greater than you expect). Lastly, it is time to let people know about the meeting. Start this process by contacting the people who played in your campus tournament. (Remember the list your intramural director gave you?) Then make posters and flyers and strategically place them in high traffic areas around your campus. Good places for this are the recreational sports building, near your tennis facility, in dormitories, on the ground on busy sidewalks, on buses and at bus stations, and on poles and walls near busy pedestrian crossings. You may also want to try chalking sidewalks, placing an advertisement in your school newspaper, or posting information on your website (both your sport club tennis team’s new website and the recreational sports website). On your posters, make sure to include the meeting day, time, and place, along with your contact information. Your recreational sports director will be able to advise you on appropriate and acceptable means of promotion. At your informational meeting, you will be able to share your vision of a sport club tennis team with your peers. After reading the rest of this guidebook and doing a little bit of work, you will be able to explain when you will play, where you will play, how the club will be structured, what the costs are, what teams you will play, what fundraisers you will do to keep costs low for them, etc. Now that you have all of these people together, though, you need to get all of their contact information to keep them updated. Come prepared with plenty of paper and pencils and ask people to write down their name, e-mail address, and phone numbers. Voilà! You now have the tools necessary to distribute more information about your sport club tennis team to a large group of people in a short amount of time.

Step 4: Create an Email List

Now that you have all of these e-mail addresses from people interested in joining your new sport club tennis team, its time to create a team e-mail list. With the team e-mail list you will now be able to send an e-mail to the entire team with just a single e-mail address. Your school should have an easy step-by-step process that will direct you through the setup process. If you do not know how to create a group e-mail list, talk to your rec-sports director or campus computing department and ask them for help. After you establish your club, it is a good idea to create a few other e-mail lists for different purposes. Create one for your sport club officers so that they may communicate easily amongst each other (see below for more information on officers). Create one for your team after you get everything rolling to keep them up to date. Create one for interested students who are not on your team to keep them in the loop. Create one for alumni of your sport club tennis team. After they graduate and start making the big bucks, they will want to give back to the program that gave so much to them! Finally, create one for parents, friends, and fans to keep them involved. Sending out directions to matches and match schedules are greatly appreciated by these people and, again, it helps create a larger tennis family and larger support base for your sport club tennis team!

Step 5: Participate in "Campus Days"

At the beginning of the academic year, almost all colleges have organized events to introduce students to the range of extracurricular activities that await them. There are normally two specific kinds of events in this category, both of which you and your club will want to be a part of. The first is National Recreational Sports Day. This celebration is put on by your college’s recreational sports department and showcases all sport clubs, intramural sports, and other recreational sport endeavors on campus. The second event is a school-wide event that is open to all student organizations. This includes sororities and fraternities, clubs, sport clubs, political groups, etc. Make certain that you are a part of these events! Many students will come looking for information about your new sport club tennis team. If you have a booth or table, there are several things that you will want handy. Create some kind of large sign or poster to attract people to your area. You may also want to have a few racquets and tennis balls lying on your table, too. You will need flyers to pass out to people. If the event is before your mass meeting (which is a great scenario to have if you can coordinate it), then use the same flyers that you were posting around campus that have the meeting day, time, and place, along with your contact information. Also, make sure to use this opportunity to obtain the interested students’ contact information. Come prepared with paper and pen to take their names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. Now, you can add these names to your group e-mail list!

Click here to continue reading: Chapter 2, Club Tennis 101: Steps 6-10

 

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