We’ve seen the success and recognition professional soccer is getting through the Women’s USA team World Cup, their championships and the general growing fanbase of Major League Soccer. More than ever, professional soccer is seeing the support it deserves from their leagues and fans. This is translating at the community level as well via increased support for high school soccer teams. One of the best ways to support your school team is by creating a soccer booster club. Athletic booster clubs, such as a soccer booster club help their teams thrive through financial, moral and volunteer support that generate exponential benefits for the team.
What Is The Purpose of a Soccer Booster Club?
Unfortunately, in today’s climate, many school districts face shrinking budgets translating to limited funding to support extra curriculars such as school athletics. There is less money available to support soccer team’s equipment and uniform needs, coaching salaries, and transportation to and from games. The growing expenses of athletic programs like soccer mean that schools depend more upon booster clubs to bridge funding gaps.
A booster club can help financially by utilizing volunteers to raise money from throughout the local community. Booster club fundraising can include strategies like hosting special events, running event concession stands, hosting bake sales, scratch card games and more! A strong fundraising strategy including a series of inventive and creative fundraisers supporting the team, your soccer booster club can ensure the program will have the equipment, apparel, training, and travel expenses covered they need to compete.
Soccer Booster Club Support Goes Beyond Financial
Soccer as a team sport, is a staple in many kids’ formative years all the way through high school. Soccer challenges players mentally and physically, putting them at an advantage in many other areas of life including academics. As kids grow up and live becomes more complicated and stressful, it can be hard to balance school, social life, athletics and family. Having a soccer team booster club, offers an additional safety net of support for the student athletes to help make sure they are able to balance their lives and continue to achieve their goals both on and off the field! Your booster club steps in not only to fill financial gaps, but also to cultivate the well-being of individual members and the team as a whole.
Supporting the Players’ Physicality
It’s no surprise why organizers are interested in creating a booster club for a soccer team. Even though soccer is not the highest contact sport, it pushes the physical and mental endurance of its players having to be continually active and thinking ahead. Soccer players need to continually train their agility, reflexes, and speed to succeed on the field. Forming a booster club can help the coaching staff train their team in a number of ways including:
- Bridging salary gaps to retain or recruit high quality coaches.
- Help fund the training equipment and facilities to encourage physical training.
- Fund special onsite training camps with specialized guest coaches.
- Finance off-season training camps to hone player skills to primes them for the season.
- Financially support dietary instruction and planning for the entire team
Together all of these strategies help to improve the entire team’s physicality. Without the support of your soccer booster club, this extra attention to player physicality is most likely not possible and leaves your players to play at less than optimal physicality.
Supporting Players’ Socialization Skills
We see how booster clubs support financially and increase player physical performance, but did you know that they also contribute to their social skills? Team sports like soccer inherently foster player collaboration and teamwork by working toward common goals, taking instructions from coaches, and facing adversity together. This builds character, confidence, and self-esteem.
Off the field, athletic booster clubs build on that collaboration and team effort. A soccer booster club will offer a unique experiences allowing bonding not only with players and coaches, but also booster club organizers, volunteers and the community. Helping players understand that their teamwork, leadership skills, character and self esteem makes an impact off the field as much as on it is a huge concept to convey. With a strong supportive booster club to guide the players through this understanding – the results will help the players and team be more successful in competition and life.
Booster Clubs Support Coaching Staff
The basics of any soccer program are handled by the school, who in turn oversee the coaching staff and that the program operates under the rules. However, when a school is short of the funding needed to make the program a success, coaches turn to athletic booster clubs to help put their plans into action. Coaches have the insight into where to direct funding because their focus is on the day-to-day facilitations of the team. When coaches and booster clubs form a positive working relationship, they are able to more easily put coaching plans into action and help the team achieve success.
Increasing Visibility in the Community
One of the less understood ways a booster club helps the soccer team is increasing the program’s visibility within the community! Booster club volunteers dedicate their time to marketing and promoting soccer games and soccer booster club events locally. The net impact of this is increasing awareness – not only of the club, but of the school and its soccer program. Some of the things that booster club organizers can publicize are achievements of the team and individual players in competition, successes in the classroom, and the team impact on your community. If the soccer booster club is donating their time to a local cause, people want to hear about that! Furthermore, when a booster club begins reaching out to community business and media partners, this awareness impact is increased exponentially. As your soccer booster club raises the community awareness around the soccer program it will in turn lead to stronger support, more financial support and more volunteer help!
Athletic booster clubs allow teams to play at a higher competitive level with more funding to spend on the essential equipment and training. It should be noted that the role of booster clubs are ever expanding, and you may learn that there are other areas your booster club can support your soccer team. When you decide to create a soccer booster club you are contributing to the individual and team success of both the players and coaches, as well as helping to increase the overall popularity of soccer in the USA.
