Starting a DG club at my college

[techn9cian4life]

So the most popular course here in Boise during the summer is Ann Morrison Park. It's about 5 minutes walking distance from Boise State University (My school) and believe it or not, BSU doesn't have a DG club. Thinking about trying to start one. Has any one ever done this before? Creating a club doesn't seem to be too hard. The only thing I see going wrong is people joining, and all they wanna do is go to the course, drink beer and mess around, not really giving a damn about the actual sport.

 

[StingHP]

I am an office for the club at Iowa State. The club started off as a casual club and transitioned into one where we compete. Depends on what direction you want the club to be and people who join in. Also, see what requirements your school has for clubs.

 

[techn9cian4life]

I am an office for the club at Iowa State. The club started off as a casual club and transitioned into one where we compete. Depends on what direction you want the club to be and people who join in. Also, see what requirements your school has for clubs.

At first I'd like it to be casual.. see how the turn out is and what kind of players it draws. I don't know how many schools in the area (There aren't many to begin with) have DG clubs, but I think something cool to do would be competing with in the club.

 

[Bhoffman09]

Our club consisted of about three to four people for our first two semesters with the goal of just playing a few collegiate events. After being unaffiliated for the first semester, we did the paperwork last spring to become a sport club and received funding for the 2012-2013 year in preparation for last semester, fall 2012.

For promotion, we posted flyers at the local course, advertised on the local area club's forum, and created a FB page.

As a result, we have no fewer than six players who are interested in playing competitively and around 10 total. Five of which are/have been PDGA members. We aren't so much interested in numbers as we are in people who love playing and want to get better... seems to be a good recipe so far.

 

[Bamm]

See what other schools in the area you would be competing against. If you have 3-4 within decent driving distance then I say start a team. If you aren't thinking about competing then you are just starting a league for students. That's still not a bad thing as you can build the league for a year or two and then maybe start a team. Talk to some other "comparable size" schools that have teams and see what their process was. Good luck......................jerry

 

[bradharris]

So the most popular course here in Boise during the summer is Ann Morrison Park. It's about 5 minutes walking distance from Boise State University (My school) and believe it or not, BSU doesn't have a DG club. Thinking about trying to start one. Has any one ever done this before? Creating a club doesn't seem to be too hard. The only thing I see going wrong is people joining, and all they wanna do is go to the course, drink beer and mess around, not really giving a damn about the actual sport.

This might not be a bad way to get it going. Start it out as a social club to gain interest, you'll have a mix of serious and not so serious players. You can tailor club activities in a way to get serious players playing together and more casual players playing together so there's something for everyone.

Most importantly, can you get blue turf for the course??

 

[IDGC_SUPER]

http://www.ncdgc.com/howtostartateam.htm

 

[Bamm]

Most importantly, can you get blue turf for the course??

Nice:thmbup:

 

[Ranger Rick]

The PDGA has some resources for how to start a club: http://www.pdga.com/affiliate_club/start-club

 

[ru4por]

Blue turf, that is funny stuff. Great information here, this is the power of this forum. Outstanding.

 

[GT Chris]

I didn't found the club at Georgia Tech, but I joined at the very first meeting and later served as President. My advice is to be patient. Building a club is hard work and takes time. Just know that if you put in the effort and persevere, it will all be worth it.

Good luck, and please keep us updated with your progress!

 

[techn9cian4life]

I didn't found the club at Georgia Tech, but I joined at the very first meeting and later served as President. My advice is to be patient. Building a club is hard work and takes time. Just know that if you put in the effort and persevere, it will all be worth it.

Good luck, and please keep us updated with your progress!

Yeah I know how much work it can be Haha I was the VP of BSU's club baseball team for a season.. Im excited to get this going. I have a meeting with the schools club adviser next Thursday. After that's done I can start advertising that the club exists.

 

[Rockwell]

From the official school club side of things it's usually as easy as filling out the proper forms.

From the recruiting members side of things:
-Try setting up a facebook page for the club, and getting word out about a weekly time you meet up at the course and play doubles or whatever format you want.
-Develop an email list of all those interested or who have come in the past.
-Spread the word around campus by postering a "call-out" or setting up a basket and having a group of you putt on it, with a giant sign next to it letting people know when to meet at the course.
-You can make membership free, or you can choose to charge a small fee to give people ownership. We include a custom mini/bag tag with membership.

These are ideas we have successfully used in setting up our disc golf club.

 

[techn9cian4life]

From the official school club side of things it's usually as easy as filling out the proper forms.

From the recruiting members side of things:
-Try setting up a facebook page for the club, and getting word out about a weekly time you meet up at the course and play doubles or whatever format you want.
-Develop an email list of all those interested or who have come in the past.
-Spread the word around campus by postering a "call-out" or setting up a basket and having a group of you putt on it, with a giant sign next to it letting people know when to meet at the course.
-You can make membership free, or you can choose to charge a small fee to give people ownership. We include a custom mini/bag tag with membership.

These are ideas we have successfully used in setting up our disc golf club.

Thought of all those things Haha Email has already been set up, just need clarification that I can use it. Already have a flyer drawn up, just need clarification to post it up around campus. During the meeting next Thursday Im gonna see if it would be cool to set up a table in the common area of the SUB and just put my Mach Lite next to it with some poster board hangin from the table saying "Boise State disc golf club.." with a clip board for people to write their e-mail address/info on.

 

[brettricewku]

I started the DG club at Western Kentucky University. Our school has a sport club department which includes more than 20 different sports. I went to them and the only thing I needed was a constitution and to sign some papers. We get a little bit of funding every year which we use to pay for tournaments put on by the collegiate governing body the National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships. Check them out online at NCDGC.com Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[techn9cian4life]

I started the DG club at Western Kentucky University. Our school has a sport club department which includes more than 20 different sports. I went to them and the only thing I needed was a constitution and to sign some papers. We get a little bit of funding every year which we use to pay for tournaments put on by the collegiate governing body the National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships. Check them out online at NCDGC.com Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh ya that reminds me, I need to write up a constitution before the meeting Haha But for sure. That'd be awesome if we got a little bit of funding. Id love to get some dri-fits made with the BSU Bronco on the back with Boise State Disc Golf on it.

 

[BananaSlug46637]

I took over the UC Santa Cruz club and served as President for two years. When I first took over I didn't know much about competitive disc golf and, while I thought I was baller at the time, I wasn't very good at all. I made a point of having regular field and putting practices during the week and leaving course practice for the weekends. Obviously most players attended course practice more than field or putting, but committing to those practice times forced me to be there and improved my game dramatically.

As far as competing within the club, get bag tags! We ordered the club deal through paragon that got us shirts, tags, and towels. Even newer players LOVE bag tags because it provides incentive for serious play. After a couple months of competing among ourselves many newer players began branching out to weeklies and monthlies in the area.

Regarding recruitment, this was probably my greatest weakness as an organizer. I was much more interested in the disc golf side of things than the getting people involved side. We were able to do tabling outside of our bookstore on a few occasions and each fall there is a club fair. about 2 out of everyone 100 people we got emails from ever came out.

Hopefully something in this longwinded mess is helpful.