Introduction
Collegiate kiteboarding has seen massive growth since the establishment of the Collegiate Kiteboarding Association in America. Like any new sport, the CKA would like to encourage the formation of new clubs to increase college participation to progress the sport in the kiting industry.
Why start a kiteboarding club at a college?
- Enjoy a kiteboarding college experience
- Get funding from your college to purchase new equipment and pay for travel
- Make the sport more accessible financially for students
- Get access to top equipment and great deals through club sponsorships
- Add leadership, sporting and club achievements to your resume
- Increase ability at kiteboarding by regular participation and getting pushed by other riders
- Young progressive riders will push sports in right direction
- Prove ability through competitive achievements to gain sponsorships etc.
- Support yourself through college by generating income through instructing
- Enhance the reputation of your school
- Make lifelong connections and bonds
- It can be lot of work but trust us, it’s worth it!
How to start a collegiate kiteboarding club?
All that is really needed is a little passion and motivation. There shouldn’t be too many hurdles to get a club going at your school.
A survey of the current established clubs revealed the following common themes:
- Check to make sure that there isn’t already a club or similar organization
- Think about what the name of the club will be. There may be certain naming conventions your school imposes. Think about future implications. For example, you may want your club to be affiliated with your college for non-profit benefits and then have a business attached for generating revenue.
- Contact the sports club office to find out what requirements and planning is needed to start a club. Some schools prohibit students from participating in activities involving high liability or other risk factors.
- You may be required to provide an outline of the club’s goals and objectives
- Hold an informational meeting to gather contact details of interested students to be the first members. There may be stipulations for minimum number of members and that they must be students, staff or faculty who attend your college.
- Elect club officers, usually at least three, most commonly President, Vice President and Treasurer
- Find an Advisor from full-time faculty or staff. It will help immensely if you can find someone that play an active role and will support the club when trying to achieve its goals.
- Write a constitution with bylaws. Templates should be available on the sports clubs websites and you should contact the CKA to other club’s templates.
- Follow up with the sport clubs office.
- The club will then go through a Recognition process and be registered with Sport Clubs Office
- Attend first Sport Clubs Council meeting
- Register with Sport Clubs Office
- Club executive to attend officer training
- An actively managed website or Facebook group which is great for communication and publicity
What paperwork and administration is required from here?
Some paperwork you may be asked to provide with varying frequency
- Club roster
- Liability waivers
- Monthly reports
- Budget requests
- Pre- and post-travel forms
- Hosting an event paperwork
- Equipment inventory
- Community service paperwork
- End of year report
Recruitment
Once your club has the basic structure in place and has been registered (or being registered) with the university, it’s time to recruit members. It’s a good idea to have some potential members already in mind because it takes people to get more people. Here are some ideas to get the word out:
- 1st week of school, pump up a kite in front of the university bookstore, hang out and pass out fliers. Usually you’ll get a few members per 200 fliers you pass out. (This is also a good way to recruit the ladies)
- Get in touch with your university newspaper
- Wellness Events
- Bro-up with some related clubs like the surf team, ski/snowboard club, wakeboard team, etc.
- Show a kite movie
Remember that you’ll get a lot of people who want to learn how to kite. These members can possibly be some of the greatest, most dedicated members who will become officers or they’ll be flakes. It’s a good idea to pick and choose who you teach first. Spending a lot of time teaching “tourist” members sucks. A good way to weed out tourist members is to get a higher club fee. Only serious members will join, (IVKC recommends $69…ya bro!).
Always keep in mind that people want to be noticed and part of a group. As a leader you need to care for each of your members and make sure everyone feels welcomed. Usually beer accomplishes this.
Sponsors
Getting sponsors is a great way to recruit members. Sponsorship is a tricky thing and getting an introduction to a possible sponsor is usually required. A great deal is to get the “pro-deal” pricing on gear for members. The club takes orders and ads a small fee on top that goes back to the club.
Here’s why companies want to sponsor your club:
- Getting new kiters in the water with their gear
- Getting young riders into the sport
- Creating lifelong brand loyalty
- Getting their kites into a certain area
Good non-kite sponsors to have are a magazine sponsor. Matt Sexton has been able to get a lot of coverage in the kiteboarder for his club and has helped Triton kite boarding grow. Getting a screen printer for t-shirts is also extremely helpful. If you can swing it, getting a member’s parent’s company to become a cash sponsor for advertising is a great way to get some cash in the bank account.
Keep in mind that sponsorships are relationships that are built on trust. Try to hook your sponsor up whenever possible and represent their brand to your best at all times. If you’re having trouble getting sponsors, contact other club presidents from established clubs for introductions to sponsors. If all else fails just try the “dude, bro, hook it up”.
Gear & Cash
If your club is getting successful your gonna have a lot of gear and a lot of cash. IVKC recommends to get a separate checking account that is not affiliated with Associated Students. Get all the officer names on the checking account. Wells fargo does free college checking and you can have multiple people on an account. When placing orders, this becomes handy because there is no AS bullshit to deal with.
For gear, it is a good idea to get a member who is in charge of managing all the club gear. This is an extremely important position and can be time consuming during the windy season. Some ideas for gear management:
- Get a club shed to store gear in with a combo lock
- Get a twitter account set up where people can tweet that they borrowed the gear (IVKC tried to set this up and is working out the kinks www.twitter.com/ivkcgear
Donations
Because you are now a non-profit organization, people can donate equipment to your club with a tax write off in return from the school. Contact the CKA if you want more information.
Contact
http://www.collegiatekiteboarding.org
For any queries write to
Brian Walters
bdwalters2000@gmail.com
http://www.fsukiteboarding.com
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