Have a welcome plan for new players
After all your efforts recruiting new athletes, it is crucial to have a plan for them as well as clear responsibilities, so that they feel included, when new players come into the training.
After all your efforts in recruiting and retaining new athletes, it is time to start prepping for the next round of recruitment. To maximise your efforts, be sure to include last year's recruits in your future recruitment efforts. A knock-on effect is that you can support the development of new leaders by assigning the tasks of onboarding new players.
The best scenario is to have a role model ( e.g. an athlete that shares similarities with the target athletes) involved in onboarding new players. Your goal is to quickly create a relationship with the new player, which is generally easier between players of the same gender with similar age.
When a new player arrives, have a few set points you want to mention as you introduce the club:
- What successes has the club seen over the years
- What is the role parity of the women and men coaches
- Identify which athletes play a significant role in the club (e.g. captains, club secretary, social officer etc.).
- Present the expectations of athletes in the club.
During training, focus on creating small groups according to ability, and adapt the difficulty of the drill to the ability level. The most challenging thing is to create a game drill where the interests of beginners and experienced players collide. As part of the onboarding for the player, you should have a buddy actively coaching the new player one-on-one, helping them understand the game and move correctly.