Good Practices
Recruit
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Use inclusive language — Language is a powerful tool and can have a massive impact on athletes. Using the correct language, depending on the situation, is hugely important to ensuring everyone is included and respected.
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Focus on recruiting women matching players to grow your community — Women's sports are shown to grow much faster than established men's ones. So by investing in the recruitment of women matching players, you invest in the quick and sustainable growth of your club or association and contribute to community efforts to make Ultimate more gender-equitable.
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Have a recruiting strategy — Set a SMART goal, create a plan to achieve it, reserve resources and keep the focus on your primary target.
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Emphasise and promote what makes your sport special. — Knowing what makes your association unique can help your promotion and recruitment efforts. All associations should strive to have gender equity as one of their key selling points, as this will help develop a gender-equitable ultimate community.
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Bring role models to beginner sessions — One of the key aspects of recruiting is having potential new players identify with a role model. Age, ethnicity, gender and other aspects play a role in the identification process. A role model plays a central role in showing new players what they could achieve.
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Show the competitive side of the sport especially for women matching athletes — Presenting how women matching athletes play sports helps break stereotypes and allows young women matching athletes to approach these sports.
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Recruiter Training: getting the most out of your recruitment efforts — A key objective for many associations is to grow; to grow, you need to recruit. Basic training can equip recruiters with simple skills to encourage new players to join. It also allows potential players to get a glance at the sport and what the community is like.
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Organise hat tournaments or pick-up leagues where people at all playing levels can participate — Hat Tournaments have various advantages in recruiting new players and retaining existing ones, especially during the off-season.
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Recruit relatives and get them involved in your association — Volunteers are the backbone of a successful association. Involving parents and retired members in running your association can be beneficial from an administrative and performance perspective. Recruiting and retaining more volunteers can help free up players from juggling administrative roles while playing. Additionally, having less pressure on more people will encourage people to volunteer within the club.
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Cooperate with schools and PE teachers to showcase your sport — The most efficient way to recruit junior players is during physical education classes or after school programs. Long term collaborations with schools can ensure a continuous flow of recruits into your club or association.
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Run targeted side programs at your sports event — Including side events about gender equity or small demonstrations for beginners as part of your sporting event can increase participation among spectators, especially those with families and kids.
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Showcase your sport as part of local public events — Partnerships with public / community sports groups and school events, etc. that attract an audience are excellent opportunities to showcase your sport and increase awareness. Consider partnerships with events that share your association’s same player base, values, and targets.
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Create partnerships with other sports — Partnerships are hugely beneficial in sports, both from a resource and performance point of view. From a coaching perspective, it is crucial to break the mental patterns athletes might develop from repeating the same patterns during training. For instance, changing these patterns improves cognitive engagement and engages athletes’ muscles by playing a different sport as a warm-up. Partnering with associations that share the same gender equity values for training or events can benefit everyone involved and promote a supportive sporting community.
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Stand out at sports showcasing events — Using networks of more prominent sports associations allows you to present your sport to a broader audience. Additionally, sport-for-all associations are interested in expanding their portfolio, so they should be eager to have ultimately represented at their event. Having Gender Equity as a core message helps distinguish your sport from others.
Train
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Use inclusive language — Language is a powerful tool and can have a massive impact on athletes. Using the correct language, depending on the situation, is hugely important to ensuring everyone is included and respected.
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Consider the needs and safety of women matching players when choosing a location — Things like the commute to and from training can determine your team's ability to recruit and retain women matching players.
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Ensure that the training facilities have the necessary infrastructure — Clean and well-suited toilets and changing rooms should be a minimum standard in your plans to create a safe and inclusive environment for athletes.
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Adopt pedagogical methods in training — Coaches should have pedagogic knowledge and training to make the dissemination of information more effective and engaging.
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Practicing gender equity at training sessions — Gender equity can be encouraged through participation in specific drills. Changing behaviours regarding gender equity on the field can also affect how we perceive others and deconstruct our biases off the pitch.
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Create seasonal training plans and distribute them in advance — A seasonal training plan creates a structure for the season. It allows athletes to plan their season and ensure they maximise their training. All bodies are different and, as a result, react to intensive and rest periods differently. It is good practice to, after an intensive phase, have physical and mental recovery periods. It might also be worth considering the difference between female and male bodies. These differences lead to specific considerations for injury prevention
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Define a coaching plan template and standard play book — Inexperienced coaches might be overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the role. A training plan template helps create a structure, and a drill book with the standard exercises and plays helps to have the whole team on the same page.
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Create a buddy system — Having experienced players act as buddies to new players can help with advice/motivation in a more personal way.
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Give beginners short-term goals — It is hard for athletes to commit to sport as long as they are not invested. Short-term goals help to keep their focus during practice and encourage athletes to begin investing in their progress.
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Challenge your athlete's abilities appropriately — Coaches are constantly challenged to develop and create drills that are difficult enough to stimulate concentration and favour skill development.
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Junior Mixed Clubs: Have additional open and women's practices and tournaments — Various studies show that young women under 17 prefer to participate in sports in a women-only environment. This changes as athletes get older and more confident in their athletic abilities and social skills.
Retain
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Be aware of the objectification of bodies — Objectification involves viewing and/or treating a person as an object devoid of thought or feeling. This is most commonly seen in the sexualisation and commodification of feminine bodies and the proliferation of ideal body standards represented in media.
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Use inclusive language — Language is a powerful tool and can have a massive impact on athletes. Using the correct language, depending on the situation, is hugely important to ensuring everyone is included and respected.
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What is toxic masculinity and how to tackle it — Understanding toxic masculinity and how to tackle it.
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Using statistics to make gender equity targets more objective — Statistics can help create awareness of gender equity and act as a tool to track progress.
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Focus on improving empathy for each other — Winning the support of a diverse group of athletes will act as a catalyst for establishing a non-discriminating structure in your association. Having empathy and understanding will facilitate the creation of these relationships.
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Set specific measures to reduce the dropouts — As a coach, you need to use tactics and methods that use the strengths of everyone. This means using different coaching methods and playing strategies catered to the individual players' strengths and the team as a whole. As a result, an inclusive and conscientious approach to this issue is essential.
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Be aware of mansplaining attitudes during trainings and games — Mansplaining is the act of explaining something to someone in a way that suggests that they are stupid based on their expressed gender.
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Junior coaches should have a communication channel with the parents — Direct communication with the parents is helpful in the organisational aspects of managing a team and can also improve the player's performance.
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Organise social events during the off-season — People who find friends will keep playing and can motivate each other to improve and develop their athletic abilities.
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Create seasonal milestones for your team: Start of the season, Mid-season review, End-of-season celebration — Successful teams use milestones and team meetings to set and focus on their seasonal goals, track their progress and celebrate their successes at the end of the season.
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Create a policy for safe and inclusive sport — A safeguarding policy helps your organization categorize issues and support and inform all involved parties on how to react if incidents regarding discrimination, bullying or inappropriate behaviour occur.
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Get feedback from players who quit or retire — As an organisation knowing the reasons why players leave your club or quit the sport helps finding ways how to improve your retaining program.
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Organise hat tournaments or pick-up leagues where people at all playing levels can participate — Hat Tournaments have various advantages in recruiting new players and retaining existing ones, especially during the off-season.
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Recruit relatives and get them involved in your association — Volunteers are the backbone of a successful association. Involving parents and retired members in running your association can be beneficial from an administrative and performance perspective. Recruiting and retaining more volunteers can help free up players from juggling administrative roles while playing. Additionally, having less pressure on more people will encourage people to volunteer within the club.
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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.