Building on the Olympics for Clubs

This article comes from the Department of Sport  and Recreation NSW, Australia. It highlights some great points about taking advantage of that warm fuzzy feeling people have whilst the Olympics are on. 

1. Build on the Games to create spirit and involvement at your club

  • Organise club nights to watch Olympic/Paralympic sport together (and maybe use as a fundraiser at the same time)
  • Publish Games results in your newsletter/website
  • Get the whole club to sign a hero fax
  • Run Games tipping comps or opinion polls on your website/newsletter
  • Put live Olympic news feeds on your website
  • Run Olympic/Paralympic themed training sessions (e.g. tabloids for the kids)
  • Set up a “Gold, Silver and Bronze medal” award scheme for players, officials, coaches and/or volunteers.

2. Use Games time for fundraising

  • Have a gold coin donation day
  • Run guessing competitions based on Olympic/Paralympic trivia, medal counts, race times and/or results
  • Theme one of your training/game days - get people to dress in green/gold and bring Aussie flags
  • Hold an Olympic/Paralympic trivia night (go to www.olympics.com.au for lots of trivia).

3. Capture the Olympic/Paralympic spirit – give it meaning at your club

During the Olympics/Paralympics, we often see the very best in sporting values. Draw on performances and highlight outstanding sporting behaviour, as a way of promoting the same behaviour at your club. For example, highlight the exceptional moments (and why they are exceptional) in your newsletter and/or website (e.g. “Top Olympic/Paralympic Moment: Who saw Sally Sparks’ gesture in the 100m event? It was the ultimate in sportsmanship and respect. What a true sporting hero.”)

4. Capitalise on the interest and attract new members

The Olympics/Paralympics essentially creates free advertising for sport. People will be more interested in becoming involved in sport. It’s a great opportunity for you to attract new members – build on the momentum that has been generated.  How?

Have the basics in place

  • Update your membership forms, website and member databases
  • Be available and prepared – make sure people can find and deal with your club easily via the web, directories etc.

Show the community you support the Olympics/Paralympics

  • Put a banner up at your ground wishing the Australian team good luck, or messages on your website/newsletter
  • Get the whole club to “wear Australian” one game day/training day – green/gold or bring along Aussie flags
  • If Olympic/Paralympic events involving the Aussie team are taking place on your game day, announce the results over the PA.

Generate publicity

  • Publicise any of the special events you organise to local media
  • If an athlete, official, volunteer or coach associated with your club gone to the Games, publicise this to local media before, during and after the Games
  • Create media stories at the right moments e.g. if your sport receives profile at the Games, either via Australia doing well or for another reason, seize the moment. Send out a media release to your local papers about how your sport operates in the local area.

Promote your club

  • Advertising following the Games might prove a worthy investment. You’re bound to double the impact, as sport will be at the forefront of people’s mind. It doesn’t have to be costly - contact your local school about their newsletter advertising
  • Run open days/come-n-try events following the Games. This could work particularly well if you are an Olympic or Paralympic sport who is profiled well during the Games.

Note: there are very strict guidelines about the use of Olympic symbols and words. Make sure you don’t infringe these.

Source: dsr.nsw.gov.au