9 tips to enhance community engagement efforts

Generally, community engagement means or includes purposefully getting involved to make a difference, having an impact upon, or helping a segment or aspect of the individuals and organizations within a locality. Logically, you may wonder what this has to do with teams within your athletic program.

It has everything to do with your teams. First, there is the concept of giving back to the community. One of the foundational aspects of education-based athletics is community service. It is through these initiatives that student-athletes understand the purpose and value of helping others and being a contributing part of society.

In addition, community engagement should be a key element that is used in your marketing efforts. With your athletic program, you should be highlighting and emphasizing the positive aspects of your teams, student-athletes, and coaches. What better way than through community engagement and community service?

Where and how do you start? Rather than simply detailing what can be done, there is first one essential initial step that has to be taken. This would be that you have to educate and convince your coaches that there are value and benefits to being involved in your community. If you can’t get your staff on board, community engagement may not happen. Therefore, add this topic to the agenda of your pre-season coaches meeting, share supportive articles, enlist the help of experts from the community, and put together a convincing, thorough campaign to win over your coaches.

Now, what can your teams do? The following are a few possibilities in the realm of community service and giving back to individuals and groups.

• Volunteer to help with water stops at marathons (the 26.2-mile races), soup kitchens, or projects such as Habitat for Humanity. These organizations always need help, and the responsibilities involved usually do not require extensive technical skills other than performing simple tasks as assigned.
• Host games for a specific charity. Over the years, this has been frequently done in connection with one of the national cancer organizations. But there are any number of additional causes such as mental health, suicide prevention, and others that would be beneficial and worthwhile. If you allow your student-athletes to help select the project or cause to be supported, there should be a greater commitment to it.
• Have your student-athletes read to elementary students. This program would have to be planned and organized with the respective teachers. However, enhancing reading with young students should be a no-brainer and a great educational objective.
• Host sports clinics for young people in the community. You would introduce basic skills in a fun environment, and this will indirectly help them to develop as they may eventually make it to a varsity team in high school. If you involve your current athletes as instructors and assistants in these clinics, they can serve as role models and sources of inspiration for the young people in the community.
• Also, hold clinics for coaches of the youth leagues in your area. Through these sessions, the youth-level coaches will learn the skills and approaches that your coaches use with their high school teams. This should provide a more uniform instructional approach, and should greatly benefit the development of the athletes to ensure a better and smooth transition to the secondary level.
• Designate specific games during which you recognize and honor the service providers such as firefighters, emergency personnel, police officers, and others. This effort might start by offering free admission to events for any of these individuals who wear their uniform to the game, and having your public address announcer have them stand while offering thanks and encouraging a round of applause.
• Volunteer to help with cleanup efforts around town. This would be especially important in the aftermath of a natural disaster such as a hurricane, wildfires, or earthquakes. But visually and actively jumping in to help will create a lasting, positive image of your student-athletes and program.
• Host sports day camps. Historically, coaches and athletic programs have taken this approach to raise additional money. To reach out and benefit the young people and families of your community, however, also consider featuring weeks with very low registration fees to accommodate more young people in need. As long as your operational expenses are covered, you can offer a low-priced option that will benefit your family.
• Develop an “Adopted Grandparent” program with a retirement facility for senior citizens. The administrators can match and pair up a student-athlete for a weekly visit with a resident who has similar interests. In addition, there could also be group activities such as bingo or sing-along events. But the interaction between the generations can also provide a great experience and learning opportunity for your student-athletes beyond providing a lift for the senior citizens.

These examples should not be considered as an all-inclusive list but rather only as a starting point. The value of these initiatives is for the individuals or groups within the community that are being helped, and this should be clear and understandable.

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Beyond developing a sense of community and giving back, student-athletes will also be able to enhance their organizational and leadership skills through their involvement. This should underline the importance of involving your teams with community engagement as an essential part of your education-based program.