Starting a club in this sport?

[Jedi_Master]

Don't forget that the club will need a cool name, membership badge, and a secret handshake  (just like the Beano)   

 

[Earthern]

@Jedi_Master =0 oh god yeah thats a must!

@EDcase hey man, thanks for signing up! Just to let you know I changed the club name to something abit cooler so the link is now http://survivorforce.clanwebsite.com/

I think the plan is that we will move around sites such as aldershot, eversley, reading, and other nearby areas like that. Should be a pretty cool idea I reckon.

Anyone reading this who might be interested in the club. Check out the paragraph below. Thanks!

What is this site?
This site is an airsoft club for UK airsofters based around the southern areas of england. We use it to organise club events throughout the year and to relay news and communicate between our members. You may be wondering what the point of this is, membership of this club boasts a few bonuses that may appeal to you:

• Make more friends - For starters, the idea of this club is to get a friendly group of players touring around the different nearby airsoft sites. It means that you get to see familiar faces at different sites more often and gain stronger relationships with other players.
  
• Save money - Perhaps one of the strongest selling points of the club is the idea on saving money. Take a look at the events section point 5 further down. You will notice that as our member numbers grow the price of an event per head will be able to decrease. In addition to that, the club will be gaining little bits of extra income per event to spend on additional club items. Eventually the plan is that the club will be able to start buying it's own spare guns which can be loaned out to members on events for free thus cutting costs even further.
  
• Feel part of a team - As this club grows, it may or may not turn into a professional team complete with our own badges, rosters, etc. Of course this is all optional features that anyone can take part in but it may prove to be a nice idea for those interested.
  
• Generally speaking, this club can only work if we gain the members required. The plan is to register around 50 members on this site to show that there is enough interest. Once we have hit this milestone, we can start booking up events. Until then, you can still use this site as a means of a social club and have chats, meet up with members at official airsoft events etc.
  
• Lastly, the most important quality we need in our members is trust. This is purely a trust club in the sense that if you sign up for an event, we trust you to turn up. We don't want to have forced deposits in place because that can deter people away, but if people don't turn up to an event the club will end up losing money.
  

 

[Robert James]

I was thinking of doing something like this myself, however I dont have enough friends interested to even start something along these lines.

Although, opening it up to the public I find it odd; imagine going over to a sunday league football team and having everyone sign up, only for 4 people to turn up on game day or forget about the site completely. 

I like the idea, as I said, I would do it, but I think i'll stick to getting to know enough people at game days first and then taking it from there once you know 15+ people, as they have friends that also play with them which then could take the player count to 30 or even more and atleast that way there is a bit more trust. Heck, I could sign upto your site tomorrow and never turn up, email or speak with anyone. I think you would be better off having a small group, and then letting people "join" when you know them a little bit more, as I certainly would not pass with any money knowing that I might not ever get it back/return on it because of other people. 

Suggestions: 

Make it free (for now). Don't charge more for people until you have atleast a small group of people turning up regularly, and then call it a club, which after that you can get club patches/charge an annual fee etc.

Go to different sites, and only tell your friends/members the actual price of the walk on fee/hire fee

Talk to people about the club at games, see if they are interested, tell them to like the facebook page - I agree facebook would be better than a clan website

 

[Earthern]

@Robert James I really like this idea. Thanks for sharing these suggestions. I think this is the best way to go.

I'm booked down for an Aldershot day this Sunday so I'm gonna make an effort to interact with as many people as possible and see who else likes the idea!

 

[Robert James]

@Robert James I really like this idea. Thanks for sharing these suggestions. I think this is the best way to go.

I'm booked down for an Aldershot day this Sunday so I'm gonna make an effort to interact with as many people as possible and see who else likes the idea!

Click to shrink...

nice, just dont make it sound like a sales pitch. 

I had someone come to me at a game, and it sounded like he was trying to sell a group to me. "Do one" - I was there for fun, not work.

 

[Earthern]

nice, just dont make it sound like a sales pitch. 

I had someone come to me at a game, and it sounded like he was trying to sell a group to me. "Do one" - I was there for fun, not work.

Click to shrink...

Haha, true. Nah my idea is just say that "I had this idea to make a local club as a way to go between different sites and try new things out while possibly saving some monies. What do you think of that idea."

Not gonna be like yo awesome club join it k? 

 

[Baz JJ]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

So i'm getting into airsoft but the closest place to me which is Gunman Eversley only runs a normal event once a month so I had a thought.

I am aware that many sports have private clubs created by random individuals such as badminton, tennis, football, etc. It usually involves the organiser hiring a court, field, etc. for a evening and then getting the members attending to pay him back. I'm wondering if it would be possible to apply this same logic to airsoft?

I am currently asking the Eversley site if that's something they support, but if I were to set up a club like that to run every week or two on a weekday evening do you think that would be successful? Additionally, even if it were possible, do you think a club in such a sport would actually work in financial terms?

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

C.M

Click to shrink...

Sites will take a private booking and Eversley are no different.

However, please bear in mind you are personally liable for take up and numbers.

They normally charge a flat fee to hire the site and I know they have such a booking for a weekend Milsim run by a group of friends in early September.

If people let you down and airsofters are notoriously fickle, you as the "organiser" are still responsible for paying the flat fee so you could be seriously out of pocket.

Do I think it will work financially on a regular basis ?

Who knows, but you have to ask yourself the honest question which is why would players come to your regular private club event when they can walk on any number of games at different sites in that area, when they can afford it and when they feel like it, without long term commitment.

Site organisers generally know what the optimum frequency is for running skirmishes at their sites, based on local competition, planning restrictions and reasonable player numbers.

Comparing airsoft with badminton, football etc is probably not a good analogy as it is very different activity in terms of the motivators.

Good luck but it needs some thought.