The role of University Paintball Clubs & Societies?

[emisnug]

Well, as a Soceity person meself, we are damn lucky to have CPPS just down the road. How many members have we got - in total? 16. The freshers event was key to getting anyone to join, and I put around a months worth of phone calls, arranging, advertising and getting the word around campus that it was going on. Now, luckily, 2 people had their own kit. The rest of us literally just said, here's my marker, pull the trigger and balls come out. Don't scratch it and give it to anyone who asks. Feedback from this was that it got freshers more interested in the tourney side of things because they did not have a rather intimidating force of several tourney players clad in bright red gunning them down.

We also (after much cajoling and even a small threat) got the union to hire out a coach for us to use for the event. They won't even give us the time of day normally, let alone funding.

Anyhow, I think that in order to get a good team up and running, you need to be very open about a few things:
- The cost. We were very upfront that the event would either cost £30 or £55 based on how much you wanted to shoot. They may not be willing to spend that much, but you also have the oppourtunity to bash Delta Force and compare the value of your trips compared to theirs.
- Be clear what the society is for. Welcome newcomers by making it look cool rather than miserably muddy

Our society is aimed a both the woods and tourney scene, but we always start off with a game in the woods. That is the setting that people immediately associate paintball with, and it will be something that they wouldn't mind doing.

The idea behind getting people to come is something to hash out with your union. If they can promote it on their website, their twitter and facebooks, as well as you guys getting it into the Uni's media (radio is a good thing), you are probably gonna get more people.

 

[emisnug]

Well, as a Soceity person meself, we are damn lucky to have CPPS just down the road. How many members have we got - in total? 16. The freshers event was key to getting anyone to join, and I put around a months worth of phone calls, arranging, advertising and getting the word around campus that it was going on. Now, luckily, 2 people had their own kit. The rest of us literally just said, here's my marker, pull the trigger and balls come out. Don't scratch it and give it to anyone who asks. Feedback from this was that it got freshers more interested in the tourney side of things because they did not have a rather intimidating force of several tourney players clad in bright red gunning them down.

We also (after much cajoling and even a small threat) got the union to hire out a coach for us to use for the event. They won't even give us the time of day normally, let alone funding.

Anyhow, I think that in order to get a good team up and running, you need to be very open about a few things:
- The cost. We were very upfront that the event would either cost £30 or £55 based on how much you wanted to shoot. They may not be willing to spend that much, but you also have the oppourtunity to bash Delta Force and compare the value of your trips compared to theirs.
- Be clear what the society is for. Welcome newcomers by making it look cool rather than miserably muddy

Our society is aimed a both the woods and tourney scene, but we always start off with a game in the woods. That is the setting that people immediately associate paintball with, and it will be something that they wouldn't mind doing.

The idea behind getting people to come is something to hash out with your union. If they can promote it on their website, their twitter and facebooks, as well as you guys getting it into the Uni's media (radio is a good thing), you are probably gonna get more people.

 

[Tom]

How come the primary responses are 'how dare the club charge money to pay the debt', and if you look back at previous university or state of paintball threads then it points to the university/club to provide facilities for the students
The money has to come from somewhere

Chris has not taken out a loan to buy gear, Chris as the university club has a loan from the Student Union (though the original understanding was that it was SU funding and not a loan)
The purpose was to provide equipment for students

Despite the loan it would be still fair enough for the club to make some money. Any club whether student or not requires some form of funding, and in a non-profit organization that money goes into the club for the members

The club does not negotiate a price on top of the sites fees and just keep the extra, the club negotiates a group discount and charges the members somewhere in the middle

The players get the day organised, have transport provided, use 'better' gear then the rentals and it all gets cleaned for them

Chris puts in the work for the club, even when out of the university and out of the area on a years work experience. He could easily walk away and accept failure of the club, but he is passionate about it, wants it to succeed and wants to get rid of the debt


Back to his original questions:
How do you get students bums on seats on the club minibus?
How can the club fulfill an original requirement and get enough people for a tournament team?

 

[cjsoftuk]

Thanks Tom.

 

[DannyCazza]

Why are you trying to make money if you cannot get anyone to play? :s Babysteps guys! Get the players first then make some money if you want to do that, but I would advise to sell the gear and just get your players to rent at whatever site they are playing since its only £5 to rent you WILL get more players that way

 

[rich_price92]

The club does not negotiate a price on top of the sites fees and just keep the extra, the club negotiates a group discount and charges the members somewhere in the middle

I'm sorry but this is complete garbage.
The price is not set somewhere in the middle, nor is there any group discounts. I think you will find that the club does add to the price and simply keep it as when you work out the pricing shown below the equivalent 2000 paintball package through Southampton Uni would cost £81 instead of £45.
That's nearly double what every other person at that event would have been paying! How would you explain this to your members?! What stops them just going to the site themselves and paying almost half?!

This is not the way to run a club.

 

[Big_jim]

I am a committee member of the Plymouth University Society and the role of the society is to be a royal pain in my ass. I get nothing from it. The students don't appreciate the effort put in. It is very difficult to explain to them that they get from it what they themselves put in both time wise and financially as they're all too interested in drinking their student loan. Needless to say that when the Chair graduates in the summer none of the committee members will be continuing and the society will fold. We can play ball without the society with a lot less hassle.

 

[benHK]

I personally think the first thing Uni societies need to do is be able to provide kit for people who want to try the sport. I'm at uni currently, and being able to afford driving to events and playing is tough enough, There is no way students can afford to buy a set up and then play a season. Most students only get about £1200 a term, and thats to live, eat and go out on, not a lot at all. The high cost of paintball kit is what turns off most people, I have friends that took up airsofting for that reason. I don't know a whole lot about paintball societies but from I've learnt, most people who sign up think its just having a run through the woods every now again, very few people know of tournament paintball. If a paintball society was set up primarily just to run a team to play in CPPS/Masters/S5's etc I reckon it would be more successful, and i can imagine a Uni would be more likely to help fund it if they knew it was a sports team. For instance Pompey Uni has had a quite a popular paintball society, and I think that's supair only, I'm probably wrong though, What I do know is that Pompey Uni had a pretty decent team back in 2005ish, and it was actually one of their players who got me into supair, so it definitely is possible

Another point all my friends ive let have a go on my marker thought it was awesome and has encouraged them at least to look a bit more into paintballing, whether it be woods or supair. So if at freshers fayre, students could borrow kit, and have a go with a decent marker, not a beaten up site tippmann, itd be far more successful. I've been thinking about making a society at Lincoln next year, but there is no way I could afford to do it, unless the Uni was willing to help fund it. I've rambled on way more than I thought I would, it probably makes no sense aha

 

[rich_price92]

What I do know is that Pompey Uni had a pretty decent team back in 2005ish, and it was actually one of their players who got me into supair, so it definitely is possible

Another point all my friends ive let have a go on my marker thought it was awesome and has encouraged them at least to look a bit more into paintballing, whether it be woods or supair.

Yep myself and Frazer Harper are running Pompey Uni this year and after a couple of quiet years we are determined to get back to the level Pompey Uni were at. They won div. 2 NSPL I believe.

We have a re-freshers fair coming up and have arranged a marquee with netting and a couple of dorito's to let people shoot some reballs and get a feel for tourney markers. We have a good membership and 10 solid tournament players.

 

[benHK]

Just curious, what kind of support does Pompey Uni give? Help with travel? Help pay entry fee's? I'd imagine back in the glory days there would have been quite a lot of help from the higher ups. Div2? Bloody hell, didn't know they were that good! I thought they were div 3 or 4!