How to Start a Club in your School

**Note, every institution is different. Governing bodies, requirements, and many other pre-requisites or steps will differ. This is just a general way to potentially start a club within your university.

Pre-Requisites: Have a plan

• 1 Faculty Sponsor: Find someone that works for your school or university and get them to sponsor you. They don’t have to know anything about the sport, but it certainly would help.
• 3 Club Leader: At minimum, you should have 3 Student “Leaders” of your club.
  • President: They will be the face of your club. A good manager and a good leader.
    • Should be First Aid and CPR/AED Certified
  • Risk Management: Someone who foresees risk and prevents them from happening. Making sure proper safety and care is conducted during practice.
    • Should be First Aid and CPR/AED Certified
  • Treasurer: Someone to manage the funds of the club. Needs good organizational skills.
  • Other: Other positions are completely up to you. Optional Positions include: Vice President, Public Relations Officer, etc. Not mandatory as the first 3 cover the essentials.
• 12 Members for your club Minimum: In order to have a club, you need members! The more the better. Acquire the contact information for students within your university interested in joining. Include: Name, Phone number and Email.
• 1 Volunteer coach Minimum: Contact a nearby BJJ School: ATT, Gracie Barra, ATOS, Alliance, etc. They’re all over the place. Find one willing to sponsor and form a partnership with your club. If you have enough members, the school may even be willing to potentially pay them for their time. Some gyms will even give discounts to students within your club. Don’t be afraid to reach out and negotiate. Partnering with a University could benefit their business greatly! More students, exposure, and another chance to coach/ teach what they love.
• Paperwork: Bring these to your meeting: Budget Sheet, Club Roster with Contact Information, Club Risk Management Plan (Safety Precautions), Club Constitution (General Rules of the club)

Step 1: FIND Your Schools Recreation and Wellness Center or “Gym”.

Step 2: Ask if they have a Sports Clubs program. Ask to speak to the Coordinator of this program.

• *If your school does not have a Recreation and Wellness Center, or they don’t have a sports club program contact: Campus Services or Student Affairs and they should be able to guide you in the direction of finding or creating a “club”.

Step 3: Schedule a meeting with the Sports Clubs Coordinator or whoever’s in charge of managing student clubs. They want to see that you have done your homework. Make sure you have an appropriate number of students interested in starting the club. Having volunteer instructor or coach would certainly help add legitimacy.  

• You can inform them that other universities such as: UCF, FIU, UF, USF, and many more have had established clubs for years and an intercollegiate league is being developed under Master Ricardo Liborio.
• Be sure to ask them what steps you need to take in order to successfully create your club. Write down everything they say and create a checklist.

Step 4: Create and Complete the checklist. The supervisor of clubs within your university will probably have a bunch of things for you to do before starting a club. Have at least 3 members of your club that can dedicate their time to being leaders within the club.

Example:

Pre-Requisites: Adhere to the philosophy of the sports club program. Must engage in sporting activity. Must add variety to the current sports within sports clubs. Number of students interested in participating is minimum 12. Suitable facilities and equipment must be available for the club to meet, practice and compete (if applicable). Club must not create a demand for resources greater than that which can be met by the current sports club program (staffing, facilities, monetary). Must provide all documentation: Budget Worksheet, Roster/Club Member list, Club Constitution, Individual Club Risk Management Plan.

Steps:

• Apply to be an RSO (registered student organization) online: Complete a registration form online AND Submit a constitution for approval
• Meet with sport club president (president of all clubs), review requirements for sport clubs and he can assist with the completion of paperwork.
• Submit membership application for Sport club council online and include: Budget worksheet, roster/club member list, constitution, individual risk management plan
• Meet with sport club coordinator
• Meet with associate director (set by coordinator after first meeting)
• If approved by both, appear before the sport club council executive board for discussion.
• Lastly: club is voted in by all the existing sport clubs, needs 2/3 approval vote

Once again, this is just an example of the protocol of one school. Every school will be different as there are different barriers, gatekeepers and management.

To put it simply, find the person who’s in charge of clubs or sports clubs. Ask them what you need to do, and simply do it. Assemble the right people, get all the paperwork done, and your club should be up and running in no time.

The most important part of successful clubs is management. Make sure the president, treasurer and risk management are committed to keep the club up and running. They are the ones who directly communicate with the supervisors and the people who approve of the club running within the institution. Have 3 students willing to put their time and effort into this. It takes work, but it is well worth the reward. Keep younger members of the club informed, and update/train them to take over your positions when you graduate. Smooth officer transitions = Club Longevity. You will find dedicated members within a successful program. Promote a welcoming learning environment and advertise consistently to gain new members. Create social media to further reach out to students!

After you create your club, consider: club dues (money), how to choose leadership (Vote?), etc.

For more information, or if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me:
– [email protected]
– 754 244 0167