Advice for Starting College Ski/Snowboard Club

Hey, so I was interested in forming a ski/snowboard club at my university in Norcal... There have been 1 or 2 attempts in the past that others have failed, and I wanted to try and form a very large, awesome group.

Basically, the only thing I could think of right now is organizing weekend trips, hopefully find some discounts to various mountains at Tahoe (nearby), and perhaps plan one major trip with like 50 people or something..

Other than that though, I'm not really sure what we could do with the club, and I don't think there really are important meetings to hold (unless people did want to talk about choosing gear or maintenancing their boards or something), especially since a facebook group is already made and they can use the wall/discussion board on that thing instead (maybe).


Anyways, does anyone have any ideas for what events or just simply fun things i could plan for our club? Also, recruitment was the major problem that the past snowboard clubs have failed, do you guys have any ideas as to how i can recruit more people?

Thanks a ton! Just tryin to spread the snow love :)

A few things that will help, since you are already on the right track.

I'm in Vermont at Middlebury. The campus owns its own skiing facility (woohoo!) Unfortunately, it's not the best but the transportation there is free and every hour and a season pass is only $125ish.

But for the weekends, we have a mailing list for people who are interested in going to places like Sugarbush and Killington. Maybe start off small with an email group seeing who is interested in going to hit the slopes on the weekends. If there's enough interest, try and ask the administration to use a college van or something. Otherwise, hopefully some people in the mailing list own a car and you can go from there! Good luck!

Well the ski/snowboard team at my university does a "drylands" exercise 2 times a week before the season actually kicks off. Its a way to prepare and also hang out with eachother. 

my school is still working on getting a ski/snowboard club up and running as well; considering it was just formed last year.  we finally got up to a class 3 organization so we are now funded through the campus ( which is only like $700 a semester) but it is something to get us going.

 since we are a new club we hold weekly meetings, just an hour get together once a week.  we basically talk about how we are going to spend money, how to raise money, and planning our big trip to most likely vermont.

we seem to be having the same problem as you, not being able to get a big enough following and a consistent involvement from the members. there are like ten of us that actually come to the meetings to help with the planning and what not.  our club does something along the lines of sierras point system.  we have a point system which rewards points to members for coming to meeting, coming to events we hold, helping recruit new members and stuff like that so the more you are involved the more points you have and in the end the cheaper your trip will be.  because why should we pay the same price as the students who are sign up for the club just to go on the trip and want nothing to do with the planning process.  but we are working on the advertising too, which was the topic at our last meeting.  we are going to try and have emails sent to the whole student body and post flyers in a lot of the classrooms and hallways of  the buildings.  it sounds like you are getting a decent amount of interested people to join, good luck with keeping the students coming!

since the trips are so expensive it is so important to raise money and to get discounted deals from the mountains so students have an incentive to join, even if you do just take a trip every friday up to a local mountain, it still gets students involved and meeting others on campus with a common interest.

good luck and keep us updated on the turnout!

pursue rooms early in the semester so you can have a set meeting time

Congrats on getting the club started. The first step is the decision to do it and actually talk to the university. Sounds like you passed that with flying colors. In addition, you have over 40 members already...now that's awesome.

Be sure to meet regularly. The once a month meeting will not cut it and you'll go through attrition like none other. I would plan a weekly get together (especially since winter is only a few months long). You don't necessarily have to make it a meeting in the classroom too.

First and foremost, appoint officers or at least certain folks to be in charge of designated areas (ie marketing, membership, treasurer, social chair, etc etc etc).

Market all over campus on a regular basis. Post flyers everywhere (dorms, university union, outside of classrooms, on campus etc), place ads in the campus newspapers and make sure everyone who is a member takes on the responsibility to spread the word. And don't just stop at doing it once. It has to be an ongoing basis.

One thought is to plan a yearly outing that the club will always want to hit. Build hype around it. Other trips should be planned too but this one should be the one everyone always looks forward too. Once you have the 1st trip, contact the editor of your campus paper and see if they'll put a small article on it so everyone can see the fun you had.

Build a website too. This is a great way for students to see and get a feel for the club.

In terms of sponsorship, that's always everyone's hardest part. Don't expect to receive the world and always be willing to help the company get their name out. People have to put in their efforts to get more. Discounts are the best way to start. and always always always show that you're willing to rep and promote that company. Just contacting companies and saying "hey we're new what can you sponsor us with" will typically get you nowhere. It's about looking professional, interested, and active. Build a resume and portfolio that you will us to present to the company. Approach it knowing you may get a lot of "no's" but keep at it.

There's a lot of other tips that can be offered. If you have any questions with how to approach sponsorships and shops, hit me up with a PM. I'll be happy to help. Psst...we know A LOT about sponsorship so you'd be getting priceless advice (haha).

Good luck and best wishes to a successful club.