Increasing Attendance

1. Network with the other coaches & teachers. Ask the cheerleader/ drill team/color guard sponsors (Faculty) to draw up signs with the schedule & post in hallways. And spirit flyers with the upcoming weeks games. Have a nice schedule & team pic printed to display in local merchants windows, banks, library, all busineses. We did a pocket size schedule to pass out at same, and had stacks of them in the reception office, school library, cafeteria, etc. on campus.
2. Each week, have a couple players( Varsity & JV) make an announcement (included in "schools mornng announcements" starting a couple days before & the morning of game day.
3. Have the Journalism teacher send a photographer & writer out for every game, to work in pressbox & take shots of players. Action Pics are good to use on next weeks flyers.
4. Make sure the school newspaper prints a story every publication. Feature stories on specific players, etc., as well as game stories, & have someone of your boosters to post a story on your school website. Send stories to District office for broadcast email to all school in your district, and parents. Send stories to your local newspaper, etc.
5. Offer free hot dogs once in a while. or discount on Spirit t-shirts on a specific date.
6. Have a "Mom are free night". Do Something special for Mother's day (flower bouquet, or chocolate kisses, etc)
7. Have someone from Choir sign National Anthem every game!! That really gets folks out.
8. School Mascot helps get folks in the spirit.
9. Principal, Vice Principals, Teachers should all be coming.
10. Have alumni game & get community sponsors to donate prizes (have a hitfest, pitch contest, longball, etc.)
11. Talk to Student body Pres & all the clubs at school, to get their folks, friends, etc to go & mention them being there during your games.
12. A few kids from band could play "LIVE" for a little pre-game entertainment. A few Jazz #'s are fun & get kids going.
13. Baseball Babes (usually drillteam or other "leaders") are girls that each players asks to represent a player for the season. We had the t-shirts made with the players name & # on the back, "Baseball Babe" across the front. Team colors (not pink). They wore them to school & to the games.
14. Have players dress in "game day" polo on game days. Players that "balked" (or "forgot" had to run poles, so they caught on pretty quickly. Send note to parents & (hopefully), they will help you with their players "compliance".
15. Have a "Gumbo" cookoff or "Crawfish Night". Find a sponsor to donate a prize.
16. Sonic, Chick fil a, Subway, etc. will come out & sell a limited menu, usually with a 50% gross proceeds split. Your concessions sells all beverages (100% donated by boosters, or Coke, Dr. Pepper or Pepsi distributors that has contract w/ school district...)



Most of these things we did as boosters. Coaches are too busy, but these ideas may help. Pm if you need details. Develop a marketing plan for the whole season, then have boosters do the leg work.

You've got to win games, & prep your players for the Friday night "show", so play ball!!

Those are some great ideas above but let me give you one that worked out great for me. Get to know the kids in school. If you can win them over (without compromising your position as a teacher) and get them to like you they will show up. Not so much for you but just overall.

Prime example is my last school the attendance slowly increased each year I was head coach as I got to know more and more of the kids in the school. The last two years we had our outfield bunch. A group of kids would back their trucks up to the outfield fence in RF an just have a good time. They filled up their trucks with tarps and fill them with water. They had a grill going and cornhole boards set up.

The best part is (they did everything on their own - I just told them to make sure they weren't doing anything that would get them into trouble) when we won or hit a homerun they would set off fireworks. First time they did it we hit a homerun and I had no idea they were going to do it. Scared me to death at first. Then I was worried the other coach would get upset and think it was bushleague. I turned to apologize (they had the 3rd base dugout) and he looked at me and said it was the greatest thing he had ever seen at a high school game.

We won the game and they set off more fireworks. I had almost every single kid that was out there in class and they knew I was the boss but they also got to know me as a person and they liked me. It helped build our support.

To add to these.....start working with your kids on the younger campuses.

Have you players go over and work with the younger kids in their elem. classes.

Have a featured campus or grade level for each home game. They get in free and get free pop-corn. The week that their campus is featured have the cheerleaders, players, etc. go over and sell it to them.

Have a group of "baseball buddies" that is made up of elem. kids. For a small fee they get a t-shirt, free something from the conc. stand, get to come on the field after the game and be part of the post game huddle and run the bases with the hs players giving them high-5s as they run by. HS players send these elem. kids post cards through out the season.

If you have a home tourn., schedule a game during the school day and allow students to buy tickets and attend. Great fundraiser and a way to get a huge crowd. Nearly every hs kid will pay a $1 to get out of class for an hour or so.

quote:

Originally posted by d8:
If you have a home tourn., schedule a game during the school day and allow students to buy tickets and attend. Great fundraiser and a way to get a huge crowd. Nearly every hs kid will pay a $1 to get out of class for an hour or so.

In Texas, for day time games, we have to deal with not only UIL provisions, but Tex Edu. Agency rules for certain # of hours in a class day & # of days of attendance.
There were occasions when a game or DH started @ 3:00pm. School dismissed @ 2:30pm, so not a problem. Tournaments didn't quailfy for regular student body early dismissal.

quote:

Have you players go over and work with the younger kids in their elem. classes.

As stupid as it sounds, I'm pretty sure that would be a "recruiting violation" here. I like the idea, but I don't think it would fly.

bsbmom....I know the rules and it can be done w/in the rules.

Bulldog19....with only one hs it is not recruiting. Also, when I say work with the younger kids. I mean helping them w/ their class work as tutors, reading to/with them, etc.

Too late for this year - but how about having the baseball team show up in mass at basketball games wearing their baseball shirts. A little "mutual support" kind of thing.