Why membership growth matters

Growing your sports club membership numbers is essential to the long-term sustainability and evolution of your club. A thriving sports club continuously attracting new members from diverse backgrounds and ages, while maintaining existing members, ensures the club maintains a strong sense of community and promote their sport for generations to come. 

Increasing your club’s membership also contributes to the financial sustainability of the club. Membership fees provide clubs with revenue for various expenses such as jerseys, gym equipment, facility maintenance and upgrades, travel costs, coaching staff expenses, and more. 

Here are our top tips for growing the membership of your club and getting more players on board. 

Contents 

• Why membership growth matters 

• Ask your players to find new members 

• Engage with local schools and families 

• Build an online community 

• Promote volunteer opportunities 

• Highlight membership benefits 

• Run community outreach initiatives 

Ask your players to find new members 

Sometimes, the most effective recruitment comes from personal invitations. Encourage current players to reach out directly to friends, family members, classmates, or colleagues who might be interested in joining the club.  

A friendly message or casual conversation can go a long way, especially when it comes from someone who’s already involved and enthusiastic. 

 Players can highlight the fun, fitness and sense of community that comes with being part of the club. 

These personal recommendations often feel more genuine and persuasive than ads or flyers, helping potential members feel more welcome from the start. 

Engage with local schools and families

As the saying goes, “Start them young.” By engaging with schools and their students, your sports club can attract new members from the next generation and their families, which may result in valuable lifetime members. 

Reach out to school principals and PE teachers to introduce your sports club to the school’s students. When speaking to students, identify what sets your club apart from others and communicate the tangible benefits of joining your club. 

Offer the school and its students coaching during their PE classes. Schools will be eager to promote physical activity and sports participation among its pupils, so this collaboration with your club should be a win-win. It will also give students first-hand experience of playing your sport. 

This is a great opportunity to showcase the many benefits of your club to parents, from physical fitness to social connection and emotional well-being. To make a strong impression, clubs should come prepared with clear, well-designed materials such as brochures, letters, or flyers that students can take home.  

These should include easy sign-up instructions, a summary of your club’s safeguarding policies, and clearly listed contact details for club representatives. Presenting your club as organised, welcoming, and safety-conscious will go a long way in building trust with families and encouraging new memberships. 

Build an online community 

Optimise your website for visibility

Create a club website that is user-friendly including information about your club’s history, facilities, teams and age groups, and importantly, membership options. Ensure you research relevant keywords related to your sport and location to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO), helping your club appear higher in Google search results.  

If your club doesn’t yet have a website, signing up with ClubZap gives you access to a dedicated club website portal. This helps manage memberships, share updates, and growing your online presence with ease. 

Use social media to attract members

Utilising online sources and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, can also be a great way to recruit new members to your club. Clubs should highlight that they are actively looking for new members and highlight the benefits of joining.  

Share engaging content regularly, including updates on club events, photos and videos of club activities, positive testimonials from existing members, and other club-related news. Through these posts, you can promote your club as an important cog of the local community thus attracting new members. 

Run targeted social media ads

Leveraging targeted ad campaigns through Google and social media can also help your club reach individuals who may potentially match your ideal member profile.  

These ads could reach people who have recently moved to the area and are actively looking to participate in sports and join a team. These targeted ad campaigns can be created to target people based on demographics, interests, locations and behaviours. 

Promote volunteer opportunities

Not all members need to be players. Communicate the other ways that people can get involved, for example: 

•  Coaching underage teams 

•  Becoming referees or linespeople 

•  Fundraising and helping out at events  

Celebrate volunteers through the club newsletter, local newspaper, club website, and social media to build pride and encourage more involvement. These types of members could get involved in club activities or volunteering roles such as coaching underage teams, umpiring or match officiating, collecting gate receipts at matches or being stewards at a sponsored event. Though they will not be actively playing for any of your club’s teams, they will feel a sense of belonging, purpose and satisfaction. 

Attracting volunteers can be achieved by clearly communicating the positive impact they will have on the club and the community. Acknowledge their efforts and celebrate their achievements publicly through the club website, social media, and local newspapers. By creating this environment, you can attract dedicated volunteers who are passionate about contributing towards the success of the club. 

Highlight membership benefits

Communicate the tangible benefits of joining, such as: 

• Exclusive access to events 

• Discounts on club merchandise 

• Incentives for recruitment like family membership packages or free trials 

This gives potential members a clear membership goal and sense of value. 

Run community outreach initiatives

It’s important for a club to engage with groups that may be underrepresented in the local community, such as women, ethnic background minorities, and individuals with disabilities, to promote diversity and inclusivity within the club. 

Clubs can offer these specific individuals tailored training sessions that are more focused on inclusivity and the element of fun rather than that of a competitive nature. A great example of these inclusivity programmes is the Raheny All-Stars, which was established by Dublin-based club and ClubZap user, Raheny GAA. 

This special initiative was set up for children with special needs aged 9 – 12. The goal of this initiative was to include children who could not take part in a typical team game, assisting them with the skills of GAA in a fun and safe environment. 

Another great example of introducing members to clubs was the Gaelic4Mother&Others initiative, which was to introduce mothers and other women to playing Ladies Gaelic Football in a fun, non-competitive and social environment. The initiative provides an opportunity for women to get their weekly dose of exercise while meeting other mothers in their local community. 

Partner with local businesses

Collaborate with business owners, schools, or your local Chamber of Commerce to expand your network and visibility in the community. 

Host local events 

Participate in or host events like a club open day, or high-profile meetings to attract curious locals. Use bumper stickers, signage, and word-of-mouth promotion to boost awareness. Check out our detailed blog on organising and promoting sports club events.

Ready to take your club to the next level? 

Join hundreds of thriving clubs already using ClubZap to grow their membership, manage communications, and build stronger communities. Sign up today and see the difference a smart, all-in-one club platform can make.