Recruiting (High School)

I was involved in recruitment for my high school ultimate team at Columbia every year except my freshman year. The goal was simple: recruit as many athletic-looking freshmen as possible. Our school, as I'm assuming most high schools do, had a Club Fair on the first or second day of school for freshmen. We, despite not being an official club, got a table and set up shop. We brought jerseys, posters, discs, and ultimate videos and DVDs. And the most important thing of all was our email signup sheet, so we could contact everyone later that night and tell them about practice, etc.

It was important for us to recruit people who were willing to treat the sport the same way we did - as if it were a varsity sport that traveled outside of the state. We practiced every day, like varsity sports. There were tournaments every two or three weekends. We emphasized that we were multiple-time state champions and nationally ranked. This will probably not work for programs that are smaller, that just need to recruit to stay alive. But remember that *everyone* is nationally ranked (thanks Score Reporter!), and usually there are not many teams in a state, so almost every team can say that their goal is to make it to state semifinals. For people who are not exposed to ultimate and used to traditional varsity sports, this is a big deal.

Also, never underestimate the effect of ultimate video footage. It serves three purposes. First, it attracts people to your booth/table. Second, it helps you explain what ultimate is, and show people that there are not, in fact, any dogs. And third, it's actually really, really cool. People love to watch big hucks, skies, and layouts. Spikes help too. If you can have three or four people around the table, scanning the crowd for potential teammates, and one or two people actually at the table to catch people who stop in of their own accord.

Approach everyone, including groups of friends. If an athletic kid's unathletic friends are interested in ultimate, he may be swayed and play when he wouldn't have otherwise. Also, DO NOT BE RUDE to anyone, no matter who they are or what they say. Just mention the running that you do, or the traveling to tournaments.

When you talk to someone, try to play up the legitimacy of the team. If you have a coach, mention that. If not, try to get one before the season starts - approach the local league, club team, alumni, etc. Coaches make a huge difference to players and parents and also the continuity of the team. Mention the fun that the team has, the games that you play, and how often you practice. If they're interested, get their email address or phone number. If they're still undecided, bring them over to the table and show them some video.

Columbia likes to start players out with practice after school the next day. Our girls team used to do informational meetings before the first practice, where people could come, learn about the sport, and ask any questions they had. I'd actually recommend the meeting for fledgling teams - not everyone is willing or able to jump into practice immediately. If you do have a meeting, try to get word out about it by flyering your school hallways, bulletin boards, and bathroom doors.

We generally get about 20 freshmen out for the beginning of the fall. To keep them, we do a lot of throwing instruction and scrimmages (stopping after/during every point to explain things) and build in the force, cutting technique, marking, and downfield defense in about that order so that people can get a hang of things. We let them watch A-team and returning B-team players scrimmage so that they can see how things are "supposed" to look. And we take them to a tournament ASAP so that they can actually play.

Don't be discouraged if not all of them come back for the spring. My freshman year, only two of the 20-some kids returned for the spring. A couple years later, about 18 came back. Try to buy jerseys in the fall, for A-team and B-team players (if you have a B-team). Having a physical tie to the team seems to increase people's willingness to come back. And remember - in order for a team to stay afloat, they need about four players each year to stay, play, and become experienced. Some years will be leaner than others - of the seven classes I played high school ultimate with, three of them were smaller than four - two, two, and three. But you try to recruit in numbers with the goal of having a fraction of them staying on to be future contributors. Our general ratio when I was doing recruiting:

50-60 signups
25-30 at first practice
15-25 at the end of the fall
12-18 at the end of the spring
8-15 at the start of the next fall
6-12 at the end of their sophomore spring