Guest post written by Cameron Connelly, Content & Research Coordinator, The Sports Facilities Companies.
Sports facilities always leave a lasting impact on the kids and families that attend tournaments and events there. But what we don’t always see or talk about is the impact that they have on everyone else in a community. Some facilities provide local schools with fields for practice free of charge. Some provide scholarships and gear to kids who can’t afford it. And some host events that raise money for charity. A lot more than just sports tournaments happen at sports facilities, and this blog post will cover some of the ways that the facilities in the SF Network have used their venue to give back. Feel free to implement some or all of these at your facility to boost the impact that you have on your surrounding community.
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Removing Barriers to Sports
In a previous blog post about helping low-income kids gain access to sports, we talked about providing scholarships as a way to do that. While scholarships are a great way to help kids, there isn’t always enough money to help all the kids that you want to. Rocky Top Sports World found a great way to help reduce the cost of sports for a larger number of kids by hosting the local schools’ practices on their fields for free during the week. They also provide kids that attend local schools free registration to any of the Rocky Top Sports World events and tournaments that they host!
Similarly, at Cedar Point Sports Center, they provide scholarships to the city’s rec program that allows the kids there to attend Cedar Point summer camps for free. These are all great ways to provide the opportunity to have fun and play sports to kids that might not have been able to participate.
Hosting Fundraisers
Fundraisers and charity events are a great way to bring your community together to have fun and raise money for a good cause. At Highlands Sports Complex, they partnered with Mountaineer Brewfest to help raise $40,000 for a local nonprofit called Seeing Hand Association. Highlands also hosted their 2nd annual “Spooktacular” for Halloween which raised $2,207 for the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley. Elizabethtown Sports Park partnered with Feeding America to host a food drive at their facility and volunteer their time to help make sure that everything went smoothly (which it did). While most of these events were hosted at one of the facilities, it isn’t always what is needed. The Mountaineer Brewfest was hosted at a different venue, but still benefited from the employees of Highlands showing up to support the cause and raise money.
Planning Community Events
Providing your community with entertainment and a place to gather is sometimes all it takes to make a fun and memorable time for your guests. Elizabethtown Sports Park has hosted a few free kickball tournaments that both brought people together for some fun and removed the barrier to sports for the 11 schools that attended the event. E-town also hosted their Movies in the Park event in which they screened movies and partnered with food trucks to provide attendees with free food. You can also provide your community with a fun educational event like what they did at Cornerstone Sports Complex when they partnered with the Junior Auxiliary of Starkville to host a “Safety Town”. The event taught kids about community safety with an interactive art exhibit and help from local firemen and police officers.
Sports facilities are built to be gathering places for communities, families, and athletes. And while the families and athletes that come to a venue for sports tourism-based tournaments are crucial, the community around the facility is also important. Make sure to take some time to thank your community and show them a good time.
Here at The Sports Facilities Companies, we can help you find out if a facility would be feasible in your area. We can help develop it or, once it is completed, we can operate it. To learn more, contact us or give us a call at (727) 474-3845.
