Promoting School Events to Create a Charged and Positive Atmosphere

After a basketball game, the athletic director is observing spectators as they are leaving the gymnasium. Even though the home team won, the crowd was small and there seemed to be a general malaise where the players’ parents felt obligated to attend, but there was little excitement and sparse student and staff attendance.

Athletics and activities can be incredible events to promote belonging and collective identity, but to create such energy, attention should be focused on finding ways for the entire school to get involved. When school leaders develop plans to create more inclusive events for all community partners, they are more likely to see traditions established that grow program support and provide everyone an experience to remember.

Target School Staff, Create Incentive and Provide Support
When school leaders simultaneously find ways to gather student and spectator feedback to drive effective programs, strategically schedule events, and create accommodating environments for staff and their families, opportunities emerge for a broader support community. Most staff start their school year with little understanding of the athletic and activity programs; however, most are familiar with pedagogy that emphasizes students engaged in school activities outside of the classroom are more likely to academically succeed.

One way to increase student excitement is to find ways to make it easier for teachers and staff to attend games. Teachers see students daily and have a huge impact on student growth when they attend school events, but some teachers and staff face challenges and may not know what to attend. One of the more popular ways to get teachers to afterschool events is to specifically have athletic and activity participants invite them. It could be as simple as a coach getting a list of staff members and having team members create personal invitations and deliver them to staff.

For those school staff that have obligations beyond the classroom, both personal and professional, schools can find ways to help meet their needs. For example, teachers who may have young families may need to have childcare for children to attend a school play or event. School leaders can create support to address these needs by dedicating specific rooms, personnel, and even students interested in careers with children as temporary daycares with multiple activities.

Occasionally, there may be a staff member such as a custodian or bus driver who has a student on a team. Attention needs to be paid to these parents as well as school leaders can alter school schedules on select games so that they can be part of a valued athletic and activity culture.

Strategic Scheduling of Staff Events
Holding a planning meeting with both students and coaches before the start of the season can be an opportunity for students and staff to co-construct schedules; these collaborative times can be used to identify and designate select games that can be designated as servant leadership nights, themed events, senior nights and community involvement.

To get teachers and staff to attend, team members can then bring an away jersey to the teacher or staff member and ask them to wear it during the school day and attend the game. Coaches and advisers need to supervise this activity and do early planning to ensure that few, if any, staff members are left out. This will help promote the message that everyone is a part of the school community.

Mobilize Athletes to Invite Community
When attendance at school events wanes, sometimes the best way to increase it is to have participants promote their program. All coaches worry about putting their students in the best position to find success, but coaches can also take some time to develop leadership skills that promote speaking and collective ownership that can make school athletics and activities more welcoming.

High school students may feel more comfortable with their friends, but coaches can create opportunities to expand their influence and improve their confidence. With a little time at the end of practice asking students to invite three other students to their event, they mobilize students to step out of their comfort zone, make new friends, and even develop more confidence. Coaches and advisers can even create intra-squad competitions by asking team members to visit businesses to see if they would like to attend or financially donate to programs. This type of experience introduces participants to what goes on in business daily and can be an invaluable introductory experience to community leadership in a safe context.

Theme Nights to Engage Staff and Community
Music at events is always a great way to create energy, and schools can capitalize on this energy with theme nights. Games on a schedule could be designated with a specific theme long before it starts.

For example, if a school designated a game as a 70s game, decorations and music from the 70s could be played. Spectators who came dressed in 70s attire could get discounted admission, and games could be played during halftime to capitalize on the specific theme.

Theme Nights can also be designed to teach service leadership to participants. Coaches may want to ask their teams what causes they feel most attached to and then select games where they fundraise for the community.

For example, a school in an area that is close to one impacted by a natural disaster may be more likely to want to find ways to help those in need. In this type of situation, teams may want to contact a non-profit, such as the Red Cross, to see if they can get someone to come to the game to gather donations and promote ways to help. Teams that play on that evening may compete against each other not only on the scoreboard, but on how much opposing fans contribute to the effort so that everyone wins.

Recognize and Celebrate Community
If schools want to be the center of their communities, school leaders need to embrace opportunities to expand attendance pools and bring teachers, staff and community partners to school events. Partnering with local businesses to allow them to sell food or other products at games can be beneficial for both local businesses and the school as a percentage of sales can be given to the school at the end of an event. Business partners may even want to recognize a pre-selected staff member at the end of the event with a recognition to thank the staff member for their leadership in helping the community.

Local city councils may also provide a variety of supports if given the opportunity to participate. Halftime activities, time-outs or intermissions can be opportunities to recognize community members or businesses that have positively impacted the community.

Final Thoughts
Successful environments rarely happen on accident, and school leaders should devote time to explore how to make events exciting. Not every game is going to attract record-breaking crowds, but with a little creativity and planning, memorable events can give way to new traditions that can bring enthusiasm to school sites and create a more exciting atmosphere for the entire community.