GM blog: March toward 2019 continues

INDIANAPOLIS — 2018 is flying to a finish, and things at Old Bhoys headquarters are humming along in high gear. The club’s social media presence has been somewhat calm outside of a flurry of tryouts announcements, but there is plenty of activity behind the scenes. Continued conversations with the state soccer association are promising, as are conversations with UPSL and non-UPSL clubs to grow/share ideas to better develop our club and our vision for being a sustainable member of the soccer market for the immediate future. And despite the noise on Twitter lately at the amateur league level, the work at the club level is amazingly open. We’ve found several clubs to be excellent partners in terms of off-the-field ideas, possessing a willingness to act as a sounding board for the Old Bhoys and how we look to build on our inaugural season of competition. Developing an independent club identity — and something supporters can gravitate toward and call their own — ties to our values of community and integrity. It’s something I strive to meet every day we operate as a club. We’ll give a shout out to these clubs at the end of this blog. These are some fantastic people and have been extremely willing to spare time to chat, review and provide candid feedback as to how they’ve built a sustainable club. 

On the club news front, player tryouts for the 2019 season were Dec. 17 at the SportZone Indy. We’ve pulled together our technical staff as well as some other volunteer coaches to support evaluation of Old Bhoys hopefuls on Monday night. In parallel with pulling together the venue and scheduling tryouts, along with coordinating registrations, meetings with potential sponsors are taking place, with some scheduled for the week of the 17th as well. Some conversations have stalled — which is unfortunate, but a reality of non-league life — but others are ongoing. As many people and clubs at our level know, sponsorship (including anything deemed “value-in-kind”) are the lifeblood of achieving sustainable operations. I have not done as well (yet) in terms of getting our brand and identity in the soccer world’s conscience, but that is slowly changing. Recognition of our brand and building something that resonates with the local community is huge, and may help with the sponsorship side of things. Worst case? It helps connect us in more meaningful ways locally (with supporters, businesses, etc.) and allows us to share our love of soccer with a wider network of folks who give a crap about what we give a crap about. Regardless, my focus for the club is to be more engaged. More accessible. From me to each of our players. Being able to tangibly exchange ideas, thoughts, and concerns is important. And that’s what we’re looking to do more frequently and more openly. I’ve also been able to reach out to some of the local universities and work with better communication and engagement in that environment. Which was sorely lacking this past spring/summer. There are some meetings in January to develop a relationship locally to support the operation of the club in the marketing landscape. 

In addition to growing the accessibility aspect of our club, there is a keen focus on the day-to-day planning. Where are we training? Where are we playing in 2019? When do we start? How often do we train? These are marginal to the outside, but helps shape the soccer side of the club. There are conversations with head coach Steve Bushre almost daily, and an effort to expand our volunteer front office. Again, picking the brains of those who know Indianapolis and those who know soccer has been a big help. When they overlap on the Venn diagram, even better. We are working with some kit suppliers to fine tune a design and leave room in our schedule for ordering ahead of schedule. Having just received some jersey samples with plans to place an order for another design this weekend, we’ll have some hard decisions to make. Fortunately, we’re working with some of the best and well-known kit designers in the lower-tier soccer universe. Once we finalize the overall kit design, as well as partnering with folks in securing a title sponsor (or two 😬), I’m hopeful we’ll be in position to announce some events to engage and make sure we’re accessible as a club to the community. Additionally, we’ll be looking at places to get together after home matches in 2019 in order to party with everyone when we win, or commiserate with you after a loss while looking forward to the next match. As arrangements and partnerships are made, we’ll announce it on this space as well as our social feeds, particularly Twitter.

As we focus on player tryouts and evaluations, we’ve got some official league business to conduct in January at a conference meeting in Chicago. Our target is still to compete in the UPSL for 2019. But we must balance that desire with reality. This reality will become clearer as we progress toward the start of the spring season. Understanding divisional alignment and the conference schedule is crucial to how we operate from a dollars and cents perspective, as well as to how we provide our players the best chances for success on the pitch. While the schedule may not be ironed out completely at this meeting, I’m looking forward to sharing ideas and looking at creative ways to best grow the game in Indianapolis, and compliment the amazing things the Indy Eleven are doing for the city and state as a representative of the USL Championship.  

To touch back on the clubs I mentioned above, the following have been so amazing and generous in reaching out or opening up to talk about their challenges, business models, plans for building sustainability, and how to organically grow their clubs and the games. Please follow them or if in their area, reach out. They are as passionate as I am in building amateur and local soccer!

DeKalb County United (and on Twitter here)
Bugeaters FC (and on Twitter here)
Livonia City FC (and on Twitter here)
Oakland County FC (and on Twitter here)
LK St Clair FC (and on Twitter here)
Milwaukee Bavarians (and on Twitter here)

To wrap this longer-than-intended blog up, we want to connect! Whether you’re looking to supplement your Indy Eleven fix, looking for a new non-league club to fall in love with (I mean, really think about this, you know) or if you’re crazy enough to want to help run a soccer club, hit us up! We will always welcome everyone, every time. COYOB!

Follow Andy on Twitter: @Andy_H_1980.

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