How to Plan for the Perfect Sports Event?

“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” – Thomas Edison

Written by: Malachi Nojaduka 

For some of us, our sport is everything. Whether you play seriously or recreationally, being involved in these extra-mural activities can have a positive impact throughout the entire community. Hosting sporting events to showcase talent and skill can be a great way to get people together, promoting unity and building lasting friendships.

While this is great, the success of these events solely depends on the people working behind the scenes who manage and coordinate these events. The exceptional work at 7 Bamboos Rugby is no different.

So how do you plan a sports event? 

Planning the event 

At first glance, a sports event may seem straightforward, however, the task is more complex than you may think. Prior to any planning, the hosts should at least have an event concept, and know how to execute the event, and the date of the event. Now comes the troublesome part: the planning and organising.

This requires a formal document to be drafted detailing the event’s activities. From the events’ conception through to its execution and right until the event’s closure. This document will serve as a guideline that assigns responsibilities and tasks to each person involved in the function’s execution according to an appropriately set timeline.

The key here is planning. Simply put, the more effort we put into the planning and organising, the better the chances of you easily executing tasks. Your events planning team must come up with this guidance structure, as this will help you follow a critical path.

Since planning and organising a sports event is not so straightforward, we have compiled a series of steps to follow for a prosperous event.

Here they are: 

1. Pick a venue 

Event planning at this stage is like real estate because everything is about location, location, location! Seriously, your venue is arguably the biggest task that you need to accomplish. You should write a specific list that highlights the criteria you require for the event. For example, find a secure venue or one able to house the capacity of all your prospective attendees.

The Venue should provide a certain level of convenience. Both spectators and teams should have parking spaces and be close to amenities. Your team will have to direct traffic and accommodation should be provided if visitors have traveled long distances. Venues often offer complementary services, so always enquire what benefits you get from booking the Venue. Work to become strategic partners with venue owners for discounts.

2. Develop a unique playstyle for the event 

With the venue secured, it is now time to choose the style of play for your event. Choose a style of play that is practical.

It is here where you decide whether your event should take the form of a tournament, a friendly game, a league game, or just a once-off match or series of matches. Also consider how many sports will be played, the number of individuals, including the coaches and other related personnel.

3. Acquire and allocate resources

Your event is likely to take place in phases so ensure that supplies are allocated to the right departments. For example, if your event is a tournament, ensure that awards such as trophies and medals are available at the time of the ceremony. The same goes for all other relevant supplies that are essential to the event’s success.

Work with experienced suppliers on the day, so everything goes as smoothly as possible.

4. Get the right insurance  

Events have plenty of unforeseen eventualities. Some may not even concern you directly, however, it is your responsibility to work things out. Being insured for potential crises is a wise decision. Injuries, accidents, heinous property damage, you name it, be insured against it. Just make sure that you are thoroughly informed about your insurance’s terms and conditions. By staying ahead of such problems, you protect your organisation from penalties, unforeseen fees, and any litigation.

As the old clichéd saying goes, prevention is better than the cure and there’s no better way of preventing problems than carefully paying attention to your attendees’ safety and health.

5. Prioritise health and safety 

All members who publicly attend your function should be well taken care of. From the attendees to the staff on the ground, making sure everything is going according to plan. Everyone’s safety is paramount as any issues may cause irreparable damage to the event organizers and their stakeholders’ reputations.

6. Assemble volunteers and staff 

Putting together a strong, competent team and volunteers will be the next step. All the relevant information pertaining to the event should be completed and everyone should be briefed on their roles and responsibilities.

Opting for volunteers as part of your team can be helpful, so consider looking around particularly if you’re in a setting that allows you those resources. For example, if it is a high school sporting event, you may opt to enlist the school nurse to help with any injuries. Volunteers are helpful as they allow for more room in your budget.

7. Sell tickets 

Find convenient ways of selling tickets. There are plenty of ticket-selling platforms online that you may utilise. Do the research to see which one/s works best for you.

8. Promote your event 

Now it’s time to spread the word about the event. Distributing flyers, local newspaper ads, and email marketing are all good channels for increasing the public’s awareness of your event.

Social media can also be a powerful tool to use, so consider using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even WhatsApp to create a buzz.

9. Appoint referees and officials 

Now that the pieces are all falling into place, you need to appoint a healthy number of sports officials to enforce the rules of the sport. A great option is to find them locally. If this is not possible, you might reach out to referee clubs or organisations.

10. Contact everyone in attendance 

Since you are covering the last tasks of your event’s planning process, you now need to contact all the participants once again to provide them with the information that they will require upon their arrival.

These may be things such as codes of conduct, rules, regulations, and information, such as the events schedule outlining the dates, time and specific locations.

11. Revise your plan 

Revisit all the steps of your plan, do this with all the departments or groups of people you have employed and briefly run through the game plan of your event to ensure everyone agrees. It is here where you will also make all staff members aware of their position, their role, and their responsibilities once more.

12. Get the local press involved 

Reach out to any local press to show how successful your event is. This is great publicity if your event takes place regularly or annually. The press will get more eyes on your event, guaranteeing more attendance next time.

Conclusion

Following these steps ensures that the concept behind your event is realized. Systematically adhering to the steps above will guarantee you that much.

However, no process is void of issues, so expect to jump over some hurdles. Try to solve these problems as soon as possible to maintain your plan’s momentum. One thing we’ve noted is that it gets easier the more experience you have.

So if you intend to host an event, looking to experts for help is a viable option. So look, no further, 7 Bamboo Rugby is here to help. Please contact us to get more information on how we may assist you.

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