increasing participation & funding for plain local midget football
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Increasing Participation & Funding for Plain Local Midget Football
Bill Burgess Master’s Professional Project
Spring 2012
Burgess Page 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 5
Literature Review 7
PR Campaign
17
PLMF Background & Analysis 18
Objective I 21
Objective II 22
Evaluation 24
Conclusion 26
End Notes 27
Appendix 28
References 32
Burgess Page 3
Executive Summary
The aim of this public relations campaign is to increase participation and funding for
Plain Local Midget Football (PLMF), a youth sports league in Canton, Ohio. The project
also fulfills the requirement for my master’s professional project at Kent State
University.
The image and success of PLMF is important to me. I played in the league as a child, and
now I coach. My son, Aydan started playing football in 2007, and is currently on the
sixth/seventh grade team. Over the last few years, I have noticed a decline in
participation in the league. Since I have been affiliated with the league, PLMF has not
held any fundraisers besides asking players/parents to sell candy bars. The league is not
in any financial danger; however, money is needed to replace equipment, especially
helmets.
In the beginning stages of the campaign, I began my research by attending monthly
board meetings in the summer of 2011. I gleaned information from PLMF Board
members and current and past coaches. From these meetings and conversations, I
found two needs:
1. More players 2. Additional funding
What became increasingly obvious during the creation of this campaign was the need to
utilize the success of the GlenOak High School football team, its up-‐and-‐coming coach,
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Scott Garcia, and its star and next Ohio State Buckeye, Brionte Dunn. The team finished
the regular season 9-‐2, won the school’s first-‐ever playoff game and eventually lost to
Wadsworth. I chose to use the school’s notoriety to gain the interest of elementary-‐age
students in the district.
Social media was also critical to the campaign. PLMF had no Facebook presence and I
knew that I could attract parents of elementary-‐age children to a page using photos and
updated league information. Going forward, Facebook will be an essential
communication tool for the league and the parents of its participants.
The league had never held an organized fundraiser. My immediate reaction was to hold
a golf outing. Because this is a common means to raise money and this league involves
as many moms as dads, I switched gears, created a committee and began coordination
of “Kicking It 4 PLMF Kids,” an adult kickball tournament.
I set two objectives for the campaign:
1. To increase the number of football players by 25 percent 2. To raise $5,000 for new equipment
After completing the campaign, PLMF added a fourth B League team increasing overall
player participation by more than 30 percent. A Facebook page now has more than 60
“likes,” and fundraising activities collected more than $4,000.
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Introduction
Plain Local Midget Football (PLMF) is a youth football/cheerleading league that
represents youth who attend the Plain Local Schools system in Canton, Ohio. Children in
grades two-‐seven are eligible for the league, which was established in 1975. Second and
third graders play flag football and all of their games are played against other PLMF
teams. The B League, grades 4-‐5, and the A League, grades 6-‐7 compete in the
Northeast Ohio Youth Football Conference with programs from the city of North Canton
and Perry Township. PLMF is a player and cheerleader pipeline for the GlenOak High
School. GlenOak High School is located in Canton, Ohio and its students live in either
Plain Township or the City of Canton.
Plain Local Schools is the second largest school system in Stark County. According to the
Ohio Department of Education, 2011 fall enrollment for Plain Local was 6,063. Perry had
fewer than 5,000 students and North Canton City Schools had over 4,700.1
Unfortunately, PLMF has not been able to capitalize on its size and struggles to compete
with these schools in youth football because it lacks players. Although PLMF has a nice
playing field, it does not have a working scoreboard. PLMF’s equipment, including
helmets and pads, is reconditioned every year, but some of that equipment looks
outdated, especially to youth who want to look like professional football players.
PLMF wants to boost its participation by 25 percent. Its board members and Scott
Garcia, Head Coach, GlenOak High School, want to increase the number of players,
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cheerleaders, coaches and volunteers for its 2012 season. The league also needs to
raise money for equipment and facilities.
The PLMF Board consists of Scott Knoch, President; Dave Contrucci, Vice President; Kelly
Stanojevic , Secretary; Mark Otani, Treasurer; Michelle Stahleker, Director of Parent
Reps; Pat Ryter, Concessions; and Cecelia Ponder, Directing of Cheerleading.
PLMF does not have an active Facebook page or Twitter account.
Aydan Burgess is one of the league’s premier offensive & defensive lineman.
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Literature Review
Kick Off
The paper examines theories that can be used to engage youth, parents, coaches and
communities. It identifies effective strategies for not only communication, but for
retention.
On the Field
The opportunity to participate in organized exercise and competition are just two of the
benefits youth receive from participation in a youth sports program. Studies have
shown that involved youth may excel in other facets of development. “High-‐quality
organized sports are a gateway to academic achievement, better grades, improved
chances of attending college, and success in the labor market— and these benefits are
especially important for low-‐income youth” (Rosewater, 2009).
Parents play a major role in encouraging their children to participate in a sport. It is
oftentimes the parents who decides in what sport their child will excel. “Children are
motivated to achieve and display competence. Parents and coaches have the ability to
alter a youth’s perception of his or her competence” (Daniels, 2007). Children are
inspired to participate in a sport when parents and coaches use “achievement
motivation,” which is a theory where youth are encouraged to accomplish incremental
athletic thresholds. Participation in youth sports can give children a sense of belonging
and in many cases it can be a confidence builder. “This is important because a young
athlete who does not perceive himself or herself as competent may lack persistence and
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play with less skill. This is true even if the child is a talented athlete. In addition, a young
athlete who feels competent within a sport but is not the best player will most likely
want to play. The child or youth’s perception about his or her skill is more important
than actual skill” (Daniels, 2007).
Once a youth decides to participate in a sport, many factors may prevent him or her
from continuing after that first season. “Clearly, people are concerned about what’s
happening to youth sports in many communities, whether its unsportsmanlike players,
overzealous fans, parents who criticize coaches for on-‐field decisions, or coaches who
put winning above all else (Cobb & Albanese, 2005).” In a discussion with board
members, I found that there were a number of complaints after Plain Local Midget
Football’s (PLMF) 2011 season. Many of the coaches were perceived as win-‐at-‐all cost
coaches and there were more than a few cases of youth or parents choosing to pull their
children from the team during the season.
Cobb and Albanese cite the following seven core principles of Sports Done Right: (1)
Philosophy, value and sportsmanship; (2) Sports and learning; (3) Parents and
community; (4) Quality of coaching; (5) Opportunity to play; (6) Health and fitness; and
(7) Leadership, quality and organization (Cobb & Albanese, 2005). Parents, coaches and
the community are an essential core value for any successful youth sports league. Many
parents drop off their kids and leave them with the coach, who then becomes a
babysitter. Coaches can enrich or destroy the benefits the youth gain from participation.
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Cobb and Albanese polled 300 student athletes during their study and identified a few
issues that would prevent youth from participating in a sport. Quality or inequality of
coaching and poor communication among athletes, parents and coaches were major
points of concern. “The students also called for stronger communication among
athletes, coaches, and parents; positive sports learning environments; quality coaching
education, including the importance of teaching life skills; more fun and enjoyment in
sports, with winning kept in perspective; and consistent and fair treatment of athletes of
all abilities” (Cobb & Albanese, 2005).
Involved youth place their trust in the coach and league to offer a fair arena for
competition. “Sports offer many of the things 10-‐year-‐olds crave. Teams are clubs;
victories and defeats are real, not made-‐up; and rules are presumably applied evenly.
There's an elegance to sports that makes sense to a 10-‐year-‐old." (Wolff, A. & Menez,
G., 2003)
Sports participation can meet different needs for parents. “When its 2001 report called
youth sports "a hotbed of chaos, violence and mean-‐spiritedness," the National Summit
on Raising Community Standards in Children's Sports wasn't referring to some Lord of
the Flies scenario in which kids are running amok without adult supervision. Nor are
children responsible for the athletic landscape in South Florida, where youth football
programs have become feeders for the high school powerhouses and a promising seven-‐
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year-‐old will be scouted and "signed" to practice but not play on what one disgusted
parent calls "prepubescent taxi squads." Says Thompson, "If a child has specialized in
one sport or played on select teams, she has seen a lot of adult behavior that clearly
demonstrates that this isn't 'just for fun,' as adults have been saying. The unguarded
reactions of parents on the sidelines, the criticism of performance, the shouting at refs-‐-‐
it all tells kids that this is serious stuff. No child misses the message" (Wolff, A. & Menez,
G., 2003).
According to the National Sporting Goods Association, youth participation in sports has
declined from years 2000-‐2009. “A number of factors are causing the decline, according
to sports officials. Kids have more options now than ever before, with lots of other
temptations for their attention. In a bad economy, some families can't afford the fees
and the equipment their kids need to play. And some, working long or odd hours or
multiple jobs, just don't have the time to transport their kids to practices and games”
(Brown, C., 2011)
PLMF has a hard-‐working and dedicated board. Boards are critical to the success of an
organization. Boards must possess “a range and mix of skills including a ‘hybrid’ board
composition; big picture or long-‐term thinking; a board that is detached and beholden
to no particular faction; experience in relevant areas especially knowledge of the sport;
and being focused on the work at hand, for example, relate to the capability of people
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sitting around the board room table to be able to undertake these functions” (Ferkins, L.
& Shilbury, D., 2011).
Theories Relating to Increasing Participation & Funding
After remedying some of the ills of the organization, the game plan must be created.
“Strategic management is extremely important to excellent public relations because it
describes how public relations should be practiced if it is to contribute the most to the
success of an organization” (Grunig, J. & Grunig L., 2000). Grunig finds strategic
communication to stakeholders is essential in any public relations campaign. “In the
development of a strategic communication plan, an organization can identify a
campaign communicates with its publics, both external and internal. The plan
recognizes the greatest threats to and opportunities for the organization” (Grunig,
1990). Publics are the people or organizations that can influence the success of your
program. Cutlip, Center and Broom identify four publics: non-‐publics; latent publics;
aware publics; and active publics. When creating a plan, it is critical to identify these
publics. The key to a successful public relations campaign is to motivate latent and
aware publics to become an active public. “Useful definitions describe program publics
on the basis of how people are involved in or affected by the problem situation or issue,
who they are, where they live, what relevant organizations they belong to, what they do
that is relevant to the situation, and so forth” (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006).
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Latent and aware publics can include parents with younger children or with children
who are not active in sports. Local politicians, business leaders, community members
and school district teachers, administrators and staff can also be included.
The decade-‐long public relations “Excellence Study” (J. E. Grunig, 1992; J. E. Grunig, Ed.,
1992; L. A. Grunig, J. E. Grunig, & Dozier, 2002) emphasized the importance of
relationships and empirically concluded that public relations practitioners “develop
programs at the functional level of public relations to build long-‐term relationships with
these strategic publics” (J. E. Grunig, 1992, p. 13). Within the last decade, public
relationship models, relationship theory, and empirical research on relationship
indicators have emerged. The two-‐step-‐flow of influence model encourages the
message receiver to disseminate the information to others (Croteau & Hoynes, 2000).
Utilizing this model, parents of current players could help disseminate the key messages
about the benefits of the PLMF program.
Public relations campaigns help organizations improve and establish reputations. They
can also build relationships, resolve conflict and change attitudes and behaviors (Cutlip,
S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006).
An effective campaign can increase participation in the organization and create a need
and ultimately a desire to support it, both physically and financially. To initiate a change
in behavior, the organization must do more than communicate to its publics. It must
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begin to build relationships with them. According to the Excellence Study, organizations
must “develop programs at the functional level of public relations to build long-‐term
relationships with these strategic publics” (Grunig, J. & Grunig, L., 2002). In ROPES: A
model of the fund-‐raising process, K.S. Kelly took the theory one step further and
applied it to non-‐profits and fundraising. She identified a five-‐step process called ROPES.
It consists of research, objectives, programming, evaluation, and stewardship. The
process describes how to use procedures and techniques to build and maintain long-‐
term relationships with an important stakeholder—donors (O’Neil, J. 2008). Kelly
“focused on nurturing the relationship between an organization and donor. Kelly
posited that stewardship, “a step erroneously missing in public relations,” consists of
these four elements: (a) reciprocity, appreciating and recognizing donors; (b)
responsible gift use, using gifts from donors
for which they were intended; (c) reporting, informing donors of how their gifts were
used; and (d) relationship nurturing, encouraging donors to renew gifts” (O’Neil, J.
2008).
“Public relations practitioners are often charged with the task of telling the story of their
nonprofit organization in a compelling and complete manner” (O’Neil, J. 2008). Parents
want to know to whom they are entrusting their children. Look no further than the
recent Penn State University scandal involving an older coach and young males.2
Stewards must be educated about the organization so they feel compelled to offer time,
energy and money.
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Analysis
After identifying publics and before creating an effective public relations campaign, the
organization must identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. “A
SWOT analysis is useful in supporting all the relationships of the organization, not just
those developed with customers” (Wilson & Ogden, 2008). By analyzing internal and
external factors that contribute or affect the problem situation, the organization gathers
the information needed to complete the SWOT analysis (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom,
G., 2006). This is called a situation analysis.
Objectives
Once the situation and SWOT analysis are complete, the organization can develop its
public relations campaign. Here, we have two objectives:
1. To increase the number of football players by 25 percent 2. To raise $5,000 for new equipment
Strategy In public relations practice, strategy typically refers to the overall concept, approach or
general plan for the program designed to achieve a goal (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom,
G., 2006). The strategy dictates the direction the overarching goal of the organization.
According to Botan, strategies can be distinguished as “grand strategies” or “strategies.”
“Grand Strategy is the policy-‐level decisions an organization makes about goals,
alignments, ethics, and relationship with publics and forces in its environment” (Botan,
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2006). PLMF should incorporate a cooperative grand strategy. The strategy relies on
two-‐way communication and allows participants/publics to help shape the organization.
Campaign
Objectives are identified. Now, the organization can focus on the actual communication,
events and outreach, which can be used to achieve the objectives of the campaign.
These are tactics – the operational level: the actual events, media, and methods used to
implement the strategy (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006). Preparing such a plan
does not guarantee success; however, it greatly increases the chances that tactics will
ultimately help the organization reach it goals (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006).
Creating tactics is the next step.
The organization must put itself in its publics’ shoes to create effective tactics. What
does the public want to hear and what messages will resonate with them? Cutlip, Center
and Broom offer these tried and true rules to frame messages:
1. Use the media most closely identified with audience’s position 2. Use a communications source that enjoys high credibility for the audience on the
topic of communication. 3. Play down the differences between the positions of the communicator and those
of the audience. 4. Seek identification in vocabulary and anecdote with the audience in an area
removed from the issue. 5. Establish the communicator’s position as being the majority opinion, defining the
majority from the audience itself. 6. Bring audience’s group identifications into play when those identifications will
help develop a [positive response. 7. Modify the message to fit the organization’s need.
Tactics must be measurable. According to O’Neil, too many public relations tactics are
executed with little thought as to how they will correlate with the organizations
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overarching goals. “Thousands of public relations practitioners spend their days
managing and executing routine, albeit essential, public relations activities such as
writing, design, and project management…very rarely are the direct contributions
measured and evaluated” (O’Neil, J., 2008).
Social Media
“Community members using social media tools and features establish multifaceted
relationships that are far richer than those in earlier-‐generation online communities,
such as discussion boards and LISTSERVs. These connections engender deep trust”
(Kane, G., Fichman, R., Gallaugher, J. & Glaser, J., 2009).
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The Public Relations Campaign:
Increasing Participation & Funding for Plain Local Midget Football
In January 2012, when I am normally focused on youth basketball and the beginning of
youth baseball, I will begin the campaign to increase participation and funding for Plain
Local Midget Football (PLMF).
Client
Since 1975, Plain Local Midget Football has enabled thousands of children to learn the
rudimentary skills of football and cheerleading. PLMF is a youth football/cheerleading
league that represents youth who attend the Plain Local Schools system in Canton, Ohio.
Older youth in the league compete against teams from North Canton City and Perry
Local school districts.
Opportunity
PLMF’s board wants to increase participation by players because the Northeast Ohio
Youth Football Conference requires each participating league to have four B League (4th-‐
5th grade teams. The board also wants to raise funds to purchase equipment and
possibly fix the scoreboard.
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths
• PLMF has been around for more than 35 years. • The league has a strong/active board. Members contribute countless hours
during the season to manage games and the concession stand. • Plain Local is the second largest school system in Stark County.
Weaknesses
• Parent complaints about coaches have increased over the last two years. • The organization’s board members volunteer countless hours throughout the
season and use the off-‐season as a time to relax. • PLMF does not have a relations/communications board position • The only major fundraiser is a candy bar sale during the season. The sale
nets less than $10,000. • The league has little to no money for advertising. • The equipment meets minimum safety standards; however, much of it could
be updated to appeal to youth and parents. Football helmets are constantly evolving and some of the newer models are better known for preventing head injuries.
• PLMF does not use any social media channels.
Opportunities
• Under the leadership of head coach Scott Garcia, GlenOak football has more playoff wins than any previous regime.
• Over the last ten years, GlenOak football has produced more than 20 Division-‐I football athletes.
• In February, 2010: All-‐Ohio Associated Press Division I First Team running back, Brionte Dunn will commit to either Ohio State or Michigan. Dunn is arguably the biggest talent to ever play for the Golden Eagles.
• Bob Cummings Field, the home of GlenOak football, was built in 2005 and continues to improve.
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Threats
• Disgruntled parents • Inadequate funding • Current negative coaching issues • Competition with other fall sports, e.g., soccer, baseball
Audience
Key Publics
• Elementary/Middle School-‐Aged Children • Parents of Elementary/Middle School-‐Aged Children • Citizens of Plain Township & Canton City • Local Opinion Leaders • Local Business Leaders
Internal Stakeholders
• Board • Youth Athletes • Parents • Coaches • High School Coaches
External Stakeholders
• Northeast Ohio Youth Football Conference • Perry Youth Football • North Canton Youth Football • Canton City and Plain Township Media
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Media Analysis
• Print and Online o Canton Repository (Daily) o Plain Pride newspaper (Monthly) o Canton’s About Magazine (Monthly) o North Neighbor News (Monthly)
• Radio o WHBC -‐ 1480 WHBC is Canton’s talk radio station. o WHBC -‐ 94.1 FM
• Social Media
o E-‐mails • Eagle Update (Online Newsletter)
o Facebook • GlenOak Football -‐ Official Fan Site • GlenOak High School • GlenOak Football Stadium • Plain Local Fund • Plain Local Baseball & Softball Association • Holly Hills Baseball Little League
o Twitter • @sammmyb16, Sam Bourquin, WHBC On-‐Air Sports Personality • @ToddPorter,Todd Porter, Canton Repository Sport Reporter and
WHBC On-‐Air Sports Personality @ToddPorter • @CantonRepSports, Canton Repository • @1480whbc, 1480 WHBC
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Objectives
1.) To increase player participation in the 2012 PLMF by 25 percent.
2.) To raise $5,000 to purchase new equipment and possibly fix the scoreboard.
Key Media Message
“Who’s Next?” – Capitalizing on the recent success of the GlenOak High School football team, I will use notable players and coaches to talk to elementary-‐age youth in their classrooms and at their sporting events. Coaches and players will talk about the thrill of playing football for GlenOak, the hard work and practice it takes to play at that level, and the opportunities and experience PLMF provided them.
Objective I
To increase player participation in the 2012 PLMF by 25 percent.
Strategy
Increase awareness about PLMF to students and parents using one-‐ and two-‐way
communications to trigger action and engagement.
Tactics
1. Distribute flyers to Plain Local elementary, intermediate and middle schools
before the end of the school year. (Appendix A)
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2. Schedule “meet and greet” where current players and coaches tour elementary,
intermediate and middle schools before the end of the school year. Coaches and
players will be given time to talk to youth males during gym classes (we did have
one female offensive lineman in PLMF last year, but that is not the norm).
3. Create PLMF Facebook Page and drive traffic to the page.
o Notify the PLMF Board and ask them to “like” PLMF page.
o Send invites to my friends who live in Stark County.
o Hand out “Like Our Facebook Page” flyers to parents registering their children for youth baseball and softball.
o Add and tag pictures of last year’s PLMF players and parents.
4. Create media packet with:
o Information/History of the league
o Feature story pitches about former and current o Feature story pitches about local businesses that support PLMF
5. Secure free placement of the Brionte Dunn ad in Plain Pride (Appendix B)
Objective II
To raise $5,000 to purchase new equipment and possibly fix the scoreboard.
Strategy
Create events that will appeal to PLMF parents, local businesses and the community.
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Tactics
1. Hold a guest bartending event – July 19 – at the Conestoga Bar and Grill in
downtown Canton.
o Secure GlenOak Head Football Coach, Scott Garcia, WHBC personality, Sam Bourquin and Canton Repository sports reporter Todd Porter to volunteer for the event. Market the event to baseball and football parents and to the community.
o Create an “Event” on PLMF Facebook page and send invites to friends and urge current people who “like” the PLMF page and PLMF Board members and coaches to post the event to their page.
o Post a picture of the flyer on the PLMF Facebook page and my page and encourage others, including the three guest bartenders, to share.
o Secure a spot on guest bartender, Sam Bourquin’s, afternoon radio show to talk about the event.
2. Hold a “Kicking It 4 PLMF Kids” Kickball Tournament and Dinner on Saturday, July
28, 2012
o Secure Holly Hills baseball fields o Secure free dinners from Rafters bar o Create a parent committee that can help sell tickets and field
sponsorships and solicits donations. o Market the event to parents of current players, baseball and football,
local politicians, especially those running for office in the general election, and local business leaders.
o Hand out flyers to players of the Canton Recreation and North Canton Recreation adult kickball leagues.
o Create an “Event” on PLMF Facebook page and send invites to friends and urge current people who “like” the PLMF page and PLMF Board members and coaches to post the event to their page.
o Post a picture of the flyer on the PLMF Facebook page and my page and encourage others to share.
o Post the flyer on local kickball league Facebook page. o Secure a spot on, Sam Bourquin’s, afternoon radio show to talk about the
event.
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Evaluation
Objective I: To increase player participation in the 2012 PLMF by 25 percent.
Player Participation – At the completion of this campaign, we do not have final
numbers; however, PLMF was able to add a fourth B League team. The A League teams
increased from 30 to 38 players. Flag football participation numbers cannot be
evaluated until the middle of August.
Objective II: To raise $5,000 to purchase new equipment
Increase in Funding – Any increase in funding for this organization will be a success. As
of July 31, 2012, the Kickball event has raised more than $4,000. I anticipate another
$1-‐2,000 from field sponsor sales. As the
committee sold field sponsorships for the
kickball tournament, we realized we could
put a package together where local
businesses and politicians could hang their
signs at the PLMF fields, which are separate
from the Holly Hills Fields. We can hang these banners for two and a half months
instead of just one day. We are still selling these sponsorships. We had participation
from more than 70 people for this year’s kickball tournament.
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Social Media Impact
As of July 31, 2012, the PLMF Facebook page has 66 likes. I tried to compare this
number with North Canton and Perry youth football leagues; however, they do not have
Facebook pages. Based on where we are as an organization and how new this page is
for PLMF, I feel this significant and creates a baseline for future measurement. It has
actually climbed by 20 people over the last week. Our most successful posts were those
that included flyers for our event. I feel our likes increased because of the kickball event
photos taken and posted. I am currently taking pictures of all the participating youth at
practice and posting those to the page. Twitter has not been explored at this time
because PLMF would have to make a true commitment to this channel and I do not feel
the league is there yet. I am also not sure it would make an impact like Facebook. When
I informally sampled PLMF parents, most were on Facebook – very few used Twitter.
We will continue to promote the site and expect a 100-‐200 percent increase by the
middle of the season because we will be posting scores and game photos.
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Conclusion
After four years in the Kent State University Public Relations graduate program, I am
thrilled to complete this project. Since I started the program in 2008, I juggled classes
while working full-‐time, being a husband and father, tending to my father who passed
away in late-‐2011 from cancer, graduating from Leadership Stark County and coaching
baseball and football. Like my father, I find certain spirituality in coaching youth. This is
one of the reasons this campaign/project became so special to me. My coaching
contributions have come to an end, as my son is too old for me to coach. This project
gives me reason to stay involved with youth sports.
PLMF Board Secretary and Parent Representative, Michelle Stahleker, was pleased with
the outcomes. “We never considered reaching out to the community, she said. “Now I
feel like we have people and institutions that care about the league and want to help.”
Coach Scott Garcia appreciated the increase in players. “PLMF is our pipeline. We are
competing and winning now. Imagine if we can build this league to where we want it.”
My committee has already begun planning a guest bartender tailgate event for one of
GlenOak’s home games. We are meeting soon to discuss “Kicking It 4 PLMF Kids 2013.”
Every one of the participants from this year’s kickball event said they would return next
year.
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I want to thank all of my professors, especially Professor Bill Sledzik, from whom I
realized I better work on my writing craft. Thank you to my wife, Terre, and kids, Maddie
and Aydan, for putting up with my absence. Thank you to PLMF for giving me the keys to
the car – of course there was no gas in it. Thank you to PLMF Board member Michelle
Stahleker making sure not one detail was forgotten. Thank you to my mom and finally,
my dad for making sure I was a sports nut, a hard worker, a great husband, father and
coach.
End Notes
1 www.ode.state.oh.us/gd/gd.aspx?page=2&TopicRelationID=3
2 www.huffingtonpost.com/news/penn-‐state-‐scandal/
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Appendix
(A)
8.5 x 11 flier passed out to all students grades 1-‐7
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4 Column Ad for Plain Pride
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References
Botan, C. and Hazelton, V., (2006). Public Relations Theory 2: Public Relations Theory
Two, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Brown, Curt. (2011). Participation in youth sports on the decline Retrieved from
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110522/NEWS/105220
327
Cobb, R & Albanese, J.D. (2005). Doing Sports Right Retrieved from
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=19&hid=108&sid=ea902b6
1-‐0f1d-‐4d30-‐9e68-‐d852e0161b1a%40sessionmgr113
Cutlip, S., Center, A., & Broom, M. (2006) Effective Public Relations
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
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