USA Youth Education in Shooting Sports offers state organizations and teams support material to help start, grow, and support their program. The goal is to set you up for success. As mentioned in our Road Map, whether you received school approval or not, you will need to recruit team members. There are several ways to do this, but data shows us that hosting a meeting/open house will greatly improve your chances of success. MEETING/OPEN HOUSE So let’s get started. The goal of the meeting/open house is to educate the possible team members, parents, school and gun range about the program and allow them to ask questions. It is also a way to find out what the level of interest is. At the same time the school and or coach can get a feel for the number of participants and establish days and times to practice. This will also be of great help to the gun club at which the team will be practicing. PLANNING Invite everyone who will play a part in the team’s success; students, parents, school officials, rang officials, supporters and media. The best time to host this meeting/open house is after school, when there is no conflict with other school or town activities. Don’t be surprised if you get more than you expect. The first meetings are usually larger than you expect. And that’s okay. PROMOTE/MARKETING Promote the meeting/open house with social media, posters, newsletters, and school announcements. Posters can be found in our Resource section on the USAYESS website. Invite the local newspaper, radio station, town officials, law enforcement, range officials, Hunter Ed Instructors, key conservation chapter members (Mule Deer Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Wild Sheep Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Pheasants/Quail Forever), and state program representatives. GATHER INFORMATION FOR PRESENTATION Gather as much information and details about your team and its parent program. Keep it simple but to the point so that you can accurately inform school officials and attendees and allow them to make comfortable decisions. State officials and range representatives may be available to assist with the presentation depending on availability. For example:
 Have a greeter at the entrance.
 Be in uniform is possible.
 Introduce important people; i.e. school principle, head coach, mayor, chief of police, program state representative, and others.
 National Program: Briefly talk about the national program
 Team Program: plans and goals, Insurance, safety rules, etc.
 Participation: athletes in 5th through college, boys and girls compete together, explain divisions. No experience required. The program does not interfere with FFA, 4-H shooting sports…it’s for those programs athletes looking to compete more, or students looking for a sport which they can compete in regardless of gender, physical strength, height, or coordination. No one gets benched.  Funding: Team is self-funded through raffles, fundraisers, etc. No cost to the school.
 Review Team or state website.
 Team Costs: Ammo, targets, fees, gear, uniform, etc.
 Practice: Practice range, dates, times and deadlines.
 Adult Volunteers: Silicate adult support; get names and contact information from interested parties.

 Have a sign-up sheet at the entrance for attendees to fill out so that you can communicate team news with the attendees after the meeting.
 Have an athlete sign-up sheet for student athletes interested in joining the team. Once you have all you duck in a row, put together an agenda for the greeter to hand out to the attendees as they enter the meeting/open house. It will be important that parents are included in all communication with the student athletes. CLOSING Briefly summarize the meeting ask if there are any closing questions and or statements. Inform attendees to check the website for additional information and in closing thank attendees for their time and supporting. STUDENT ATHLETE SIGN-UP SHEET PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY Name Grade Phone E-Mail Hunter Ed Certification? Y or N ATENDEE SIGH-IN SHEET PRINT CLEARLY NAME PHONE EMAIL You’re invited to join our school in introducing the nation’s and state’s fastest and safest growing high school sport!

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