1. GET STARTED

You know you want to start a team, so do it! All you need to do is find a few guys that want to play on a team, and then go play in an event. Everything starts and develops from there.

The way I look at things: practice is to help improve the team, tournaments are to judge where the team is at. Utilize practice to develop weakness you have uncovered by playing in a tournament. Utilize your experience in a tournament to uncover what those weaknesses are. Its all a big cycle…

2. What do you want out of this?

One of the biggest mistakes I see when people start a team is plain and simple, not setting out a team goal. The goal could be as simple as to play in all of the (insert event name here) tournaments…

Decide if your team is planning on playing in local events, national events, or if you are just assembling a team of guys to play in local scenario games or on weekends.

If you do decide to play in tournaments, I do recommend setting up a practice schedule and budget, that way you and your future team mates know what they are getting themselves into.

You can practice as much, or as little as time and money permits. For a beginner team, I would say 2-4 practices per month would be sufficient. Typically it is best to set practices on a consistent day of the week.

Look for a blog post on how to run an effective practice to come out soon.

3. Spread the word!

Get with your local store or field and let them know you are interested in starting a team. Make up flyers and ask if you can put them up at your local fields.

The local store/field will be your best friend when it comes to your team. Offer to put their logo on your jerseys/website (if you set on up, a Facebook page is very effective in marketing the team and can double as a team website). The field will typically be the main place you will recruit from, and practice at, so it is crucial to have a good relationship with the stores and fields.

As stated in #1, the key is to get started. I hear and see so many people that want to start a team, but do not put the word out. They want a team, but do nothing to get get a few guys organized. If you need help, feel free to email me at danny@doodlebugsportz.com.

This article was written by Danny Cort, operations manager at Doodlebug Sportz and team captain of the DBS KIDZ, a team that started out as a Young Gunz/beginner team and has worked their way to the highest level of the PSP.