Building and Shaping a Community Team

In your community, no matter what your geographic or demographic circumstances, there are numerous individuals and organizations that are willing to support, promote, and nurture citizenship through sports.

This section will help you identify those potential supporters and solicit their participation as you build a Citizenship Team in your own community. First, here are some ground rules on helping you attain a winning Citizenship Team:

• Decide the focus and goal of your community citizenship activities and events.
• Develop a clearly stated preliminary goal - involve the citizenship team in crafting a mission statement. One suggested mission statement is: "To build better citizens throughout the community by utilizing the many opportunities presented in athletics."
• Invite potential Citizenship Team participants to an organizational meeting.

Planning is key to the success of your Citizenship Team and implementation of activities that will promote and nurture citizenship through sports. However, equally important are the members of your team. This section will discuss who potential team members are - and where to find them.

• Education. A natural starting point is an area that combines sports with teaching and learning: the schools. We suggest that you start at the top with the district's superintendent of schools and the chair (or president) of the Board of Education. Write and specifically ask for the citizenship effort.

In your letter, ask the superintendent and school board president to accept a position on the leadership committee (or to appoint a designee) of the Citizenship Team. With either scenario, you have representation at the highest level of education in the area, and that participation is crucial to the overall success of your effort.

If you are requested to make a presentation to the Board of Education, accept the invitation armed with the program that has been outlined/defined based on the community needs assessment information, and which is ready to be introduced to the community at large.

Your school district may be one of hundreds across the country already using the National Federation of State High School Association's Citizenship Through Sports Curriculum. If it is, administrators and others involved in the program are well aware of the strengths citizenship brings to the community.

• Government Leaders. This group can do more for your Citizenship Team than virtually all others, bringing a high level of exposure and community commitment to the project. We suggest that you invite your municipality's chief executive officer (mayor, town supervisor, etc.) to the organizational leadership meeting. You might also consider including other appropriate government personalities, such as state senators or representatives, to join in a leadership role.



• Business Leaders. Not only do business leaders lend credibility to the process, their involvement will spearhead the involvement of their employees and their peers. They also bring to the table opportunities to launch some of the activities and are also a source of funds for any expenses the effort may wish to incur.



• Local Civic Groups. Lion's Club, Rotary, Kiwanis - all these group types have ready-to-use energy to help your citizenship effort. Though some of these groups may appear to have a tightly focused mission, all of them are committed to improving the community.



• Business Organizations. Local Chambers of Commerce, businessmen's and businesswomen's associations are excellent possibilities for recruitment to your Citizenship Team. Again, the key is to match the task with the group.



• Senior Citizens. Older adults represent possibly the largest untapped wealth of information, experience, savvy, and energy in our country. Enlist the aid of seniors in your citizenship efforts. Consider inviting the president of local older adult organizations to be a part of your leadership committee.



• Youth. Don't overlook youth on your leadership committee! We suggest that you choose both male and female junior high school students to be a part of your Citizenship team.



• Coaches. You also need some athletic representation. Select a high profile, well-respected coach and rely on that person to galvanize support from his/her peers for the effort.



• Media. Invite an appropriate member of the media - the sports editor of the local newspaper - to be on the team. That individual can be a great source of positive publicity for your project and overall efforts.



• Youth Development/Youth Sports Organizations. The Little League and YWCA are good examples of the types of youth-oriented organizations that you should involve. These groups are already involved with youth and embrace the tenets of citizenship.



• Community-focused Groups. Local organizations abound in almost every community. In forming your Citizenship Team, be sure to take a look at the plethora of talent and experience that these organizations may offer. Discuss CTSA history, composition, goals and objectives, and what you hope the Citizenship Team will accomplish during its tenure.

Your leadership group should be made up of more than 10 individuals. By drawing from the suggestions above, you'll have a thorough and diverse group of members. Your leadership team should be designed to shape the project to the preferences of your particular community and to generate support, interest, and belief in the importance of citizenship. Consider the following criteria when selecting a lead group. Members/organizations should have:

• A demonstrated knowledge of the community and how it operates;
• Demonstrated leadership experience in managing community-wide, community-enriching projects;
• A respected identity in the community; and
• Have programmatic activities that currently include citizenship, or citizenship as a natural extension of their organization objectives.

It is common courtesy to telephone potential Citizenship Team leaders to pique their interest by providing an overview of the project, discerning initial interest, and advising them that a letter of invitation will soon be delivered. This preliminary conversation serves to introduce yourself and the project and, when an invitation to join the leadership team arrives, potential members are not surprised.

Following is a sample letter of invitation to potential leaders of your Citizenship Team.

There are duties, rights, and privileges of holding citizenship. Many people today, however, justifiably lament the diminished emphasis placed on citizenship in our country. There's something you can do about that - and this is an invitation to do so.

You are invited to become a member of the leadership committee of our effort to heighten the importance of citizenship to all in our community. We are joining with the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) to improve the sports culture in America, which is a reflection of our societal standards and how we view citizenship. CTSA is an organization of virtually every professional, college, Olympiad, and high school sports league and association in the country.

Our initial goal is simple: to build better citizens throughout the community by utilizing the many opportunities presented in athletics. You have been invited to join this leadership team not only because of your prominence in the community, but because of your experience, expertise, and leadership strengths. More importantly, I believe that you recognize that good citizens are vital to building good and stable communities.

By accepting this invitation to a program that promises to be both dynamic and enlightening, simultaneously you will be accepting a challenge that will yield rewards that are both tangible and intangible to those in our community.

By accepting this community challenge, you will be joining the ranks of the following organizations that comprise the CTSA: Major League Baseball (MLB); National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA); National Basketball Association (NBA), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), United States Olympic Committee (USOC), and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Please call (name) at (phone number) to accept this invitation that promises to be an adventure for young and old. The meeting will be held (indicate specifics).

You and the community will benefit from your joining this effort.

Thank you for considering this invitation, and don't hesitate to contact (name/me) for more information.

Sincerely,

This letter may be modified to meet your needs.